Trying to discover possible connection between individuals and families, it is sometimes useful to build a timeline of events in the life of an individual or group of possibly related individuals. I have lots of possibly related Asher individuals in Indiana in the period between 1810-1860. Clumps and clusters seem to share common migration paths, even though they don’t necessarily end up in the exact same part of the states they migrate to. Would a timeline help in sorting where and who migrated along similar routes, married at similar times etc? I’m not sure but I started creating the timeline with the rough birth dates of the key individuals I’m researching – Thomas Asher of Wayne County, IN and his wife Sarah, and two possibly related males Isaac (called Israel in the 1820 Census of Indiana) and John both of Delaware/Rush County, IN.
| Asher Timeline Dang it the timeline didn’t paste in properly. I’ll try again |
It isn’t complete but as I work on it I’ll add more marriage dates, other land purchases, perhaps other death dates. I’ll also post 1840-1880 which should chronicle the migration cycles and land purchase patterns. Have I learned anything so far. Well based solely on rough year of birth, I would guess that Thomas, John and Isaac are brothers. I am questioning whether Sarah is the mother of all of Thomas Asher’s children. If she was born in 1785 (taken from the 1850 census) then she was 24 when Alvin was born and 47 when Jemima was born. Not impossible but it seems unlikely. In 1830 and 40 Thomas’ wife is listed as born between 1790-1800 which would make her 19 when Alvin was born and 42 when Jemima was born. Much more likely. the 1850 census is probably in error. Age inflation to increase status in the community? Teenage daughter for whom Mom seemed as old as the hills.