Complete Family Example

This example demonstrates all 11 GENEALOGIX entity types (Person, Event, Relationship, Place, Source, Citation, Repository, Assertion, Media, Study, ResearchLog) 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: Multi-file archive filenames are derived deterministically from entity IDs (person-john-smith-1850 → persons/person-john-smith-1850.glx). Pick descriptive IDs for readability or random hex IDs (like person-a1b2c3d4) for privacy — both produce stable filenames.

File Organization

Persons (3 files)

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

Relationships (2 files)

• relationships/rel-marriage-john-mary.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-deaths.glx - 3 death events
• events/event-marriage.glx - 1 marriage event

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-leeds.glx - St. Paul's Parish Register
• sources/source-census-1851.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-john.glx - Census citation with locator

Repositories (2 files)

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

Assertions (3 files)

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

Media (1 file)

• media/media-john-portrait.glx - Studio portrait of John Smith, c.1880 (a small placeholder binary is bundled at media/files/john-smith-1880.jpg)

Studies (1 file)

• studies/study-smith-yorkshire.glx - Family reconstruction scope for Smith family in 19th-c. Yorkshire

Research Logs (1 file)

• research_logs/research-log-john-smith-birth.glx - Investigation that confirmed John Smith's birth date, with two Search entries

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-leeds → citation-john-birth → assertion-john-birth-date

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

File Format

All files use the unified GENEALOGIX format:

# persons/person-john-smith-1850.glx
persons:
  person-john-smith-1850:
    properties:
      name:
        value: "John Smith"
        fields:
          given: "John"
          surname: "Smith"
      sex: "male"

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 no errors.

Key Features Demonstrated

• 11 Entity Types: Persons, relationships, events, places, sources, citations, repositories, assertions, media, studies, research_logs
• Descriptive IDs: Human-readable entity identifiers
• Evidence Chains: Complete provenance from repository to conclusion
• Confidence Levels: Assertions express certainty
• 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