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.