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I am developing a geneaology application, and am currently at the stage of modelling relationships between individuals.
Based on my research, I have noted that most of the mappings of relationships are based on families (father + mother) and so I would like to understand the underlying reasoning behind this before I adopt it blindly.
Since my project is patriarchal, I assume that as soon as a person adds a father, then that creates a new family
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lineage, descent group reckoned through only one parent, either the father (patrilineage) or the mother (matrilineage). All members of a lineage trace their common ancestry to a single person. A lineage may comprise any number of generations but commonly is traced through some 5 or 10.
Knowing that your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and so on will understand who their ancestors were, where they came from, what they did and how they lived is a great comfort. It's possible to include all sorts of information in one's family history including recipes, songs and personal anecdotes.
First, pedigree charts show only your ancestors: parents, grand-parents, great-grandparents and so on (no aunts, uncles or cousins). Every column on the chart represents a generation. Below each person's name is space for birth, marriage and death information — on some charts, you'll see this abbreviated as b, m and d.
A family tree is a visual representation of a person's lineage, tracing relationships to common ancestors. Visually similar to an org chart, this diagram is usually presented in a tree structure starting with one individual as the root. From the root, lines representing branches terminate in boxes representing leaves.
Most Genealogy software vendors decided to follow the model that professional genealogists use. The basis is a family group sheet, that includes the father at the top left, the mother at the top right, and the children below.
The database structure then chosen is to have records of two types: Individuals and Families. These are exemplified by the GEDCOM standard which is used to transfer genealogy data between programs.
Then they use what is called a lineage-linked data structure. This structure has two connections:
The Individual will link to the family in which they are a husband or a wife (a FAMS link) and the Family will link back to the two individuals (a HUSB and a WIFE link).
The Individual will link to the families who are their parents, either blood or adopted (a FAMC), and each Family will link back to their children (CHIL links).
Once you develop your program, make sure it will be able to read and write GEDCOM.
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