Ahnentafel System tracks ancestors

Keeping ancestors organized is no small task. A logical and universally recognized numbering system is one good way to quickly spot exactly where a person falls in the family scheme.

The Ahnentafel System (German for ancestor table — sometimes called a pedigree chart) is logical and very simple for numbering the ancestors of a specific person.

It is important to keep in mind that ancestors are those individuals from whom a specific person descended. There is no room on this chart for collateral relatives (sometimes erroneously referred to as "ancestors") such as aunts, uncles and cousins. An Ahnentafel will identify only an individual's parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.

No. 1 on the Ahnentafel table will be the researcher putting his family together. From there the guiding rule is that each father's number is two times that of his child. The child's mother will be two times plus one. So No. 1's father will be No. 2 (2 x 1 = 2) and No. 1's mother will be No. 3 (2 x 1 + 1 = 3).

No. 1's paternal grandfather will be No. 4 (2 x 2) and the paternal great-grandfather will No. 8 (2 x 4).

Using my ancestor table as an example, following is how all the numbers will line up. Males will always be even numbers and females will always be odd numbers.

Sharon Tate (me)

Barnett William Tate (father of No. 1)

Mae Anna O'Neal (mother of No. 1 and wife of No. 2)

John Wesley Tate (paternal grandfather of No. 1 – father of No. 2)

Effie Lydia Blankenship (paternal grandmother of No. 1 – mother of No. 2, wife of No. 4)

Marion Carroll O'Neal (maternal grandfather of No. 1 – father of No. 3)

Eula Eva James (maternal grandmother of No. 1 – mother of No. 3, wife of No. 6)

Joseph I. Tate (paternal great-grandfather of No. 1 – father of No. 4)

Elizabeth Louisiana Stansell (paternal great-grandmother of No. 1 – mother of No. 4, wife of No. 8)

William Lindsey Blankenship (paternal great-grandfather of No. 1 – father of No. 5)

Cynthia Jane Hulsey (paternal great-grandmother of No. 1 – mother of No. 5, wife of No. 10)

James Thomas O'Neal (maternal great-grandfather of No. 1 – father of No. 6)

Mary Frances Carroll (maternal great-grandmother of No. 1 – mother of No. 6, wife of No. 12)

Harvey Devereaux James (maternal great-grandfather of No. 1 – father of No. 7)

Mary Ann Thompson (maternal great-grandmother of No. 1 – mother of No. 7 and wife of No. 14)

By remembering the rule that a father is two times the number of the child, we could pull No. 4 John Wesley Tate and No. 5 Effie Lydia Blankenship out of the table and out of context and be able to make the statement that they were married and were the parents of whoever was No. 2 in the table.

When a researcher begins his work, this may not seem important, but within a few generations the importance of understanding this numbering system will become very apparent. It will allow anyone to quickly put individuals into perspective and in their own unique places in a family pedigree chart (or table).

Join me at the Saturday meeting of the Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa) for a lecture on "Developing a Strategy for Research Success: How to Analyze Your Evidence and Plan the Next Step." The meeting will be at 11 a.m. in the auditorium of the John F. Germany Library, 900 N. Ashley Drive, Tampa.

Tampa Chapter 113 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy will meet at 10:45 a.m. Jan. 14 at the Tampa Yacht Club, 5320 Interbay Blvd. Historian and author Robert Brookover will speak on "General Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson: The Lore." For more information, contact the group's publicity chairman at pooh1314@verizon.net.