From: beaurega@ireq.hydro.qc.ca (Denis Beauregard)
Newsgroups: soc.roots
Subject: Oups, I lost e-mail
Summary: My method for managing huge genealogy data
Date: 29 Sep 92 05:46:35 GMT
Organization: Institut de recherche d'Hydro-Quebec, Varennes, Canada

I accidentally erased some email I get.  One request I get is from
someone who wanted to know about how I manage my data in the
Racines du Quebec project, which involves writting a database
with, when 1st step will be completed, about 20000-30000 couples
covering alll marriages in Quebec before 1730 and migration before.

So, you want to know the method I use to build a huge genealogical
database of the "forest" type.  By "forest" I mean a lot of indivudual
trees for a given period and for a given limited place.
 
First of all, some particularities of Quebec records.
 
Since 1621, records are nearly complete.  Not only are most records
for birth, marriage and death available, but they are usually complete.
A typical birth record has date of record, relative date of event
(i.e. yesterday, 2 days ago, etc.), complete names of both parents
and name of new born.  A typical marriage record has date of record,
complete name of both parties, and complete name of parents of
both parties.  A typical death record for a single has the
same data as a birth record plus age.  A typical death record for
a married person has date of record, complete name of both parties
and age.  In a few case, there are errors or some data is missing
(I would say under 5 % if we don't count errors easy to recover from).
Sometimes, books were re-copied and the originals are lost.
Other times, places where parents were living is available.
 
Other important feature : there are 2 books covering most Quebec
families and records (Tanguay, written in 1870-1877 covers pre-1760 
period; Jette, written in 1973-1983 covers pre-1731 period), a 3rd 
book covering most Quebec marriages (Drouin, written circa 1940,
pre-1760), a collection of records for each parish (PRDH, covers
1621-1765 currently) and a lot of various marriage books and
other books available.
 
 
 
My method :
I use couples, not individuals.  And a text file and editor, not
a data base.
 
A couple is shown as:
 
 
2090 2091 3751 ALAIRE Charles FIEVRE Catherine 1663-11-10 QVND
                                               Date       location of marriage
               Boy who married Girl who married
          Number of her parents
     Number of his parents
Number of this couple
 
So that :
 
2091 2079 3767 ALAIRE Sebastien FLEURISSON Perinne 1640~ FFXX
 
are parents of Charles ALAIRE
 
and 
 
3751 0000 0000 FIEVRE Fiacre SOL Jacquette 1630~ F79B
 
are parents of Catherine FIEVRE
 
0000 means parents are still unknown or not yet entered.
 
 
 
A typical part of my data looks like that :
 
2073 2075 0000 ALAIN Charles-Louis GARGOTTIN Louise 1678-1-7 MRAG
2074 2077 0000 ALAIN Noel-Simon HAMEL Marie-Anne 1706-1-19 QRAN
2075 0000 0000 ALAIN Pierre LEFEBVRE Marie 1650~ F75SU@
2076 0000 0000 ALAIN Andre MARC Catherine 1640-v F76RS@
2077 2076 0000 ALAIN Simon MAUFAY Jeanne 1680~ QCXX
2078 2077 0000 ALAIN Pierre RACINE Anne 1713-2-22 MRBP
 
Date have 2 formats : complete or approximate
complete like 1713-2-22
approximate like 1640-v (this means within 5 years)
or roughly like 1680~ (this means within 25, sometimes 50 years).
 
Places have a code like QRAN meaning wide area QR and local area AN.
Wide area is Quebec county, province, state, country, continent.
Local area is township, town, parish, record book.  Because I
have a small number of town per Quebec county, this system is enough.
But, in France, I have a lot of data.  So, I used a special system :
F75SU meaning F75 is France dep. # 75 and SU is local area.
 
When place of marriage is unknown, I use this convention:
date is approximate and location is place where were living parents.
I append a @ in those cases (as in 1650~ F75SU@).
 
In a few case, link is not sure (I append a ? to parents number).
Some names may be missing (I use always *).
 
 
As for linking, I am currently using data already linked.  Thus,
this is not yet relevant.  However, I will link data by 
standardizing and sorting names and replacing consecutive repeated
couples to keep one instance of each.  
 
 
 
Main problem I have : standardization is usually hand made, but
I remember most codes for Quebec places and can usually find rapidly
codes for France or Europe places.
 
 
 
Some utility programs I have (C++, MS-DOS):
sorting according to nth word or combination (i.e. by 4+6th words as above)
some data preprocessors.  For example : 
 
2077 0000 0000 ALAIN Simon MAUFAY Jeanne 1680~ QCXX
 
if I find parents of Simon ALAIN, I write the top line :
 
[ Andre MARC Catherine 1640-v F76RS@
2077 0000 0000 ALAIN Simon MAUFAY Jeanne 1680~ QCXX
 
And my program generates the below lines
 
3456 0000 0000 ALAIN Andre MARC Catherine 1640-v F76RS@
2077 3456 0000 ALAIN Simon MAUFAY Jeanne 1680~ QCXX
 
 
I have different short cuts like that to enter data more rapidly.
 
 
For more, you can probably download QC* files from VM1.NODAK.EDU
 
 
 
Hope this help.  Please tell me about the method you will be using.
 
 
Denis
beaurega@ireq.hydro.qc.ca

-- 
  \_\    Denis Beauregard  *  internet:beaurega@ireq.hydro.qc.ca
 /   \   Genealogiste officiel : Beauregard/Jarret/Jarest/Vincent
J   __>  Un Quebec renouvele dans une Amerique renovee
\_.-===                                                  Opinions ? Et pis non !
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