Notation

Dorenbos/Hoogeveen/Leur

The Dorenbosch.net Databases Last updated: 09 August 2026

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Dorenbos Hoogeveen Leur

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Notation

The notation used in this database was designed to be as concise as possible for the purpose of building readily readable, two-dimensional tree structures of extended families. You can think of it as a kind of genealogy meta-index, combining and merging existing genealogical indexes in a way that simultaneously captures the family relationships. Researching further genealogical information, such as locations, lifestyles, in-laws, etc., is left to the users of this database.

The formal rules of notation are:

1) Each node of the tree is a single text line whose indentation level and location relative to its neighbors denote its parent-child-sibling relationships.

2) The node format is: <principal> (<birthyear>-<deathyear>) & <spouse> (<birthyear>-<deathyear>) (<marriageyear>div<divorceyear>)

3) Any elements of this node may be missing.

4) The <principal> is the full name of the Dorenbos, Hoogeveen, or Leur family member, whether male or female. By “Dorenbos”, any and all spelling variants of that name are allowed, regardless of the spellings of their neighbors. Likewise for “Hoogeveen” and “Leur”.

5) Occasionally a family member with a different surname may appear as a <principal>.

6) The <principal> name need not be unique but, taken together with <birthyear> , <deathyear> and indentation level, will uniquely identify the individual appearing in different contexts, such as in multiple marriages, <spouse> of another <principal>, or when a branch of the family is moved to a different location to improve readability.

7) The <spouse> is the full birth name of the spouse, if any. If the spouse is also a principal elsewhere, the surname is a hyperlink to his or her birth family in the appropriate database. Likewise, the <principal> may be hyperlinked to a <spouse> elsewhere.

8) If the exact year of birth, death, or marriage is unknown, an estimate may be present using the conventional symbol <, >, or ~ (“before”, “after”, or “estimated at”) based on what is known about the individual’s life.

9) Every principal has exactly one node or line—with one exception: multiple marriages are expressed in multiple lines at the same indentation level, much like siblings (below). In rare cases the location data may appear on a separate line due to space limitations.

10) The parent-to-child relationship is expressed by placing the first child immediately after its parent, indented one level to the right, and followed by all further siblings at the same level. Siblings may be physically separated from each other by (further indented) descendants of the prior sibling, but the originally assigned indentation level is scrupulously retained for each sibling.

11) Siblings are usually ordered by birth year, but this rule can be ignored for readability considerations, such as when a younger sibling (or earlier marriage) has many descendants.

12) A surname in parentheses implies that the name was assumed sometime after birth, usually when in transition from patronymic to surname conventions. Typically, the earlier records for that individual used patronymics alone, and later ones appended the new surname.

13) Occasionally parentheses are used for other purposes as well, say, for nicknames or unusual spelling variants.

14) N.N. denotes an unknown or nonexistent given name, such as for an unnamed stillborn child or an incomplete document entry.

15) A red node denotes a speculated or “best-guess” relationship for that node, including all its child nodes, to the previous line.

16) A red detail item similarly denotes a “best guess” in the association of some detail.

17) Location data is aligned to the right of the page so as not to distract from the family structure itself. The format is (<birthplace/<spouse-birthplace>/<marriage-place/<any-other-place). The spouse and marriage items are omitted for unmarried persons.

18) Square brackets are used for other comments, especially witness information to help clarify relationships, and is inserted to the left of the location data. Margins are adjusted for space and readability considerations

19) Witness data: dget=doopgetuige, or witness to baptism; tget=trouwgetuige, or witness to marriage; kget=kinds-doopgetuige, or witness to a child’s baptism.

20) Use of question marks (“?”) is limited to flagging truly questionable or conflicting data.