HELP AND EXPLANATION PAGE

NUMBERING SYSTEM / CODES (Mine, Yours?)

So, you are confused about my numbering system. Understandably! But it's quite simple--really. I wanted every couple to have a single reference number that was family linked and I wanted this chart to be fairly close to my own system. (Give me a number and I can easily tell you everything I have on that person.)

I started with my parents: mom is '1' (since I started her line years before dad's) and dad is '2'. Next, using the ancestor chart (available from Everton Publishers), I lettered the couples--husbands and wives having the same number or letter (exceptions). Parents of spouses are always '0' and kids are listed in birth order (except direct ancestors). A-O are the first five generations, the sixth begins with the number 32. Clear as mud?

Examples : 2/A/23 == The third child of the second child born to my fathers parents. (2/ is my father, /A/ is his parents, 2 is the second born, 3 the third child born to the second born.)

1/B/401 == The first born child to the parents of the spouse of the fourth child born to my father's parents on my mothers line. (1/ is mother's line, B would be my grandparents--her father's line, 4 is fourth born, 0 is parents of the spouse of the fourth born, 1 is the first born.)

2/32b/12 == The second child of the eldest child of the second spouse of my father's g-g-g-g-grandfather. (The direct surname line, in this case.)

Okay, now try this one: 1/F/21ab30f2 The second child of the spouse's father's parents of the spouse of the third child from the second marriage of the first spouse of the first child of the second child of my mother's mother's father's parents. See how easy it is?*

My Codes: (Mine, Yours?)

Note: When a direct ancestor has married more than once, a or b would refer to the other (i.e. first or second whichever is the non-direct ancestor's) marriage.

Exceptions--Multiple spouses: a-d are the other spouses of an individual, capital letters (other than between slashes, i.e. /X/ ) represent spouses of spouses.

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Frequently asked questions:

Note: When a direct ancestor has married more than once, a or b would refer to the other (i.e. first or second whichever is the non-direct ancestor's) marriage.

*From the above example: this is not a real person because John Verhulst was only married once. Another example might be: 1/Aa/110 This would be Mr. & Mrs. Rubly, parents of George, spouse of Jean, daughter of John Dana, son of Alfred by his first (and non-direct ancestor) wife. There is no 1/Ab/1, since Ab is my direct ancestor--Mabel. All the children of Oriel and Morton start with the prefix 0.

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To Create your own codes, I would suggest the following:(Mine, Yours?)

Let A/ == Your parents. (Note: If you are researching both your line and a spouse's line, you could do 1/A for your parents and 2/A for your spouse's parents. Additionally 0/ could be for yourself and your family)
B/ and C/ == Your father's parents and mother's parents families respectively
D/ to G/ == Your great-grand parent's families
H/ to O/ == Your great-great-grand parent's families
/# == Child (in age order) born to parent (if not in direct line)
/0 == Parents of spouse
/f or m == Father's or mother's parents--Used only with spouses
/a == First spouse (Not used when first spouse is direct ancestor)
/aB== Second spouse of first spouse (if not in direct line)

Thus (assuming none of these are you):
A/3 would be your third born brother/sister while
A/14 would be a niece/nephew (the fourth child of the eldest in your family)
B/1 would be your aunt/uncle (father's parents first born child);
C/32 would be a first cousin (mother's parent's grandchild--the second born of the third born).
Ba/1b3 would also be a first cousin or half-cousin (the 'a' means your grandfather on your father's side 'B' married before he married your grandmother. The first born of that marriage was also married at least twice and had at least two children.)
G/30f12 is a cousin-in-law (if there were such a thing!). Your mother's mother's ('G') third child married. You know the spouse's ('0') grand-parents on his/her father's ('f') side had an eldest child who had at least two children.

The above examples then refer to relationships to your children. From the above examples:
A/3 and A/14 becomes your child's child and grandchild respectively.
B1 is your/your spouses (whichever is male) firstborn (assuming it was not the child chosen to create the chart--who is A).
C32 is your/your spouse's (whichever is female) grandchild.
Ba/1b3 is third child born to the second marriage of your/your spouse's (whichever is male) first born child from the first marriage.
G/30f12 now becomes your/your spouse's (whichever is female) mother's parents ('G') third child's spouse's ('0') grandparents on his/her father's side ('f') firstborn's ('1') second ('2') child.

HOPE THIS HELPS.

GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY HUNTING!

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