A suggestion from one of our members:

Most people probably know this method of recording direct ancestors but if not it's something I find very straightforward and easy to refer to - a way of displaying all direct ancestors that's been used since the 16thcentury.

Every ancestor is numbered and the person whose ancestry is being shown is always number 1.
The parents will then be 2 and 3 and the grandparents 4, 5, 6 and 7.

The simplicity of the system is that all the even numbers are male and all the odd numbers after 1 are female.

The first number of each generation is always that of the number of ancestors in that generation and the parents of any individual can easily be found by doubling that individual's number.

Below is an example for 5 generations including unknown individuals (who still have an individual number) and intermarriages where '=' can be used to show that the individual appears elsewhere.



FIRST GENERATION (Self)
1. John Smith b 1960 England

SECOND GENERATION (Parents)
2. Henry Smith b 1935 England
3. Mary Jones b 1935 England

THIRD GENERATION (Grandparents)
4. William Smith b 1910 England
5. Alice Bloggs b 1910 England
6. Lawrence Jones b 1910 Wales
7. Bertha Riley b 1910 Ireland

FOURTH GENERATION (great grandparents)
8. unknown father
9. Margaret Smith b 1885 England
10. George Bloggs b 1885 England
11. Louisa Williams b 1885 England
12. James Jones b 1885 Wales
13. Annie Davis b 1885 Wales
14. Daniel Riley b 1885 Ireland
15. Blanche Davis b 1885 Wales

FIFTH GENERATION (great x 1 grandparents)
16-17 unknown
18. Jacob Smith b 1860 England
19. Agnes McGregor b 1860 Scotland
20. Joseph Bloggs b 1860 England
21. Jane Hill b 1860 England
22. unknown father
23. Mary Williams b 1860 England
24. David Jones
25. unknown
26 = 30 Joseph Davis b 1860 Wales
27 = 31 Christian Powell b 1860 Wales
28. Cornelius Riley b 1860 Ireland
29. Julia Sullivan b 1860 Ireland
30 = 26 Joseph Davis b 1860 Wales
31 = 27 Christian Powell b 1860 Wales

Hope it's of use to someone - I've been using it for years and helps me a lot.

Asa

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