When  I use the word "knew" in the following text, it means that the persons named who "knew" each other were alive at the same time at an adult age.  I created this chart based on life spans and the age that someone had a son as told in the Old Testament.  The years are rough because if someone was a certain age.....he was that age during any length of the year in which it occurred.  I made this chart to help me understand the continuity and accuracy of the information that was passed on...and to get a rough idea of how long it has been from Adam's fall to our current time.  I was particularly interested in how many 1,000 year periods have passed since that time.  (A thousand years to us is one day for our Lord's time.)

It is amazing to realize due to the length of the lifespans how "first hand" this history was all the way down to Jacob's 12 sons....even tho it was not recorded until much later than Adam's time on earth....at least on any documents that we have found to date.  When you see the overlapping colored "rings" representing someone's lifespan below, starting with near the bottom of the chart when Joseph died (somewhere around the year 2,309 from when Adam was kicked out of the Garden), you can see One,..... Two, ......Three intersecting lifespans covering the time from Joseph to those who knew Adam.  From the bottom working up to Adams time....One being Joseph's....Two being Jacob's....Three being Shem's(Noah's son).....who knew Methuselah for 99 years.....who knew Adam for over 240 years. 

Shem (Noah's son) was born pre-flood and knew Methuselah, and Lamech, (both of whom knew Adam); and Noah, Terah (Abraham's father), Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph's father Jacob (son of Isaac), (Jacob died in Egypt about 280 years before Aaron and Moses were born).  Shem also knew first hand the conditions that existed prior to the flood when angels were breeding with human daughters.

Adam knew Enoch, and Enoch's son Methuselah.  Methuselah, (Who was 247 yrs old when Adam died.) also knew Noah for 600 years, and Noah's son Shem for about 100 years.  Noah (who had first hand accounts of Adam through Methuselah) knew Abraham for about 60 years. Noah's son, Shem knew Abraham for all of Abraham's 175 years, outliving Abraham for an additional 35 years.   Shem was still alive when Abraham's son Isaac was born and when Isaac's son, Jacob, was born.  Isaac was 110 years old and Jacob was 50 years old when Shem died.   

So....this information regarding Adam and the times of Noah came down very first hand all the way down to Jacob who passed the information on to his 12 sons.....who founded the 12 tribes of Israel.
 
 
 

CHART OF DAYS----OLD TESTAMENT (ADAM THROUGH THE 40 DAYS OF WILDERNESS)

       Timeless Zone                                                                      GREAT VOID----SPIRIT REALM
       Timeless Zone                                                           UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF YEARS OF DARK
       Timeless Zone                                                           UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF YEARS OF LIGHT.
 
                                            ? 6000 Yrs. ? UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF YEARS OF THE FIRST" 6 DAYS OF CREATION OF THE EARTH AND THE LIFE ON IT.  
                                            ????  (7th DAY?) UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF YEARS ADAM LIVED IN EDEN WHERE EVE WAS CREATED. (Possessing Eternal Life til they Sinned.  
        Time Countdown Starts 0 ADAM lost eternal life and was put out of the Garden with Eve. (lived 930 yrs. Outside of the Garden of Eden) The time that Adam spent in the Garden was "eternal".....as there was no death curse on the earth at that time.  Affectively, man's time had not started,.......until Adam was kicked out of the Garden.  
             PRE-FLOOD TIMES ? CAIN & ABLE                                                  (Beginning of 1st 1,000 Yr.Period)  
                      130 SETH (lived 912 yrs.)
  235 ENOSH (lived 905 yrs.)
  325 CAINAN (lived 910 yrs.)
  395 MAHALALALEL (lived 895 yrs.)
  460 JARED (lived 962 yrs.)
                                  622 ENOCH (walked on earth with God for 365 yrs. Before being taken up.) TRESPASSING
    687 METHUSELAH (lived 969 yrs.)                                                               ANGELS
                        874 LAMECH (lived 777 yrs.)                                                                     MARRYING
                                            930 ADAM DIED                                                                                 THE DAUGHTERS  
  987 ENOCH TAKEN AWAY                                    (End of 1st 1,000 Yr.Period)     OF MAN
  1042 SETH DIED                                                     (Beginning of 2nd 1,000 Yr.Period)
                                      1056 NOAH BORN (lived 950 yrs.) (knew Methuselah, Lamech, and Abraham and Isaac)
  1140 ENOSH DIED
  1235 CAINAN DIED
  1290 MAHALALALEL DIED
  1422 JARED DIED
                                            1558 SHEM, NOAH's SON (Shem was 100 when he sired Arphaxad) (knew Noah, Methuselah, Lamech, and on to Abraham, Isaac.)  
                                  1558 + NOAH HAD HAM AND JAPHETH
          1651 LAMECH DIED
                                  1656 METHUSELAH DIED
                 FLOOD PERIOD   1656 FLOOD  
  1657 FLOOD COVERS ENTIRE EARTH (1656 - 1657..about a year)
  1658 ARPHAXAD BORN (SHEM'S SON) (lived 438 yrs.) (Noah still alive.)
    1693 SALAH BORN (ARPHAXAD'S SON) (lived 433 yrs.) (Noah still alive.)
    1723 EBER (lived 464 yrs.) (Noah still alive.)
    1757 PELEG (lived 239 yrs.) (Noah still alive.)
    1787 REU (lived 239 yrs.) (Noah still alive.)
    1819 SERUG (lived 230 yrs.) (Noah still alive.)
    1849 NAHOR (lived 148 yrs.) (Noah still alive.)
                        1878 TERAH (lived 205 yrs.) (Noah still alive.)
                                      1948 ABRAM/Abraham (lived 175 yrs) (Noah still alive.)
  1996 PELEG DIED    
                                          1997 NAHOR DIED
                  2006 NOAH DIED                                                                   (End of 2nd 1,000 Yr.Period)
                  2026 REU DIED                                                                       (Beginning of 3rd 1,000 Yr.Period)
                  2034 ISHMAEL BORN
                  2048 ISAAC (ISRAEL)BORN (lived 180 yrs.)
   2049 SERUG DIED
                   2083  TERAH DIED      ----
                                        2088 ISAAC MARRIED REBEKAH
    2096 ARPHAXAD DIED
                    2108 JACOB/Israel (lived 147) and ESAU BORN  (Noah's son Shem is still alive when they turn 50.)   
                    2123 ABRAM DIED
                    2126 SALAH DIED
                                      2158 SHEM DIED
                                    2171 ISHMAEL DIED
                      2187 EBER DIED
                2199 JOSEPH BORN (lived 110)  (Joseph's Grandfather, Isaac, who knew Noah's preflood son Shem, was still alive when at 17 Joseph was taken to Egypt as a slave.)
  2216 JOSEPH TAKEN TO EGYPT when 17yrs.  (Gen.37:2) 
              2228 ISAAC (ISRAEL)DIED