Sunday, July 17, 2011

1. Andrew Martin Smith

I thought it might be an interesting genealogical research experiment to post what I know about my direct ancestry, one person a day, using ahnentafel numbers. 

For those who may not be familiar with the meaning of the word "ahnentafel", it literally means "ancestor table" in German, and refers to a numbering system for direct ancestry, where the beginning person (in this case, me), is "1", my father is "2", my mother is "3", and you get the earlier generations by doubling the number for the father and adding 1 to that number for the mother.  Therefore, your paternal grandfather is 4, your paternal grandmother is 5, your maternal grandfather is 6, and your maternal grandmother is 7.

So if we begin with me, then this posting would discuss the fact that I was born in northern New Jersey, but my family moved to upstate South Carolina when I was 3, and then I moved to Tampa, Florida in 1990 to take a new job.  I have a copy of my birth certificate, and lots of childhood photos, including a newspaper photo that was taken of me when I was only 2, as a result of a baby contest.  I'll include that one below (in case you're wondering, I'm the kid in the sailor suit):