Family Timeline: Grouping

Since Heredis 2026, Family Chronology becomes Family Timeline.

Be it for direct-line ancestors only, or for your extended family, or, as another example, for the primary person’s ancestors and descendants, you can:

• chronologically track ancestors
• trace back surnames used across time
• locate ancestors’ birthplaces throughout ages

(Windows) To access the Family Timeline feature, click on the Charts > Family Timeline menu.
(Mac) To access the Family Timeline feature, click on the Documents > Family Timeline menu.

A window will pop open showing various persons on a timeline. To learn more about how the interface works in general, see Family Timeline: Interface overview.

Family Timeline allows you to create groups of persons. This enables you to see how your ancestors’ surnames were modified over time as well as where they were located.

Select the desired grouping in the Display panel.

Grouping by Surname

Grouping by Surname creates groups of persons bearing the same surname.

Here we can see that the SMITS surname was used in this family from 1662 to 1858.

Visualize also the various spellings over time. See here how SMETS was used since 1765 and SMET since 1775.

We can also see that in the same time period, SMETS with an S at the end was used since 1765.

Grouping by Surname thus enables you to visualize the evolution of a surname over time, as well as its use in your genealogy.

Grouping by Birth Place

Grouping by Birth Place creates groups of persons who were born in the same location. Select a filter according to your needs:

• by city,
• by county,
• by state/province,
• by country
• or even by subdivision if there is any.

This lets you see where your ancestors lived across time.

Grouping by Family link

Family Timeline is defaulted to open up using the Extended Family scope.

If you had changed the scope using the Options button, you can change it again. When the Extended Family scope is selected, you can select Grouping by Family link.

Family Timeline will then display the primary person and his/her:

• spouse(s)
• parents,
• grandparents,
• great-grandparents,
• siblings,
• children,
• grandchildren,
• great-grandchildren,

as well as (if any) his/her:

• uncles and aunts,
• great-uncles and great-aunts,
• nephews and nieces,
• great-grand-nephews,
• first cousins,
• great cousins,
• first cousins once/twice removed,
• second cousins,
• third cousins,
• etc.

In italics, you’ll see non-blood relatives such as the spouse’s children from a previous marriage, or the second husband of the primary person’s mother.

Uncheck the boxes for generations you don’t want to display. For example, uncheck Non-blood children to get a better visual of your timeline.

This Grouping feature is really helpful to see the links between the primary person and his/he relatives on a time scale.

See also the articles Family Timeline: Interface overview, Family Timeline: Smart search, Export a personal or family timeline or wheel for printing.