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Archiver > APG > 2006-07 > 1152032724


From: "Mills" <>
Subject: RE: [APG] Numbering system question
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 12:05:24 -0500
In-Reply-To: <005801c69f69$fb0c2f20$0a02a8c0@Mandi>


Bill wrote:
>I have several cases where the family originated in Europe, was there for
several generations, then immigrated to the US for several generations, then
moved to Canada for several more generations, then one child moved back to
the US and that family continues to live there, while the remaining family
stayed in Canada. My question is on how the generations should be numbered?
>In their book on numbering systems -- Curran, Joan F., Madilyn Coen Crane,
and John H. Wray. _Numbering Your Genealogy: Basic Systems, Complex
Families, and International Kin._ Arlington: National Genealogical Society,
1999. -- the authors discuss using numbers for the generations in America
and alpha characters for those generations that are pre-American.
>Reading the final chapter, it appears that Wray is suggesting that
pre-American generations should really be considered pre-North American, and
American generations should be considered North American generations for the
purpose of numbering. It would follow that pre-[North] American generations
would be assigned upper-case alpha characters and any [North] American
generations should be given Arabic numbers, irrespective of whether they
lived in the US or Canada.
>Is this an accurate inference from the book?


Pretty much. Except instead of interpreting the system to apply only to
"pre-[North] American generations" and "North American generations," the
system can be applied to any locations. I would state the distinction this
way:
-- For roots in the country of origin, the superscript generation "number"
appears in upper-case alpha characters (the traditional use for pre-American
roots of American families) for each direct ancestor.
-- For offspring who immigrated and their descendants, the superscript
generation number appears in Arabic, irrespective of where they migrated.

Beyond that, the system also has variations that allow us to assign
distinctive generation numbers to non-immigrating lines within the country
of origin.

Incidentally, for those who are not familiar with the background of the
Crane, Curran, and Wray publication, each of the three chapters originated
as a mid-90s article in the NGSQ, designed to explain the NGSQ Numbering
System.

Curran's first chapter presents the "classic" NGSQ System, which some
software erroneously calls a "Modified Register" or "Record" system.
(Neither the Register nor the Record uses this format and the Register
System is now, itself, a modification of the original Register System.)
Crane and Wray's contributions to the NGSQ System represent an expansion of
the classic system to accommodate modern genealogy's broader treatment of
families in cases such as Bill's complex-migrations, in adoptions and foster
situations, etc.


Elizabeth
-----------------------------------------------------

Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG
1987-2002 editor, *National Genealogical Society Quarterly*
Current member, NGSQ Advisory Board

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