Tiny Tafel Explained

Tiny Tafel
Extension:.tt
Owner:Specification released by CommSoft .
Genre:Genealogy data matching system

The Tiny Tafel format [tye-nee tahf-uhl][1] provides a compact way of describing the main surnames found in a family genealogy, which can be read by humans and matched by computers using a Tafel Matching System.[2] The Tiny Tafel lists the Soundex encoded representation of each surname (to allow for matching surnames with spelling variations), accompanied by a corresponding range of dates and locations associated with the surname.[3] Many genealogy programs can produce Tiny Tafel reports. Tiny Tafels were traditionally posted to public forums, such as a BBS (Bulletin Board System)[4] [5] and are still regularly used today with a number of internet sites that provide a Tafel Matching System, in order to indicate whether two genealogical databases have a probable connection or overlap.

Paul Andereck, former editor of Genealogical Computing magazine, proposed the idea and the specification was developed by Commsoft in 1986.[6] [7]

Example

sample.tt
N Howard L. Nurse
A COMMSOFT
A 2257 Old Middlefield Way
A Mountain View, CA  94043
T (415) 967-1900
S FidoNet 143/26
B COMMSOFT BBS/(415) 967-6730
C 2400/B/X
D 5/IBM DSDD/360
F ROOTS II
R Sample Kennedy database
Z 29
A252 1915 1947 Auchincloss/MA
B160 1698 1933 Bouvier/Long Island NY
B530 1906 1939 Bennett/New York
B620 1869 1933 Burke/Suffolk Co. MA
C200 1803 1833 Cox\Ind
C414 1861 1899 Caulfield\Norfolk Co. MA/Suffolk Co. MA
C540 1868 1928 Connelly/Suffolk Co. MA
F326 1690 1890 Fitzgerald/Suffolk Co. MA
F430 1806 1836 Field/PA
H200 1806 1857 Hickey/Suffolk Co. MA
H500 1802 1865 Hannon/Middlesex Co. MA
K500 1858 1892 Kane\Ireland/Suffolk Co. MA
K530 1793*1957:Kennedy\Ireland/New York
K530 1793*1984 Kennedy\Ireland/Wstchster Co. NY
L000 1847 1906 Lee\MA/MA
L163 1923 1961 Lawford\England/L.A. Co. CA
L532 1753 1783 Lindsay\MA
M500 1847 1890 Mahoney\Suffolk Co. MA/Suffolk Co. MA
M610 1791 1821 Murphy/Wxfrd Co. IRE
M626 1710 1766 Mercier\MA
R324 1929 1959 Radziwill\MA
S240 1892 1928 Skakel\Cook Co. IL/Cook Co. IL
S530 1927 1960 Smith\Kings Co. NY/Suffolk Co. MA
S616 1915 1965 Shriver\Carroll Co. MD/Suffolk Co. MA
S625 1831 1861 Sergeant\MA
T525 1947 1983 Townsend\Baltimore Co. MD/Middlesex Co. MA
T653 1706 1736 Trintignant/IT
V650 1783 1813 Vernou\CN/CN
W453 1767 1797 Wilmouth\NH/MA
W 11 Dec 1986
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External links

Notes and References

  1. http://genealogy.about.com/library/glossary/bldef-tinytafel.htm Genealogy Glossary - tiny tafel
  2. http://www.srcomm.com/ryan/gen/TafelTutor.htm Tiny Tafel Tutorial
  3. http://ftp.rootsweb.ancestry.com/pub/roots-l/genealog/genealog.ahnentt What is a Tiny Tafel? What is an ahnentafel?
  4. http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/ROOTS/1990-10/0657436567 RootsWeb: ROOTS-L List of Tiny Tafel Matching System BBS'
  5. http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=2ab090aaf664413bff27342c1b352ba9&topic=13368;prev_next=next Tiny Tafel Family History Local History
  6. http://newsarch.rootsweb.com/th/read/CAN-MHSA/2007-11/1195340207 RootsWeb: CAN-MHSA-L [CAN-MHSA] missing text
  7. http://newsarch.rootsweb.com/th/read/GENCMP/1997-05/0863379301 RootsWeb: GENCMP-L Re: Listen up; I'm back