My Welsh Family Tree - Leaves and Branches

Leaves and branches are part of the family tree.  Just how one goes about figuring out all the connections help make up the tree climbing experience.  Then, putting everything together so that it makes some kind of record that can be followed, and examined, by anyone else who wishes to climb these branches, is just as important.  A map of the leaves and branches so to speak.  A family record it is.

This post tries to give the concepts utilized in my own Welsh tree climbing.  The past three post have given the major sources of information and documentation for part of this tree climbing.  The figure to the right gives the first page of my own family coding system which began many years ago.  I show it here to demonstrate one method that can be used to help keep the leaves and branches organized.  It is simple.  The letter "J" stands for my surname JONES.  The letters of  the alphabet are then used to represent the "generation", with "A" = generation "one", "B" = generation 2,...etc,etc.  Of course, this assumes that you have decided where the family begins. [I found 24 more generations after this was coded, so had to make adjustments!]  The number is then used to identify each individual that has been documented.  Thus a "leaf" [individual] is uniquely coded, i.e., JA-1 = Gadforch, and generations [branches] JA, JB, JC, identified.

Leaves and branches, a way to climb trees.  Thus the beginning of my Welsh family tree.