Guessing a Date: Difference between revisions

Guessing a Date (view source)

Revision as of 12:32, 13 April 2017

479 bytes added , 13 April 2017

general updates, especially changing the reference from a family group sheet to working with online community trees.

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 [[How to Guess Where to Start|How to Guess Where to Start]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[Guessing_a_Date|Guessing a Date]] <br>
-How to estimate the date when documenting an event in an ancestor's life. Use the dates already on the family group record as a guide.
+'''How should I estimate dates when documenting an event in an ancestor's life?'''.
-In order to document an event a researcher must sometimes guess the date when the event happened. Look at the dates already shown on a family group record to identify the most likely dates of additional events.
+First, use the dates you already know as a guide. This can help guide your search for additional records.
-When you can find no other clues, use the following guidelines to help estimate dates. These guidelines are only approximate and researchers must allow leeway in individual cases.
+Use the following guidelines:.
-*Look up each family member in all the censuses and directories during their lifetimes to learn their ages, or help narrow the number of years when certain events may have happened. [[Adding a Custom Event to a PAF Family Group Record|Add a custom event to the family group record]] for each census or directory you find; this helps you estimate dates for other events.
+*Find each family member in all the available censuses, registrations, and other records during their lifetimes. This may help narrow the number of years when certain events may have happened.
-*"When you are trying to find the next generation back (i.e. your grandfather's father or further), It may be good to allow a 20 to 25 year period to root around.
+*When you are trying to find the next generation back (i.e. your grandfather's father or further), It may be good to allow a 20 to 40 year window prior to the last known ancestors birth.
-*Calculate approximate birth years from their age on the census or other documents.
+*Calculate approximate birth years from their age on the census or other documents. See http://www.bcgcertification.org/skillbuilders/skbld032.html
-*In America and northern Europe men usually married at about age 25, women at about age 21. This may need to be adjusted slightly for different cultures.
+*It has been noted that in America and northern Europe men usually married at about age 25, women at about age 21. However, this is only an average with widespread variation, and is different for different places. While this may be helpful when looking for birth records, recording a birth date of about 21 or 25 years before a marriage as fact on community trees such as FamilySearch Family Tree often causes problems with mis-identification. If you have a marriage date, record that, but don't record a birth date based on a known marriage date unless there is an associated age listed at the time of marriage.
 *On average, the first child is born one year after the parent’s marriage. Subsequent children are usually born about every two years.
-*Generally, brothers and sisters who die of old age are most likely to die at '''''roughly''''' the same age.
+*If you know when each child in the family was born, estimate the marriage date as about 1 year before the birth of the first child. This is usually accurate, but not unless a thorough search for all children has been conducted
+*Generally, brothers and sisters who die of old age are most likely to die at '''''roughly''''' the same age. This may be helpful when looking for death records, however, it is better not to record such an average date as fact, especially on community trees such as FamilySearch Family Tree.
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