A previous post describes my JONES family coding system which
has served me well over the years of tree climbing. See: This
coding system was also discussed in BWP(17). However, there
comes a time when you will find yourself in a nest of surnames.
It may be at a particular geographic area, or historical time
period, or a religious group with many members. There will be
multiple folks with the same names being used. How do you keep
them straight? How do separate and identify which John Johnson,
John Smith, John Brown, and John Jones is the path you will need
to follow? The following method is a coding system I have found
helpful. It is different from my family coding system, since it
involves only one surname, and needs to code for multiple
generations. This approach will help separate and code each
individual among a large number of folks with many different
surnames. It is very simple. First you label each person
identified by their surname. You take the first two letters of
their surname and then assign the