Genealogy listings - kids with different fathers?

-sister with 1 child out of wedlock - then married, had 3 more children - how do I list this? She actually had 4 children total, yet only 3 with the one husband



then a niece with 1 marriage and 1 child, then a child out of wedlock.Genealogy is not about living persons, it is tracing your ancestry back in history. You might keep records of living family, but it is a major genealogy breach of etiquette to make that info open to others.

The other key factor of genealogy is accuracy, based on proven documents. In other words, if baby 1 has a birth cert with dad's name on it, that IS his name (and accurate birth date). The file would include the date of mom's marriage to her husband. It does not reflect baby's status in so many words. When info in a file is inaccurate and passed along, it creates major problems down the road, since it often blocks further documentation.

The children (and mom) have the right to define what information THEY want public. This is why states limit access to birth records to specified persons. I might feel one way about a record of a relative...but I respect that it isn't MY choice to make. I have to assume you are entering this info without original records, but by personal knowledge. Not good practice.

As long as you set the standard of courtesy and respect for your research, you should limit your genealogy to those who consent or are dead. None of the reputable genealogy sites allow data on living persons.Some genealogy programs can handle "non-standard" relationships. Some have limits. Most all of them have "Notes."



Thank goodness, I shovel everything into notes when necessary.



And yes, record all you can, but privatize your files if you share them with others, so that the living are protected. As for the dead, let the truth of their struggles live on.



Use the Notes function when in doubt. Generations from now, after you're dead, one of your genealogically inclined descendents might be extremely grateful.
Each child is listed by the mother and that relationship

Example:

Marry Smith-----John Jones (not married)

Patty Smith-Jones (of what ever the name is)

If however the child was adopted then they are listed with the children from the marriage and in the notes an annotation is made indication the adoption
Most of us use a program specially written for the purpose. PAF is decent and free. I use Roots Magic, $29. Family Tree Maker advertises much more heavily and is the market leader. It's $29 or so too. Write if you want links.



In any of them, you add a child and either link to an existing people, who become the mother and father, or add the mother and father. You can add a marriage date and place as you need to.



If you are filling out a Family Group sheet on paper with a pencil (or parchment with a quill), you'd have two for your sister, one for each union that produced children.



If you are making a pedigree chart, again, you'd have two, one for each set of children. The father's branch would be different for the first child than for the other three. To save yourself time, you'd note that the mother on pedigree chart number "123" was the same as the mother on pedigree chart number "124"; also that there were three children with the exact same pedigree.



If you are drawing a tree on a roll of butcher paper, with the parents as branches, children as fruit and their graduation days as leaves, I don't know; maybe two trees, one small.



As Wendy said, you shouldn't publish this, even for private circulation among just your family.