The W.M.V.G.S.N.S.

 

The William Mortensen Vaughan Genealogical Spreadsheet Numbering System (W.M.V.G.S.N.S., pronounced "whim-va-JISS-in-us")

To identify my forebears and relatives, I have developed my own code, using characters which are used in URLs. It is also based on a spreadsheet. Each letter or combination of letters representing the columns represents a generation. Each forebear is listed in the order that it would appear on a horizontal pedigree chart, starting with my father on top. So my parents are A1 and A2, A1 being my father, and A2 being my mother. My paternal grandfather is B1; my paternal grandmother, B2; my maternal grandfather, B3; and my maternal grandmother, B4; and so on.

    [nothing] or ' = spouse; e.g., 1 is my first wife, María del Lourdes Bentos Balkon, and 2 is my second wife, Libertad Green. A2'2 is my mother's second husband; her first husband is my father, A1.

    ~ = "upstream"; e.g., A2'2~A1 is the father of the second husband of my mother

    ! highlights a relationship which is in doubt; e.g., E1! is perhaps my 3Xs great-grandfather, but it's doubtful
 

    @ adoptive parent or child; e.g., 2@A1 would be my second wife's adoptive father; @E15 and @E16, my great-great-grandmother, Lizzie Lambert's adoptive father and mother; A1A2@1, my adopted sibling, if I were to have one (I didn't)
 

    $ slave; e.g., G5$Jean is a slave named "Jean," owned by my 5Xs great-grandfather, John Foley O'Bannon-338, Sr. Names are used, if known; numbers are assigned - odd for males, even for females, in order of age (or listing, if names and ages are unavailable); e.g., G5$1 would, hypothetically, be the oldest male slave of my 3Xs great grandfather, or the first male slave listed, if his age were unknown.

 
    & = a polygamous spouse, numbered in order of marriage; e.g., C5&1 is the first wife of my great grandfather, who was in a polygamous relationship with him; C6 is his second wife, but, more importantly, my great grandmother. (Yes, one of my great-grandfathers was a Mormon polygamist, named Morten Peder Andersen, a.k.a. Morten Peter Mortensen.)
                                           

    _ = (used as a place holder)

    ( = years in parentheses indicate approximate year lived B.C., A.D., or Y.A. (years ago); for examples: 

(20BC-100AD) would indicate a birth circa 20 B.C., and a death circa 100 A.D.;

 (250BC-100BC), a year of birth circa 250 B.C., and a death circa 100 B.C.; 

(10000YA), a year lived, circa 8000 B.C.

    ) = (See open parenthesis above.)

    - = divorcee; e.g., 1~A2-1 would, hypothetically, be the first husband of my first wife's mother, whom she divorced

    + extramarital mate; e.g., 2~A1+3 would, hypothetically, be the third person with whom my first wife's father had an extramarital affair

 
    [ = Characters in brackets represent people in an unknown relationship with the person represented by the preceding characters; e.g., E4[Mary Jonston] is Mary Jonston, whose relationship with my 3Xs great grandmother is uncertain.

    ] (See open bracket above.)

    , = an illegitimate child; e.g., D13,1 would, hypothetically, be the firstborn but illegitimate child of a certain, maternal, 2Xs great grandfather

    . = a legitimate child; e.g., A2'2.1 & A2'2.2 would be the first and second legitimate children of my mother's second husband

A Growing List of Code Names for My Relatives

__1.................María del Lourdes Bentos Balkon
__2.................Libertad Green
_A1.................William Knowlton Vaughan
_A2.................Merle Mortensen
_A2'2...............Ralph Lavene Allen, Sr.
_A2'2'1.............Johanna Marie Meenderink
_A2'2'1.1...........Ralph Lavene Allen, Jr.
_A2'2'1.2...........Carol Loretta Allen
_A2'2'1.2'1.........John Koegler
_A2'2'1.2'1.1.......Ramona Koegler
_B1.................William Swift Vaughan
_B1'1.2.............Sidney Knowlton Vaughan
_B1'1.2'1...........Charlotte Allaben Vaughan
_B1'1.2'1~A1........Max Fenimore Allaben
_B1'1.2'1~A2........Flora Elizabeth Solfisburg Allaben  
_B1'1.2'1.1.........David Sidney Vaughan
_B1'1.2'1.2.........Warren Charles Vaughan
_B2.................Maud Osborn Knowlton
_B3'1...............Hulda Amelia Smith
_B3'1.1.............Amelia LaBlanche "Blanche" Mortensen
_B3'1.1'1...........Wallace Wight Pulsipher
_B3'1.1'1.1.........Ruth Pulsipher
_B3'1.1'1.1'1.......Mick Nelson
_B3'1.1'1.2.........Sylvia Pulsipher
_B3'1.1'1.3.........Marian Pulsipher
_B3'1.1.3'1.........Robert S. Hope, Sr.
_B3'1.1.3.2.........Trudena Hope
_B3'1.1.3.3.........Dale Hope
_B3'1.1.3.4.........Valerie Hope
_B3'1.2.............Loyal Roland Mortensen
|B3'1.3.............Sylvia Lavon Mortensen
_B3'1.4.............Hyrum Smith Mortensen
_B3'1.4'1...........Ila Burton
_B3'1.4'1...........Gary Burton Mortensen
_B3'1.5.............Clara Leola Mortensen
_B3'1.5'1...........Arthur Leon Murray, Sr.
_B3'1.5'1.1.........Arthur Leon Murray, Jr.
_B3'1.5'1.2.........James Roland Murray
_B3'1.6.............Hulda Josephine Mortensen
_B3'1.7.............Milton Parker Mortensen
_B3'1.7'1...........Nancy Anastasia Wapensky
_B3'1.7'1.1.........Mary Ann Mortensen
_B3'1.8.............Roland Nels Mortensen
_B3'1.9.............Maynard Lamar Mortensen
_B3'1.10............Marian Christena Mortensen
_C1.................Luther Clay Vaughan-4000
_C2.................Mary Catharine Swift
_C1'1.4.............Rutherford Birchard Vaughan, a.k.a. Dewitt Rutherford Vaughan
_C1'1.4'1...........Mary McDonald Evans
_C1'1.4'1.1.........Virgil Birchard Vaughan (GWVM-S8T)
_C1'1.4'1.1'1.......Virgil Birchard Vaughan's first wife, Elmira Elsie Hamel (MWJP-H3H) married 8 Jun 1921, Cook County, Illinois
_C1'1.4'1.1'1.1.....Elaine Marie Vaughan (GW8M-9CP)
_C1'1.4'1.1'2.......Virgil Birchard Vaughan's second wife, Rose Katherine Kuczborski (GWVM-ZSB) married 27 Aug 1925, Cook County, Illinois
_C1'1.4'1.1'2.1.....Birchard "Bert" George Vaughan (GWVM-3QS)
_C1'1.4'1.1'2.1'1...Birchard "Bert" George Vaughan's wife (GCL9-31C)
_C1'1.4'1.1'2.1'1.1.....Duane Wesley Vaughan (GCLM-FX4)
_C1'1.4'1.1'2.1'1.1'1...Leslie (GCLM-R7F)
_C1'1.4'1.1'2.2.....Catherine Vaughan (GCLM-X7L)
_C1'1.4'1.1'2.3.....Winifred  Vaughan (GCLM-23G)
_C5.................Morten Peder Andersen
_C5'2.2.............Amelia Christina Mortensen Jensen