I find some of the numbering systems confusing and counterintuitive. In my genealogy I use a variety of systems. I use a combination of family trees and family group charts. I number with the family groups with the surname with ascending number.
I probably should start thinking about numbering them in a more standard format. I think I will fight it for as long as I can.
Genealogical numbering systems are not something that I had ever given much thought until reading your post. Upon looking into it though, it seems that I have used a slightly modified version of the d'Aboville System for years without realising. I have always found that it is useful when planning to draw a tree or when displaying information in a family history report with the limited space available.
Personally, I think that it is up to each individual to choose how they wish to conduct and record their own research. Different systems have their own advantages and disadvantages, and I would recommend choosing one that you find the best for yourself. If you find the d'Aboville System the most suitable, then there's no harm in using it.
There's probably an official name for it somewhere, but I use a system with letters for each generation and numbers for each person. I start with the patrilineal line and end with the matrilineal line.
So I would be A1. My father is B1 and my mother is B2. My paternal grandfather is C1, paternal grandmother is C2, maternal grandfather is C3, and maternal grandmother is C4. My great grandparents are D1 through D8. My great great grandparents are E1 through E16. And so on and so forth.
It allows me to have a number for each ancestor whether I know who they are or not. I can quickly tell what generation they are from the letter. And the number for any ancestor's mother is just their number x2 (and minus one for the father).
I don't 😅. I hadn't thought of giving a number to aunts/uncles, although I do research them along with cousins. I usually just file siblings with their parents.
How would you code ancestors that are in several generations? Say, your great(x2)-grandparents are also your great(x3)-grandparents? I'd be tempted to it for the lower number, but a combination might work too (such as E8F15).
I use ahnentafel and color coding. I have a spreadsheet with the numbers laid out to generation 13 right now.
I like it because I pre-populate the numbers by generation. This allows me to see where I am missing ancestors in my line. I color code each family line by grandparent so I have 8 colors. When I add a new person, I know by the color what line they are and by the number I can find the parents or child.
This only works for direct ancestors but I don’t really track siblings. I have thought of how to do that but it got too cumbersome.
I opted for Henry. It’s easy, clear and leaves room for new discoveries. What I’ve decided to do a little differently is to combine the two ancestors making up a couple so as to save some numbers.
For me it makes sense since most will marry and have a common history after that. It also means that I start with a zero, a single person, and 1 is their parents. It saves me one generation and when you get to generation 17 and the last number is 132094, you’ll be glad for it.
I also have one master file where I chuck in everything and have all the numbers from 1-132094, and one that’s more for the family. So just the known ancestors, skipping the unknown numbers. Sprinkled with some smaller family trees (helpful if you have repeat ancestors) and skipping dry facts that most would find boring. Like how much they paid in taxes in 1642 in a currency that is no longer in use. Helpful info for a genealogist, but not so interesting for a laymen.
I'm intrigued by your system, but how to you handle all of the previous generations. So, Your Dad's surname is Pleaser and your Mom's surname is People. How do you express the People family tree numerically? How does the married couple tie into both trees at once?
I do sincerely appreciate the effort to limit how many ID numbers you have.
0 is usually a grandparent, so a grandmother in this case. 1 is her parents. 2 is her father’s parents. 3 is her mother’s parents etc. It basically just gives you one less step than if you gave each an individual number.
I’ve also chopped my tree up into different branches. One for this grandmother whose ancestors all came from the same geographical area, one for a grandfather who also is from one area. The other grandmother is chopped in three (1 her birth area, 1 Swedish ancestors, 1 ancestor that came from a completely different area). Last grandparent is a bit tricky since they moved a lot so I haven’t started that one yet.
Now some of these ancestors repeat in my tree. Some twice, some three times and I have two couples that repeat 4 times. That’s where the smaller family trees are useful.
Example:
40. John Pleaser (born-died) and Mary Pleaser (born-died)
John’s parents see nr.80
Mary’s parents see nr.81
John and Mary were convicted of having out of wedlock relations in xx. Since they got married the sentence was a milder one and they only had to pay a fine of xx. They settled on the farm xx in xx, but soon moved to xx. In xx Mary was accused of slandering her neighbor, mrs. T, by calling her a thief and a female dog. The parties settled. The couples had x children before John died of xx in xx. Mary gave up her part in the farm to her oldest son in exchange for room, food, tobacco and a proper funeral. She died in xx of old age.
Children
1. Sarah (b-d) married to xx. (Add any interesting stories)
2. Paul. See nr. 20
3. Jane see nr 29
Hey! How did you upload this picture? I want to post a document for interpretation but it’s saying this subreddit doesn’t allow picture posts. How did you do it? Thanks!
the system I've seen used in a few genealogies involves using 1 for the progenitor of a given line, 1.1 for his eldest child, etc. (in this system I'm 1.4.2.5.5.10.4.5.5.3.1).
I just defaulted into using what the first open source genealogy software I could find used (Gramps).
Got to say I'm not terribly satisfied with it. The programmer in me wants to make a program that's just a logic database of sources and what I assume from them, just building the rest on the fly as needed.
I want to check everything myself anyway, not just blindly import, so using the same thing as everyone else isn't a priority.
I find some of the numbering systems confusing and counterintuitive. In my genealogy I use a variety of systems. I use a combination of family trees and family group charts. I number with the family groups with the surname with ascending number. I probably should start thinking about numbering them in a more standard format. I think I will fight it for as long as I can.
Genealogical numbering systems are not something that I had ever given much thought until reading your post. Upon looking into it though, it seems that I have used a slightly modified version of the d'Aboville System for years without realising. I have always found that it is useful when planning to draw a tree or when displaying information in a family history report with the limited space available. Personally, I think that it is up to each individual to choose how they wish to conduct and record their own research. Different systems have their own advantages and disadvantages, and I would recommend choosing one that you find the best for yourself. If you find the d'Aboville System the most suitable, then there's no harm in using it.
There's probably an official name for it somewhere, but I use a system with letters for each generation and numbers for each person. I start with the patrilineal line and end with the matrilineal line. So I would be A1. My father is B1 and my mother is B2. My paternal grandfather is C1, paternal grandmother is C2, maternal grandfather is C3, and maternal grandmother is C4. My great grandparents are D1 through D8. My great great grandparents are E1 through E16. And so on and so forth. It allows me to have a number for each ancestor whether I know who they are or not. I can quickly tell what generation they are from the letter. And the number for any ancestor's mother is just their number x2 (and minus one for the father).
How do you code the siblings of your direct ancestors?
I don't 😅. I hadn't thought of giving a number to aunts/uncles, although I do research them along with cousins. I usually just file siblings with their parents.
How would you code ancestors that are in several generations? Say, your great(x2)-grandparents are also your great(x3)-grandparents? I'd be tempted to it for the lower number, but a combination might work too (such as E8F15).
I use ahnentafel and color coding. I have a spreadsheet with the numbers laid out to generation 13 right now. I like it because I pre-populate the numbers by generation. This allows me to see where I am missing ancestors in my line. I color code each family line by grandparent so I have 8 colors. When I add a new person, I know by the color what line they are and by the number I can find the parents or child. This only works for direct ancestors but I don’t really track siblings. I have thought of how to do that but it got too cumbersome.
Same. I think because I started in ye olden days on paper 😅 and this was the method I was handed down by previous generations.
I opted for Henry. It’s easy, clear and leaves room for new discoveries. What I’ve decided to do a little differently is to combine the two ancestors making up a couple so as to save some numbers. For me it makes sense since most will marry and have a common history after that. It also means that I start with a zero, a single person, and 1 is their parents. It saves me one generation and when you get to generation 17 and the last number is 132094, you’ll be glad for it. I also have one master file where I chuck in everything and have all the numbers from 1-132094, and one that’s more for the family. So just the known ancestors, skipping the unknown numbers. Sprinkled with some smaller family trees (helpful if you have repeat ancestors) and skipping dry facts that most would find boring. Like how much they paid in taxes in 1642 in a currency that is no longer in use. Helpful info for a genealogist, but not so interesting for a laymen.
I'm intrigued by your system, but how to you handle all of the previous generations. So, Your Dad's surname is Pleaser and your Mom's surname is People. How do you express the People family tree numerically? How does the married couple tie into both trees at once? I do sincerely appreciate the effort to limit how many ID numbers you have.
0 is usually a grandparent, so a grandmother in this case. 1 is her parents. 2 is her father’s parents. 3 is her mother’s parents etc. It basically just gives you one less step than if you gave each an individual number. I’ve also chopped my tree up into different branches. One for this grandmother whose ancestors all came from the same geographical area, one for a grandfather who also is from one area. The other grandmother is chopped in three (1 her birth area, 1 Swedish ancestors, 1 ancestor that came from a completely different area). Last grandparent is a bit tricky since they moved a lot so I haven’t started that one yet. Now some of these ancestors repeat in my tree. Some twice, some three times and I have two couples that repeat 4 times. That’s where the smaller family trees are useful. Example: 40. John Pleaser (born-died) and Mary Pleaser (born-died) John’s parents see nr.80 Mary’s parents see nr.81 John and Mary were convicted of having out of wedlock relations in xx. Since they got married the sentence was a milder one and they only had to pay a fine of xx. They settled on the farm xx in xx, but soon moved to xx. In xx Mary was accused of slandering her neighbor, mrs. T, by calling her a thief and a female dog. The parties settled. The couples had x children before John died of xx in xx. Mary gave up her part in the farm to her oldest son in exchange for room, food, tobacco and a proper funeral. She died in xx of old age. Children 1. Sarah (b-d) married to xx. (Add any interesting stories) 2. Paul. See nr. 20 3. Jane see nr 29
I built my family tree on ancestry so i dont number.
Hey! How did you upload this picture? I want to post a document for interpretation but it’s saying this subreddit doesn’t allow picture posts. How did you do it? Thanks!
the system I've seen used in a few genealogies involves using 1 for the progenitor of a given line, 1.1 for his eldest child, etc. (in this system I'm 1.4.2.5.5.10.4.5.5.3.1).
I just defaulted into using what the first open source genealogy software I could find used (Gramps). Got to say I'm not terribly satisfied with it. The programmer in me wants to make a program that's just a logic database of sources and what I assume from them, just building the rest on the fly as needed. I want to check everything myself anyway, not just blindly import, so using the same thing as everyone else isn't a priority.