Hello Family Historian,
I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and happily engaged in genealogy.
Ancestral Dates
Your ancestors’ dates are essential. Telling the story and moving beyond just the dates is powerful and changes our understanding of each ancestor, but life event dates are a part of each story. Every individual in your family tree potentially has at least two significant associated dates, one for birth and one for death. These dates are super important when placing them within the historical context. Without a date to go by, it would be difficult to know much about what was going on around your ancestors. Determining their age at a specific point in time allows us to align our ancestors to genealogical records. It is sometimes the determining factor in whether or not the individual is a match for your ancestor. Dates assist us with identification when multiple individuals have the same name.
Dates are a significant aspect of genealogical research. How then can you make these dates easily accessible and visually available? What about calculating ages for census records and other records? Can you make that easier too?
Here are a couple of ideas that might help. I’ve also included links to tools to use with US Census Records.
Google Calendar for Ancestral Dates
You can add a Google Calendar made specifically for your ancestors’ dates to embed in your Google Site.1 Create as many calendars as you want using your Google Account. To add a calendar in your Google Account, find your calendar in the 9-dot menu on the upper left on your Google.com page. You’ll need to be logged in.
Once you are in your calendar, you can add another calendar by going to your settings at the top of the screen. Once in your settings, you will find “add calendar” in the menu on the left. Once you have created the calendar it will show up on the left side of the screen. You can begin adding dates. I add their name, “Birth” or “Death,” and the year they were born or died to the date.
Here is an example of the calendar I made for my Hinkson family line.
Tips:
If you already use Google Calendar, I recommend making a separate calendar for your ancestral dates. You can add or remove it from devices without disrupting your general calendar.
You can color code the events to easily see whether it is a birth, death, or something else.
Once you have your calendar set up, you can add it to your Google Site:
add a page (if needed)
select “Insert” at the top of the right-side menu.
Scroll down to find “calendar.” Once you click on it, you will see options for which calendar to add.
Select the calendar you want, then click the “Insert” button at the bottom.
Embed an Age Calculator in your Google Site
An age calculator can streamline looking up individuals on records. To determine the exact age of your ancestor on a specific day, having an age calculator right on your Google Site can be super convenient. It is easy to embed it, so why not?
Click on the Age Calculator button to take you to the Inch Calculator website. This website provides you with an embed code for an age calculator. Scroll down to where it says “Widget Code” on the website. It is free to use. Make sure to read the “Widget Use Terms and Conditions.” Note: You do not have to add this to your Google Site to use it. You can use it right on their website if you prefer.
Embedding the embed code on your Google Site:
Select “Insert” in the right-side menu.
Find the embed button near the top. Select “embed code.”
Paste the code you copied from the Inch Calculator website. Adjust the size.
Publish and you’re done.
US Census Record Tools
I have added a link to the Cuzens Toolkit which includes the US Census Record tools in the Genealogy Matters Subscriber Chat. Click the Join chat button below to go to the chat.
Grateful
I want to acknowledge and express my gratitude to Zelda York, my editor. I couldn’t do this without her! Thank you!
I love the community of family historians on Substack! You are the best! Thank you.
Thank you for investing your time in reading this newsletter. My goal is to be able to:
Research and provide information about organizing and preserving your family history.
Focus on what matters to you as a family historian.
Provide worthwhile resources that are accessible to all family historians who subscribe to Genealogy Matters.
If you feel inclined, I’d love it if you shared the Genealogy Matters Newsletter with others who might find value in it.
You can find more information about creating a Google Site in this post: