Sorry, my children and their offspring are the only exceptions to my rule. I number them 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 and so on. There are only five of them so it's not a problem. Their children are numbered 1-1-1, 1-1-2 or 1-2-1, 1-2-2 and so on. I suppose you could number yours PM1-1, PM1-2 and so on if you wanted to.
On the other hand, siblings follow the rules. I don't have any, but my husband has two brothers and a sister. He is the 3rd in the family. He's always R1. His parents are R2/3. So his eldest brother is R2/3-1 (the 1st child of R2/3), his sister is R2/3-2, then comes my husband R1 and his youngest brother is R2/3-4 (the 4th child in the family). Children are always numbered according to their parents number and their place in the family except for the direct ancestor. So my husbands grandparents on his father's side are R4/5. They had 10 children. My husband's father was the 7th child. So his siblings are numbered R4/5-1, R4/5-2, R4/5-3, R4/5-4, R4/5-5, R4/5-6, R4/5-8, R4/5-9, R4/5-10. Note there is no R4/5-7 as that is my husband's father' place and being a direct ancestor he has his own number of R2. If you follow two simple rules you should get the hang of it. First, each generation direct ancestor doubles the number of the first, so R1's father is R2 and his father is R4 and his father R8 and so on. Secondly each child takes their parents number plus their place in the family. So the first child of couple R8/9 will be R8/9-1. The only exception are the direct ancestors who retain their own number. It will always R# and no hyphens. One of my husband's 6 x great grandfathers is numbered R384. He had 4 children. They are numbered R384-1, R192, R384-3, R384-4. The second child is the direct ancestor so he has his own number, which is half that of his father. Multiple spouses are not a problem. My great-grandmother married twice. She and my great-grandfather were numbered P14/15. My parents were P2/3 - my mother being P3. (Forgot to mention that with the exception of Person 1, all males are even numbers and all females odd numbers) My mother's parents were P6/7 and my grandmother's parents were P14/15. It was the lady number P15 who married twice. Her first husband was my great-grandfather so he was numbered P14, but her second husband didn't get a number. Only blood relatives get numbers. So, for example, my husband's sister is numbered R2/3-2, but her husband doesn't have a number. So the fact that she happened to marry twice makes no difference. I hope that explains it in a way you can understand. It's a very easy system once you get used to it. If it isn't the Ahnentafel numbering system, it's pretty close to it and adapted from it. If you look up the word using Google, you might get a clearer explanation. Regards Patricia -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sondra Miller-Prowett Sent: 04 September 2005 21:39 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] organising records Patricia- I tried your numbering scheme and I ran into questions almost immediately...How do you number your children? How do you number your siblings? What about multiple spouses? In your scheme, I would be M1, my husband P1... would our children by M1/P1-1 and M1/P1-2? Then my in-laws would be P2 and P3 what about 2nd and 3rd spouses? Then my 1st brother in law, P2/3-2? and what is his wife's number? 2nd brother in law, P2/3-3... Children P2/3-2-1 and P2/3-2-2 I understand I think. Thanks in advance for the help, Sondra ----- Original Message ----- From: "Patricia" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 2:57 PM Subject: RE: [LegacyUG] organising records > I make hard copy of all my records and keep them in a cabinet in > hanging files. Each family is kept in a plastic sleeve. Their records > consist of a Family Group Sheet and copies of any relevant > certificates and other important material relating to that family. All > unmarried children stay with the family. When a member is married > he/she gets his own Family Group Sheet in his own plastic sleeve. > > I tried filing according to surname but as the files grew it didn't > work out well. So I started giving each person on my database a user > number. I think I read somewhere about the method of numbering (the > Ahnentafel system I think) but I'm not sure that I haven't adapted it > from what I read. As I'm researching two families - my husband's and > my own, I prefix each number with either R or P to represent our > names. My husband is R1 and I am P1. I have two drawers in my filing > cabinet. The R's go in one and the Ps in the other. Our parents are > R2/3 or P2/3, our four grandparents 4/5 and 6/7, our eight > great-grandparents 8/9 10/11 12/13 14/15, our sixteen > gr-gr-grandparents 16/17 18/19 etc - always with R or P in front. Each > generation doubles the number - 2 becomes 4, 3 becomes 6 and so on. > > Unless a child of a couple is a direct ancestor of No 1 they are > assigned a number according to their parental number and their order > of birth e.g. the children of couple number 4/5 would be 4/5-1, 4/5-2, > 4/5-3 and so on. The children of couple 4/5-3 would be numbered > 4/5-3-1, 4/5-3-2 and so on. > > Within my cabinet drawer, the first two hanging files hold all the > direct ancestors. The second file holds the descendants of those - > that is all the families with a #/#-#. The next file holds the > descendants of the previous file - that is all families with a > -#/#-#-# (4/5-3-2) and so one. In some cases I have up to 7 digits > after the main number. It may seem complicated, but it works fine for > me and I can find things easily. > > I enter the person's User ID into the field in their personal > information and have organised things so it shows in Family View. It > prints out on each Family Group sheet. At the top of the sheet I've > changed the heading to read HusbUID][CR][WifeUID][CR]Family Group > Record for [CoupleNames] > - that is Husbands User ID, carriage return, wife's User ID, carriage > return, Family Group Record for etc > > A person's lineage can be traced right back following the numbers, the > last digit in the number being their birth order. Remove that digit > and you have their parents number. Remove that digit and you have > their grandparents number and so on. > > If it seems too complicated it's because I haven't explained it well - > it really is a very simple and a very useful way to file many hundreds > of files. I have over 3000 individuals on my database and nearly 900 > families - all connected. I'd like to hear how other people cope with > their filing as there are probably better ways than mine out there. > Regards Patricia > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > Delice fox > Sent: 03 September 2005 07:59 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [LegacyUG] organising records > > > I am just wondering how you all organise your hard copy records? I > have 2 ringbinder files full of Legacy printouts, certificates, > letters etc & want to organise them so I can find what I want easily. > Should I put all the certificates together, letters together for > instance or keep the families separate/ Thanks for any help. Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
