The Gruner Archive uses a neutral generational numbering system rather than relationship terms such as “grandparents” or “great-grandparents.” This allows the archive to be used consistently by family members from different branches and generations.

The pages are organized in a hierarchical family-group numbering system inspired by Ahnentafel numbering.

Each core family is assigned a number in the form Generation.Family, such as 2.1 or 3.4.

For any family numbered G.N, its two parent families in the previous historical generation are numbered:

For example, if 2.2 represents the maternal family connected to 1.1, then:

• 3.3 is the paternal family of the maternal person represented in 2.2
• 3.4 is the maternal family of the maternal person represented in 2.2

Likewise, if 2.1 represents the paternal family connected to 1.1, then:

• 3.1 is the paternal family of the paternal person represented in 2.1
• 3.2 is the maternal family of the paternal person represented in 2.1

This pattern continues consistently through each generation. Odd-numbered family groups represent the paternal line of the connecting person, while even-numbered family groups represent that person’s maternal line.

Because the numbering is hierarchical, readers can use a family number to determine both where that family sits within the archive and how it connects to the generations that follow.