The structure of the web site: the three ‘master’ files

One of the design principles in a project like this is that you should enter any change only once. To ensure this we have three master files and all other files are derived from one or other of these three. The master files are:

1. We have extended Keith Ludlow’s research by inserting new information, correcting any errors and adding information about sources. All such changes go into a GEDCOM master file: keithplus.ged which will grow gradually as more research is incorporated.

   In August 2005, this file contained:

   1. Keith’s original copy of the indexes of the Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths;
   2. Keith’s pedigree of the descendants of William Ludlow of Hill Deverill. He had included this pedigree in his database, based on a pedigree registered with the Royal College of Arms and published in the Wiltshire Archeological Magazine in the 19th century. But Keith had extended this to include the many descendants of William now living in the New World. Keith’s standards of proof were very high but we need to identify his sources for this work.
   3. Keith’s database included a pedigree of the descendants of Stephen Ludlow of Shipton Moyne, Gloucestershire, who also has many New World descendants. This was Keith’s own family and again his standards were forensic but his sources need to be identified.
   4. Keith had included additonal groups, such as colonial officers and military men, where published sources were available.
   5. We have made minor corrections to Keith’s database, usually surplied by correspondents.
   6. I am entering a pedigree of the descendants of Nicholas de Ludlow, wool merchant to Edward I, whose sons, Laurence, John and Thomas lived in Stokesay, Shropshire; Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire and Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire. It is based on Robin Ludlow’s pedigree of the Ludlows of Stokesay, with additions to include the Chipping Campden and Scrivelsby Ludlows. I am gradually including relevant entries from Robin Ludlow’s books of published records to give biographical detail for each individual and to document the known sources.
2. A second master file, irishplus.ged, is based on my own family of Irish Ludlows: the descendants of Thomas Ludlow of co. Cavan, Ireland. Since it happens to be my family, it includes many other ancestors and relations from the Atkinson, Couch, Hargreaves, Teire and Woods families, hence the ‘plus’. This master file will grow as new information is added.
3. Finally, we have kept Keith’s original database to provide an audit trail so that any errors can be identified. It is called stkath.asc and is the last readable file that Keith Ludlow left before he died. It contains over 9,000 entries, mostly copied from the Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths held at the General Record Office, St Catherine’s House, 10 Kingsway, London WC2B 6JP. The information in this file has been mapped to files in other formats but Keith’s original file has never been changed.