Standard Lineages Project

The Augustan Society, Inc., uses lineages for a variety of purposes. To this end, it is useful to have a single unified description of the format in which these lineages are to be kept.

There is, at resent, one proposal for such a standard, which follows. Be advised that it does not have the unanimous support of the Genealogy Committee, nor has it been reviewed by the other committees and departments which may have need of it.

Proposed Lineage Standard #1

It is proposed that the Standard Lineage Format will consist of three sections:

1. The Lineage chart, with numbered references to sources for each generation;
2. The Source table, with each source cited according to the Chicago Manual of Style; and
3. The Original Materials section, which is optional, with copies of such original sources as birth certificates, legal actions, etc.

The Lineage Chart

The chart is to consist of four columns with one row for each generation listed:

1. Numbers for each generation, with the oldest generation being "1".
2. The name of the progenitor or descendant, along with birth, marriage, and death dates and locations. Christening or infant baptism may substitute for birth and burial for death dates if those are not available.
3. The name of the spouse of the progenitor or descendant, along with birth and death dates and locations as above.
4. References to the sources used to document the data in each generation. Simple numeric references are usually best save for the very largest and most complex lists.

The Sources Table

This table is a list of sources used in the lineage in the style of the Chicago Manual of Style, arranged alphabetically by author and title. The list should usually be numbered sequentially. Each number in the Lineage Chart should have a corresponding source in the Sources Table, and no source should be unused in the Lineage Chart.

Original Material Section

It is recognized that not all valid sources are readily available to researchers. This optional section provides for the inclusion of copies of documents not readily accessible to the scholar (read: "Genealogy Committee").

Examples of such documents may include family bibles, personal correspondence, and certificates from agencies no longer in possession of the records or from whom it is unreasonably difficult or expensive to obtain copies.

These items must be listed in the Sources Table and linked to the Lineage Chart in the same manner as other sources.

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