Standard Lineage Format
In order that the various committees of The Augustan Society, Inc., may work together smoothly, a Standard Lineage Format has been designated. While it would be nice if petitioners submitted lineages in this format, that's not likely to be common practice. As a result, all lineages received will be sent to the Genealogy Committee to be converted into the Standard Lineage Format.
The Standard Lineage Format consists of three sections:
Section one is a table with four columns:
- Generation number
- Ancestor (with vital statistics)
- Spouse of Ancestor (with vital statistics), desirable, but optional
- Sources (numbers referring to items in the following sections)
The oldest ancestor listed should be identified as Generation #1 on the first line, with each successive generation following. There have been objections to this by those who feel the most recent descendant should be Generation #1, but that makes more difficult the comparison of lineages descending from the same ancestor, and requires renumbering should another generation be born.
The "vital statistics" mentioned above include dates and places of birth, marriage, and death. If this data is unavailable, baptism, christening, publishing of banns, or burial may be substituted.
Section two is a bibliography of sources. It may be in any order, but the preferred order is alphabetically by author. Full citation following the Chicago style is needed. Web sites must have the complete URL, date accessed, the titles of the page and website, and the author. Citations to the Internet are still new, with many varied proposed standards being promulgated. Tolerance for variation will be extended so long as the data above are included. Note too that citations to the Internet Archive are also acceptable, and are required when a site has been taken down.
Wikipedia is presently an acceptable source for such historical figures as may be found there. This will require a separate citation to each page referenced.
Section three is a collection of copies of difficult sources. This is generally used for birth certificates, copies of family bibles, letters, and other sources that a competent researcher could not be expected to easily find otherwise. The section should begin with a list of the sources included, again following the Chicago style. This section is optional, and it is not required that copies of all sources be provided.
The preferred format for lineage submissions is as an electronic text file in one of the common formats, with ODT preferred. PDF files are not acceptable as they cannot be edited; paper is.
Note that due to privacy concerns, no proof of events happening after the most recently released US Census (presently 1950) is required. Submission of such recent data about individuals other than the petitioner is discouraged.
