Since most genealogy software can now generate timelines, I thought it would be fun to dig a little deeper into the
current events of my ancestors’ lives.
My great-grandmother, Ella Snow, was born on 19 March, 1857. She shares a 19 March birthday with Western artist Charles Russell (1864), lawman Wyatt Earp (1848), and orator William Jennings Bryant (1860). Ella’s husband, James Hendrickson, died on her birthday in 1929.
A few days before Ella’s birth, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Dred Scott decision—effectively excluded Blacks from rights of citizenship under the Constitution. I bet that was a topic for discussion around the dinner table. And, on Ella’s 8th birthday, Confederate General Joseph Johnston made a last-ditch attempt to stop Sherman’s drive through the Carolinas, at the battle of Bentonville, North Carolina. The end of the Civil War was at hand.
During Ella’s lifetime:
- Queen Victoria ruled England
- the Homestead Act opened the west
- the Russians sold Alaska
- Custer was killed at the Little Bighorn
- a hurricane killed 8,000 people in Galveston
- Wilbur and Orville climbed into their little plane down at Kitty Hawk
- Halley’s Comet appeared
- the Titanic sank
- and millions died in a flu epidemic.
What history she saw!
As 21st century genealogists, it helps if we understand the forces that impacted our ancestors’ lives, and how better to do that than by searching down the day-to-day events that would have been their topics of conversation?
To get you started in building your own personalized timelines, start here:
- This Day In History
- Our Timelines (will generate personalized timelines)
- Today in History (from the Library of Congress)
- History Central
You might also like:
- Genealogy Blog Idea: What Happened During Your Ancestors’ Lives?
- Placing Your Ancestors in Historical Context
- Genealogy and the Civil War Resources
- Preserve Family Memories With Today’s Scrapbook Resources
- Family Tree Finders Weekly is Out
