Complete Family Example

This example demonstrates all 9 GENEALOGIX entity types with proper cross-references, evidence chains, and descriptive entity IDs.

Family Structure

John Smith (person-john-smith-1850)

• Born: January 15, 1850 in Leeds
• Died: June 20, 1920
• Occupation: Blacksmith
• Married: Mary Brown (May 10, 1875)

Mary Brown (person-mary-brown-1852)

• Born: March 20, 1852 in Leeds
• Died: August 15, 1930
• Occupation: Dressmaker
• Married: John Smith (May 10, 1875)

Jane Smith (person-jane-smith-1876)

• Born: September 5, 1876 in Leeds
• Died: December 10, 1955
• Parents: John Smith and Mary Brown
• Occupation: Dressmaker

Entity IDs

This example uses descriptive IDs to make the archive more human-readable:

• person-john-smith-1850 (person with birth year)
• place-leeds (descriptive place name)
• event-birth-john (event type + person)
• citation-john-birth (what it cites)

Note: You can use any ID format you prefer. For collaborative projects, random hex IDs (like person-a1b2c3d4) are recommended to avoid conflicts.

File Organization

Persons (3 files)

• persons/person-john-smith.glx - John Smith (b. 1850)
• persons/person-mary-brown.glx - Mary Brown (b. 1852)
• persons/person-jane-smith.glx - Jane Smith (b. 1876)

Relationships (2 files)

• relationships/rel-marriage.glx - Marriage relationship
• relationships/rel-parent-child.glx - Parent-child relationships (2 relationships in one file)

Events (3 files)

• events/event-births.glx - 3 birth events (all in one file)
• events/event-marriage.glx - 1 marriage event
• events/event-occupations.glx - 2 occupation events

Places (3 files)

• places/place-england.glx - England (country)
• places/place-yorkshire.glx - Yorkshire (county, parent: England)
• places/place-leeds.glx - Leeds (city, parent: Yorkshire)

Sources (2 files)

• sources/source-parish-register.glx - St. Paul's Parish Register
• sources/source-census.glx - 1851 Census

Citations (3 files)

• citations/citation-john-birth.glx - Birth citation with transcription
• citations/citation-marriage.glx - Marriage citation with transcription
• citations/citation-census.glx - Census citation with locator

Repositories (2 files)

• repositories/repository-leeds-library.glx - Leeds Library
• repositories/repository-national-archives.glx - The National Archives

Assertions (3 files)

• assertions/assertion-john-birth.glx - Birth date with multiple citations
• assertions/assertion-john-birthplace.glx - Birth place
• assertions/assertion-marriage.glx - Marriage date

Evidence Chain in This Example

This example demonstrates a complete evidence chain for John Smith's birth:

Repository → Source → Citation → Assertion

• repository-leeds-library → source-parish-register → citation-john-birth → assertion-john-birth

Learn More: See Core Concepts: Evidence Hierarchy for detailed explanation.

File Format

All files use the unified GENEALOGIX format:

# persons/person-john-smith.glx
persons:
  person-john-smith-1850:
    properties:
      given_name: "John"
      family_name: "Smith"
      birth_date: "1850-01-15"

Key Points:

• Entity ID is the map key (person-john-smith-1850)
• Entity type plural at top level (persons)
• Files can contain multiple entities of the same type (see events/event-births.glx)

Validation

cd examples/complete-family
glx validate

Should validate successfully with:

• ✓ All 21 files pass validation
• ✓ All cross-references valid
• ✓ Evidence chains complete
• ✓ No duplicate entity IDs

Key Features Demonstrated

✅ All 9 Entity Types: Persons, relationships, events, places, sources, citations, repositories, assertions, media
✅ Descriptive IDs: Human-readable entity identifiers
✅ Evidence Chains: Complete provenance from repository to conclusion
✅ Confidence Levels: Assertions express certainty (high, medium, low, disputed)
✅ Hierarchical Places: England → Yorkshire → Leeds
✅ Cross-References: All entities properly linked and validated
✅ Multi-Generation Family: Parents and children with relationships
✅ Flexible Files: Some files have one entity, some have multiple
✅ Unified Format: All files use entity type keys at top level