Using a Timeline to Untangle Your Roots

Sorting out people with the same name is one of the challenges the family historian faces. Aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews and cousins, oh, my! Sometimes the sorting is simple and other times complex. The proliferation of bad information on the internet has made the task much more difficult.

To sort out the David Maddoxes in Pickaway County, Ohio, I used a timeline, which is a tool suggested by professional geneaogists. In this exercise, I listed by date each piece of evidence that I had found and a few assumptions.

When building a timeline, an important concept is to ignore the spelling on the records. Most spelling before 1900 was phonetic: the clerk wrote what he heard. Capture all documents that you think may apply. Try to ignore the online noise, except to find clues. Look for more evidence than the census. Only one third of my collected evidence consisted of census records.

The goal was to answer two questions.

• Who served in the Civil War?
• Who bought land in 1847?

I started with the 1850 census, which listed three individuals named David Maddux/Maddox. I assigned each one a number, based on birth order:

• David Maddox/Maddux #1 was the brother of my 3rd great-grandfather. 
• David Maddox #3 was the brother of my 2nd great-grandfather and the nephew of #1.
• David Maddox/Maddux #2 is unknown, but likely was a distant cousin of the other two men.

I then assigned a person to each document where it was clear to whom it applied. This document applies to David #2, this one to David #1, etc. At the end, I rearranged and color-coded the list to group the documents by the person they pertained to. It then became easier to assign the unclear documents to the right David. Most of the fuzzy documents don't give an age, so have to be examined in the larger context. I also searched out and found other evidence to add facts and build the proof case.

At the end of the exercise, it was obvious that David #2 and David #3 served in the Civil War, while David #1 did not. David #1 is the only one of the three who was old enough to have purchased land in 1847. I also checked the 1840 census to see if there was an earlier David, but there was not a good candidate.

Here's the latest timeline for the three men.

#	Date	Recorded Name	Location [OH assumed]	Record	Age	Event
1	08 Oct 1847	David O P Maddox	Monroe Twp, Pickaway	Deed DV22-393	[21]	38.5 acres purchased from Lazarus Maddox
1	20 Sep 1850	David Maddox	Monroe Twp, Pickaway	1850 Census	24	Owned land $500, with Elizabeth age 52 land $900
1	31 Jan 1852	David Madox	Monroe Twp, Pickaway	Deed DV27-435		Sold 1/8 part of land of Lazarus Maddox [deceased] to Joseph Madox
1	23 Jun 1853	David Maddox	Pickaway County	Marriage	[27]	Maria Tammadge [Talmadge], bride
1	02 Jun 1853	David P Madox	Monroe Twp, Pickaway	Deed DV28-126		Joseph W Madox sold to David P Madox - 5/8 of Lazarus' land
1	25 Feb 1854	David P Maddox	Monroe Twp, Pickaway	Deed DV29-004		With wife Mary Maria, sold 5/8 of Lazarus' land to John A Maddox
1	est 1855	D P Maddox	Pickaway County	School roll		Parent of Jas Talmage
1	09 Apr 1856	D P Maddox	Pickaway County	Deed DV31-472		With wife, final land sale in Pickaway (bought from Bolin, sold to Kendrick)
1	25 Aug 1860	David P Madux	Pleasant Twp, Madison	1860 Census	24	Wife Mary M age 27, land 890, Rebecca J 6, John W 4, Orpha 1
1	02 Jan 1862	D P Maddux	Pickaway County	Tombstone, wife of D P		Mary M Maddox death, buried Yankeetown Cemetery
1	04 Dec 1862	David Maddux	Madison County	Marriage	[36]	Mary [Watson] Moler, bride
1	01 Jul 1863	David Maddix	Fairfield Twp, Madison	Civil War Draft	35	Class II registration
1	18 Jul 1870	David Maddux	Fairfield Twp, Madison	1870 Census	43	Wife Mary 32, Rebecca 16, John 14, Arthur  (Orpha) 11, Daniel Moler 10
1	25 Sep 1872		Madison County	Marriage		Rebecca J Maddux marriage to Albert A Gray
1	6 Jul 1880	David Maddux	Fairfield Twp, Madison	1880 Census	54	Wife Mary 52, no children
1	2 Jun 1900	David Maddux	Fairfield Twp, Madison	1900 Census	73	Birth Sep 1826, widower, boarding with William Knowles age 84
1	31 Jul 1907	David Perry Maddux	Columbus, Franklin	Death Certificate	80	Birth 30 Sep 1826, son of Lazarus and Elizabeth, informant Rebecca Gray
2	31 Oct 1850	David Matux	Perry Twp, Pickaway	1850 Census	13	With [Asa] Collins 40 and Mary 37, William 11
2	28 Nov 1858	David Maddux	Pickaway County	Marriage	[21]	[Mary] Elizabeth Timmons, bride
2	12 July 1860	David Maddox	Monroe Twp, Pickaway	1860 Census	22	Wife Mary E age 21, no land, no children
2	10 Oct 1862	David Maddux	Camp Chase, Columbus	Civil War Enlistment	25	Enlisted in Company G of 113 Ohio Volunteer Infantry
2	18 May 1865	David Maddux		Civil War Discharge		Discharged early from unit
2		David Maddux				Date and place of death would be in pension files
2	17 Nov 1866	David Maddox		Civil War Pension		Widow Mary E Maddox files on David Maddox, 113 OVI Co G
2	23 Jun 1870		Monroe Twp, Pickaway	1870 Census		Elizabeth Maddux (servant) 30, Mary 9, living with George Timmons 63
2	10 Nov 1872		Pickaway County	Marriage		Mary Elizabeth Timmons Maddux wed to Robert Spencer Leach
2	9 Jun 1873	David Maddox	Pickaway County	Guardianship		Robert S Leach guardianship of Mary E Maddux, age 12
2	30 Jun 1873	David Maddox		Civil War Pension		Minor child by guardian Robert S Leach on David Maddox, 113 OVI Co G
2	14 Jun 1880		Monroe Twp, Pickaway	1880 Census		Mary E Leach 40, spouse R.S. 34, Mary Maddux 19
2	4 Nov 1880		Pickaway County	Marriage		Mary Elizabeth Maddux marriage to William J Porter
2	01 Jun 1890	David Maddux, dec'd	Monroe Twp, Pickaway	1890 Veteran Census		Mary E Leach, widow of David Maddux
2	27 Jun 1900		Monroe Twp, Pickaway	1900 Census		Mary E Leach 62, spouse R.S. 54, grandson CW Porter b. Dec 1882
3	20 Sep 1850	David Maddox	Monroe Twp, Pickaway	1850 Census	7	With William 27 and Nancy 26, Lewis age 4, Willliam infant
3	15 Aug 1860	David Mattock	Scott County, IL	1860 Census	16	With William 41 and Nancy 39, Lewis 15, Wm 11, George 8, Joseph A 4
3	13 Aug 1862	David Maddox	Exeter, Scott County, IL	Civil War Enlistment	19	Enlisted in 129 Illinois Infantry, Co F, Nativity Pickaway, Ohio
3	15 May 1864	David Maddox	Resaca, Georgia	Service File		Wounded in side
3	20 Nov 1864	David Maddox	Madison, Georgia	Service File		Taken prisoner and paroled, never discharged, no further records