What is a Tiny Tafel? What is an ahnentafel? These two questions get asked often on CompuServe's Genealogy Forum. This text file will attempt to answer the questions and provide some background information. The two terms sound a lot alike, but actually describe two entirely different methods of logging ancestral information. Ahnentafels have been around for over 100 years, whereas Tiny Tafels were first described in 1986. Ahnentafel Ahnentafel is actually a German word that literally translates as "ancestor table". It is a list of all known ancestors of an individual and includes the full name of each ancestor as well as dates and places of birth, marriage and death. It also has a strict numbering scheme. Once the reader is accustomed to ahnentafels, it becomes very easy to read these lists, move up and down from parent to child and back again, etc. The numbering scheme is the key to it all. To visualize the numbers, consider this typical pedigree chart: 8. greatgrandfather 4. paternal grandfather-| | 9. great grandmother 2. Father--| | | 10. greatgrandfather | 5. paternal grandmother-| | 11. greatgrandmother | 1. Person-| | | 12. greatgrandfather | 6. maternal grandfather-| | | 13. greatgrandmother 3. Mother--| | 14. greatgrandfather 7. maternal grandmother-| 15. greatgrandfather Carefully observe the numbers in the above chart. You will notice that every person listed has a number and that there is a mathematical relationship amongst parents and children. The number of a father is always double that of the child's. The number of the mother is always double that of the child's plus one. The number of a child is always one-half that of a parent (ignoring any remainder). In the above example, the father of person #6 is #12 (the father is double the child's number). The mother of #6 is #13 (the mother is double plus one of the child's). The child of #13 is #6 (the child is always one-half the parent's number, ignoring remainders). Now, let's take the above chart and write it in ahnentafel format: 1. person 2. father 3. mother 4. paternal grandfather 5. paternal grandmother 6. maternal grandfather 7. maternal grandmother 8. great grandfather 9. great grandmother 10. great grandfather 11. great grandmother 12. great grandfather 13. great grandmother 14. great grandfather 15. great grandmother Notice that the numbers are exactly the same as in the pedigree chart. The rules of father=2*child, mother=2*child+1, child=one-half of parent, etc., remain the same. This is an ahnentafel chart. For a more detailed example of an ahnentafel, here's an excerpt from the ahnentafel of one well-known American: 1 George Herbert Walker Bush, occ. President, b. 12 Jun 1924 in Rye, New York,_re._in_White_House,_Washington,_DC,_ma._6_Jan_1945_in_Rye,_NY. 2 Prescott Sheldon Bush, occ. U.S.Senator, b. 15 May 1895 in Columbus, OH, d. 8 Oct 1972 in New York, NY, ma. 6 Aug 1921 in Kennebunkport, York Co., ME. 3_Dorothy_Walker,_b._1_Jul_1901_in_near_Walker's_Pt,_York_Co.,_Maine. 4 Samuel Prescott Bush, b. 4 Oct 1863 in Brick Church, NJ, d. 8 Feb 1948 in Columbus, OH, ma. 20 Jun 1894 in Columbus, OH. 5 Flora Sheldon, b. 17 Mar 1872 in Franklin Co., OH, d. 4 Sep 1920 in Watch Hill, RI. 6 George Herbert Walker, b. 11 Jun 1875 in St. Louis, MO, d. 24 Jun 1953 in New York, NY, ma. 17 Jan 1899. 7 Lucretia (Loulie) Wear, b. 17 Sep 1874 in St. Louis, MO, d. 28 Aug 1961 in_Biddeford,_Maine. 8 Rev. James Smith Bush, occ. Clergyman, b. 15 Jun 1825 in Rochester, NY, d. 11 Nov 1889 in Ithaca, NY, ma. 24 Feb 1859 in New York, NY. 9 Harriet Eleanor Fay, b. 29 Oct 1829 in Savannah, GA, d. 27 Feb 1924 in Boston, MA. 10 Robert Emmet Sheldon, b. 1 Jun 1845 in Tiffin, OH, d. 21 Jan 1917 in Columbus, OH, ma. 24 Feb 1869 in Columbus, OH. 11 Mary Elizabeth Butler, b. 15 Jul 1850 in Columbus, OH, d. 16 Jan 1897 in Columbus, OH. 12 David Davis Walker, b. 19 Jan 1840 in Bloomington, IL, d. 4 Oct 1918 in Kennebunkport, York Co., ME, ma. 25 Dec 1862 in St. Louis, MO. 13 Martha Adela Beaky, b. 1 Jun 1841 in Emmitsburg, MD, d. after 1906. 14 James Hutchenson Wear, b. 30 Sep 1838 in Otterville, MO, d. 14 Jun 1893 in St. Louis, MO, ma. 4 Dec 1866 in St. Louis, MO. 15_Nannie_E._Holliday,_b._circa_1848,_d._25_Feb_1942. 16 Obadiah Newcomb Bush, b. 28 Jan 1797, d. circa 1851 in on trip from Cal, ma. 8 Nov 1821 in Rochester, NY. 17 Harriet Smith, b. 12 May 1800 in Cambridge, NY, d. 21 Jun 1867 in Cincinnati, OH. 18 Samuel Howard Fay, b. 21 Jul 1804 in Cambridge, MA, d. 16 Aug 1847 in Brooklyn, NY. 19 Susan Shellman, b. 20 Feb 1808 in Savannah, GA, d. 12 Jan 1887. 20 Thomas H. Sheldon, b. 12 May 1818 in Providence, RI, d. 22 Nov 1854 in Franklin Co., OH, ma. 21 Jan 1844 in Franklin Co., OH. 21 Martha Uncles, b. 7 Jan 1824 in Columbus, OH, d. 9 Jul 1912 in Columbus, OH. 22 Courtland Philip Livingston Butler, b. 8 Mar 1813 in Clinton, NY, d. 9 Aug 1891 in Columbus, OH, ma. 16 Dec 1840 in Buffalo, NY. 23 Elizabeth Slade Pierce, b. 22 Mar 1822 in Providence, RI, d. 1 Mar 1901 in Columbus, OH. 24 George E. Walker, b. circa 1797 in Burlington, NJ, d. 28 Oct 1864 in Bloomington, IL, ma. 22 May 1821 in Baltimore, MD. 25 Harriet Mercer, b. circa 1802 in MD, d. 24 Oct 1869 in near Bloomington, IN. 26 Joseph Ambrose Beaky, b. 14 Jun 1818 in Emmitsburg, MD, d. 27 Jan 1858 in on the steamship, "Minnehaha", ma. 1 Jun 1840 in Philadelphia, PA. 27 Mary Ann Bangs, b. 15 Jun 1817 in Philadelphia, PA, d. after 1876. 28 William Gault Wear, b. 11 Dec 1817 in Blount Co., TN, d. 2 Nov 1837 in Cooper Co., MO. 29 Sarah Armanda Yancey, b. circa 1819 in Glasgow, KY, d. in MO. 30 John James Holliday, b. 23 Jul 1819 in Pike Co., MO, d. 18 Sep 1881 in St. Louis, MO, ma. 9 May 1843 in Monroe, or Randolph Co, MO. 31_Lucretia_Green_Foree. NOTE: For a complete ahnentafel of George Bush's ancestry, look in Library 7 (Surnames & Tafels) on CompuServe's Genealogy Forum for the file BUSH.TAF. Notice that the mathematical rules about relationships still apply. Also, the true ahnentafel lists the person's full name, dates and places of birth, marriage and death. Tiny Tafel Despite the similar name, a Tiny Tafel is a method of providing a compact way of describing a family database so that the information can be scanned visually or by computer. It was described in an article entitled "Tiny-Tafel for Database Scope Indexing" by Paul Andereck in the April-May-June 1986 (vol 5, number 4) issue of Genealogical Computing. The concept of Tiny Tafels was first adopted by COMMSOFT in their popular program, Roots-II and later in Roots-III. It has since been adapted by 2 or 3 other programs, such as Brother's Keeper and GED2TT. A Tiny Tafel makes no attempt to include the details that are included in an ahnentafel as shown above. All data fields are fixed length for easy parsing by software with the obvious exceptions of the surnames and optional places. A Tiny Tafel only lists surnames of interest (with Soundex) plus the locations and dates of the beginning and end of that surname. Tiny Tafels make no provision of first names, births, marriages, deaths or multiple locations. Again, here's the Tiny Tafel of the same famous American: N George Herbert Walker Bush A 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue A Washington, DC S CompuServe B CompuServe C 9600/O/XKY F ROOTS III Z 190 BUSH V33 SDMP A215 1762 1822 Aspinwall A360 1714 1714 Adair\Down, Ireland/Down, Ireland A450 1561 1591 Allen A450 1637 1637 Allen A524 1680 1680 Angell A654 1587 1617 Arnold\England B200 1758 1841 Bechi,Beaky/Emmitsburg, MD B200 1705 1954 Bush B255 1623 1693 Beekman B260 1673 1703 Bocher\Germany/Germany B346 1696 1850 Butler/Columbus, OH B400 1701 1701 Ball B420 1681 1681 Bullock\Rehoboth, MA/Rehoboth, MA B424 1531 1681 Bulkeley B425 1705 1705 Blossom B450 1609 1639 Bullen B520 1680 1817 Bangs\MA/Philadelphia, PA B600 1531 1531 Barr B620 1705 1732 Breck/Boston, MA B620 1562 1562 Brooke B625 1680 1723 Brigham/Sudbury, MA B625 1570 1570 Bryson B626 1659 1659 Barker B632 1664 1664 Bridge B650 1733 1733 Bryan B660 1823 1823 Brewer\Ludlow, VT/Ludlow, VT B660 1603 1633 Brewer C430 1670 1700 Child C432 1696 1872 Coolidge/Plymouth, VT C462 1611 1611 Clarke C462 1639 1669 Clark C600 1588 1588 Carey C615 1658 1697 Carpenter C620 1651 1651 Cross C624 1794 1794 Criswell\Lancaster, PA/Lancaster, PA C643 1441 1501 Charlton D120 1680 1772 Davis D120 1633 1633 de Boogh D151 1626 1686 Davenport D400 1570 1600 D'Oyly D450 1792 1852 Delano D552 1608 1608 Deming F000 1670 1829 Fay/Savannah, GA F300 1702 1732 Fout/MD F300 1562 1638 Foote F320 1733 1763 Fitch F420 1641 1685 Fellows/Ipswich, MA F430 1748 1808 Field\VA F455 1630 1630 Fleming F600 1788 1818 Foree F615 1609 1699 Fairbanks F624 1471 1561 Faircloth F652 1640 1670 French G100 1662 1722 Goffe G300 1879 1879 Goodhue\VT/VT G363 1600 1696 Goddard G410 1651 1651 Gallup G430 1690 1715 Guild G430 1757 1787 Gault G435 1678 1678 Gladding G455 1588 1618 Gilman G620 1695 1695 George G621 1501 1531 Grosvenor G626 1715 1715 Gregory G653 1642 1642 Grant H165 1480 1510 Hepburn H200 1685 1742 House/Lebanon, CT H235 1692 1722 Hastings H252 1642 1642 Hawkins H252 1629 1659 Huckins H320 1561 1561 Hedge H325 1551 1672 Hutchinson H400 1692 1692 Hill H416 1572 1632 Holbrook H430 1680 1848 Holliday\Ireland H510 1491 1581 Hamby H514 1689 1689 Hamblen H514 1683 1715 Hamblen/Barnstable, MA H524 1618 1678 Hinckley/MA H620 1708 1764 Herrick H630 1696 1782 Howard\prob. Lynn, MA/Boston, MA H635 1665 1777 Horton/Rehoboth, MA I610 1561 1561 Irby J210 1618 1648 Jacob J500 1588 1629 Jenney J520 1726 1726 Jones K460 1653 1751 Keeler/Ridgefield, CT K520 1546 1546 King K524 1663 1727 Kingsley/Easton, MA L000 1632 1662 Low L152 1600 1785 Livingston/Poughkeepsie, NY L152 1510 1600 Livingston L162 1663 1663 Lopers L200 1731 1761 Lewis/Poughkeepsie, NY L361 1584 1640 Lathrop\England L400 1690 1760 Lillie/Boston, MA L522 1569 1569 Lancock L652 1588 1588 Loring M000 1633 1730 May/Wethersfield, CT M244 1767 1767 McLelland\England/England M250 1789 1789 McCune\KY/KY M250 1704 1704 Mason M252 1688 1688 Macomson M324 1603 1633 Mitchell M463 1648 1708 Millard M520 1672 1702 Mounce/Cecil Co., MD M531 1778 1778 Montfort M533 1540 1540 Menteith M563 1656 1656 Maynard M600 1846 1846 Moor\Plymouth, VT/Plymouth, VT M616 1521 1551 Marbury M620 1516 1606 Morse M626 1666 1802 Mercer/MD M635 1676 1718 Martin/Rehoboth, MA N251 1665 1763 Newcomb\Kittery, Maine N251 1691 1733 Newcomb\Edgartown, MA/Lebanon, CT N425 1659 1689 Nelson P100 1629 1629 Pope P100 1618 1648 Pope P200 1572 1572 Powys P261 1550 1550 Pagrave P350 1760 1760 Patton P400 1703 1763 Powell P412 1665 1729 Phillips/Stoneham, MA P426 1580 1610 Palgrave P514 1669 1669 Penfield P620 1925 1925 Pierce\Rye, NY/Rye, NY P620 1632 1822 Pierce/Providence, RI P623 1677 1757 Prescott/Concord, MA P623 1751 1751 Priest\Marlboro, MA (?)/Marlboro, MA (?) P630 1703 1703 Perdue R152 1562 1591 Ravens/England R200 1672 1702 Ruck R200 1678 1678 Ruck R214 1822 1882 Roosevelt R230 1713 1713 Rust\Coventry, CT/Coventry, CT R262 1582 1612 Rogers R263 1588 1618 Richards R320 1602 1632 Rhodes R530 1687 1687 Round S150 1648 1648 Sabin S163 1639 1639 Shepard S315 1651 1717 Stevens/Stonington, CT S322 1692 1787 Stackhouse/Philadelphia, PA S325 1623 1653 St. John S345 1654 1699 Stillman/Hadley, MA S350 1695 1695 Stone S353 1411 1471 Standish S354 1569 1623 Stanley S355 1640 1640 Sweetman S365 1602 1602 Stream S435 1788 1872 Sheldon/Franklin Co., OH S455 1723 1808 Shellman\Germany/Savannah, GA S460 1628 1660 Schuyler\The Netherlands S530 1612 1800 Smith/Cambridge, NY S530 1697 1697 Smith S530 1608 1668 Smith S530 1608 1608 Smith S530 1609 1609 Smith S530 1665 1665 Smith S600 1667 1667 Squire S630 1720 1720 Short S656 1788 1788 Shriner\PA/PA T235 1574 1604 Twigden T262 1598 1598 Tjercks\The Netherlands/The Netherlands T512 1789 1789 Thompson\Chester, VT/Chester, VT T520 1648 1708 Thomas U524 1794 1824 Uncles\England/Columbus, OH V524 1598 1598 van Schuylder V524 1630 1630 van Slichtenhorst V536 1717 1731 Vanderburgh\Poughkeepsie, NY W140 1763 1763 Whipple\Cambridge, NY/Cambridge, NY W200 1667 1667 Weeks W216 1633 1663 Washburn W230 1694 1694 West W252 1602 1731 Washington\England/VA W300 1629 1750 Wood W300 1699 1759 Wood W350 1684 1684 Whitney W352 1669 1734 Whiting/Wrentham, MA W363 1701 1701 Woodworth\RI/RI W426 1767 1901 Walker\England/York Co., Maine W452 1699 1699 Wallingford\Bradford, MA/Bradford, MA W452 1610 1670 Wellington W460 1591 1800 Wheeler W460 1651 1651 Wheeler W600 1750 1874 Weir,Wear\Blount Co., TN/St. Louis, MO W656 1671 1671 Warner\VA/VA Y520 1748 1819 Yancey/Glasgow, KY Y552 1607 1607 Yeomans W 20 Jan 1991 The format of the Tiny Tafel is rigidly controlled. Here's the specification as released by CommSoft: Header: Column Description ______ ___________ 1 Header type 2 Space delimiter 3 - n Text (n < 38) (n + 1) Carriage Return Defined types: Header Type Description Remarks ____ ___________ _______ N Name of person having custody of data Mandatory first record A Address data 0 to 5 address lines Optional T Telephone number including area code Optional S Communication Service/telephone number 0 to 5 service lines (MCI, ITT, ONT, RCA, ESL, CIS, SOU, etc, Optional e.g., CIS/77123,512) B Bulletin Board/telephone number Optional C Communications nnnn/X/P Optional nnnn = maximum baud rate X = O(riginate only), A(nswer only), B(oth) P = Protocol (Xmodem, Kermit, etc.) D Diskette format d/f/c Optional d = diameter (3, 5, 8) f = format MS-DOS, Apple II, etc. c = capacity, KB F File format Free-form, optional ROOTS II, ROOTS/M, PAF Version 1, etc. R Remark Free-form, optional Z Number of data items with optional text Required last item In the COMMSOFT Tiny Tafel, the name of the database, the version of the database, and any special switches used when the Tiny Tafel was generated are shown on the Z line. The definitions of the special switches are shown below. D DATEFILLDISABLED. Tiny Tafel normally suppresses the output of data for which the birthdates necessary to establish each line of output are missing. When this switch is on, The Tiny Tafel generator has estimated missing dates. The Tiny Tafel program applies a 30 year per generation offset wherever it needs to re-construct missing dates. N NOGROUPING. Tiny Tafel normally "groups" output lines that have a common ancestor into a single line containing the most recent birthdate. Descendants marked with an interest level greater than zero, however, will have their own line of output (see below for definition of interest level). Alternatively, when this switch is enabled, one line of output is created for every ultimate descendant (individual without children). M MULTIPLENAMES. Tiny Tafel normally lists a surname derived from the descendant end of each line. Specifying this option lists all unique spellings of each surname (up to five) separated by commas. P PLACENAMES. Tiny Tafel will include place names for family lines when this switch is enabled. Place names will be the most significant 14 to 16 characters of the birth field. When this option is enabled, the place of birth of the ultimate ancestor and the place of birth of the ultimate descendant of a line of output, respectively, are added to the end of the line. S SINGLEITEMS. Tiny Tafel normally suppresses lines of output that correspond to a single individual (that is, in which the ancestry and descendance dates are the same). This switch includes single-person items in the output. #I INTERESTLEVEL. Tiny Tafel normally includes all family lines meeting the above conditions no matter what its interest level. An Interest Level may be specified to limit the lines included to those having an Interest Level equal to or greater than the number specified. For example, with the Interest Level set to 1, all lines which have an ancestor or descendant Interest Level of 1 or higher will be listed. Tiny Tafel Data: Col Description ___ ___________ 1 thru 4 Soundex Code (note 1) 5 Space delimiter 6 thru 9 Earliest ancestor birth year 10 Interest flag, ancestor end of family line (note 2) 11 thru 14 Latest descendant birth year 15 Interest flag, descendant end of family line (note 2) 16 thru 16+SL Surname string area (SL = total surname length) (note 3) above + PL Place name area (PL = total place name length) (note 4) above + 1 Carriage return NOTES: 1. The Soundex code for any given line is obtained from the end of the line that has the highest interest level. If interest level is the same at each end, however, the name at the ancestor end will be used. If the application of these rules yield a surname that cannot be converted to Soundex, however, the program will attempt to obtain a Soundex code from the other end of the line. 2. Interest flag: [space] No interest (level 0) . Low interest (level 1) : Moderate interest (level 2) * Highest interest (level 3) 3. Up to five surnames can be accomodated for one line where surname has changed in that line. If more than five surnames are found in a line, only the latest five will be shown. The inclusion of additional surnames is enabled by the M switch. 4. Place names for the birth of the earliest ancestor and the latest descendant may be included by using the P switch. If a place name is not provided for the individual whose birth year is shown, the field will be blank. The place for the ancestor is preceded by a backslash (\) and for the descendant by a slash (/). Terminator: W Date Tiny Tafel file was generated, DD MMM YYYY format. /end of file/