Arrange Source Specific Events By Date Without Turning Gaps Or Assumptions Into Facts
A useful person timeline is built from events, not from a pile of undated search results. For each relevant source, record the event or filing date, location, record type, name as displayed, and any source-specific identifier. Keeping those elements together makes it possible to sort the information chronologically without losing where each fact came from.
Distinguish the date of the event from the date you accessed the website. A record retrieved today may describe something that happened decades ago. When a source contains several meaningful dates, create separate notes or label each date so that filing, recording, disposition, transfer, and other stages do not collapse into one entry.
Not every result belongs on the timeline with the same level of confidence. A source that directly names the person with matching identifiers can be recorded as a confirmed event, while a same-name result with limited context may remain a possible connection. Keeping those categories visible prevents an early guess from quietly becoming the foundation for later conclusions.
Gaps are also informative. A long period without records does not prove where someone lived or what they were doing, and it should not be filled with assumptions from the events on either side. Instead, note what additional source could narrow the gap, such as an address record, property filing, court entry, business record, or another dated document.
After the entries are ordered, look for continuity and contradictions. Locations that progress plausibly over time, consistent relatives, and recurring middle-name information can support a connection. Overlapping events in distant places, incompatible ages, or different family relationships may indicate that same-name records belong to separate people.
Revise the timeline when better evidence appears, but preserve why an entry changed status. If a possible match is later disproved, removing it without a note can make the same mistaken connection attractive again. A transparent timeline is valuable because it shows both what the sources establish and where the identity remains uncertain.
No. Include results that are relevant enough to evaluate, and distinguish confirmed events from possible matches. Low-information results can be kept in separate notes until they gain context.
Label the dates by function rather than choosing one arbitrarily. Filing, event, recording, disposition, and update dates can each describe a different stage.
Leave the gap visible. Absence of a record does not establish a location or event, so identify what additional source might narrow the period instead of filling it with an assumption.
Yes. Age, location sequence, relatives, and overlapping dates can show that two records cannot reasonably belong to the same person even when the names match.
Change the earlier entry's status and note why it was rejected. Preserving the reason helps prevent the same false match from being reintroduced during future research.
