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NUMBERING SYSTEMS

© Christine Sievers

I have promised an article on numbering systems this week. This is one of the things that I have put off. I consider myself a fairly intelligent person. But, when it comes to genealogy numbering systems my brain begins to swim and my eyes glass over.

Let's face it though. As your family tree gains deeper roots and the branches stretch to numerous cousins, there is a need to incoporate some system that will keep them all straight.

As I searched the genealogy web for articles and help on numbering systems, I didn't find very many. I guess it is a topic that many don't want to tackle. There is no easy way to put down in words a numbering system, and there is no one numbering system that is the accepted practice by the entire genealogical community. Controversy rages about which one is best.

Nevertheless, it is important to be able to understand numbering systems when we read published genealogies. A numbering system used by a published genealogy and the one you use for your work in progress may be two different things. That is because as you work on your family tree you will be making new discoveries, and not all systems allow for additional branches without an entire rewrite of the numbers.

So, for what it is worth, here is what I am looking for in a numbering system that will fit my work in progress. I want one that will start with me, as I am still discovering ancestors. This will allow me to add down the line without renumbering. I also need one that will expand outward into cousin lines as they grow. Also, I feel that my female ancestors are as important as my male ancestors. The system I use must treat them equally. Finally, it needs to make sense to me. For all these purposes, the Ahnentafel system works best.

William Dollarhide gives a terrific introduction to this system in his article An Awful Ahnentafel.

But, it does not include cousin branches. His next article, Ahnentafels and Collaterals by the Numbers, shows how you can incoporate them, and why it is important. He continues with further variations in his next article, More On ID Numbers For Collaterals.

William Dollarhide wrote two other articles on numbering systems- Descendancy Numbering Systems (discusses the Register and the Modified Register System), and, The Henry System. These are descendancy systems that start with the oldest ancestor as #1.

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