Data holds incredible power - it highlights gaps in knowledge, bridges them, and gives our research purpose and direction. When it comes to genealogy, data can reveal fresh perspectives on our ancestors' stories, offering new insights into where we come from.
For years, I’ve been mapping my family tree in every way imaginable. A particularly important approach is charting my ancestors by their birthplaces. The result? A vibrant, visual journey that showcases how "the story of me" began almost everywhere. The map is a kaleidoscope of colors - each representing a different ancestral birthplace - capturing a history so diverse it's almost overwhelming.
A map of my ancestors' birth locations. Bolded borders denote immigrant ancestors. |
Mapping Life’s Journey: The Key to Unlocking Documents and Stories
Mapping your ancestors’ birth, life, and death locations is essential if you’re serious about uncovering the documents that tell their life stories. After all, you can’t know where to search for their records if you don’t know where they lived.
I’ve taken this a step further by mapping my ancestors’ burial locations across the United States. In late 2020, I embarked on a socially-distanced cross-country road trip. Along the way, I shaped my route to include stops at cemeteries where my ancestors are buried. This journey, which I recorded in, Ancestors Across the Heartland: A Family History Road Trip, became an opportunity not just to connect with living relatives but also to “commune” with my past.
Ancestor burials (purple flowers mark graves I've visited, yellow flowers are graves still on my to-visit list) |
Keeping Score: Who Am I Missing?
While I don’t approach genealogy as a numbers game, monitoring numeric benchmarks provides a simple and tangible way to gauge growth in my research. These periodic check-ins remind me not just of how far I’ve come, but also of who is still missing from the story (see My 2020 Ancestor Tally).
My ancestry by the numbers as of 2020 |
FamilySearch 7 generation fan chart. Margaret Fahey - my 3rd great-grandmother's parentage my only gap. |
Comparing Myself to My Ancestors
Ancestors' parents' age when they were born. Paternal age is first. |
Wondering about my life expectancy? I've examined my ancestors' ages at death to see what the numbers might suggest about my own longevity. It's a bit macabre, sure, but also insightful. Here's hoping I inherited my second great-grandmother Minnie's genes - she lived to 92, making her my longest-lived ancestor! (See Longevity Pedigree: Crunching the Numbers)
My ancestors' paternal and maternal haplogroups |
I loved this post so much. I, too, am a numbers person and prefer color visualization. You have inspired me today to get back into it. I also want to make a cemetery map like you did on the ones you visited and the ones you still need to. Rock on!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Paul. I appreciate it. I find the visualization helps me see my research with new eyes and spot gaps or better focus my efforts. Google maps has been a great resource for mapping my data. Good luck mapping your ancestors' burials. Sounds like the beginnings of an epic road trip.
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