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Jan Murphy
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Children of Jane Doe and John Smith (if the couple has married, you could add their marriage date following John's name or a note like 'mm. 1980'1980)

  • Michael J. Leclerc and Henry B. Hoff, ed., Genealogical Writing in the 21st Century, 2nd ed. (Boston: NEHGS, 2006). find in a library via WorldCat
  • See Joan Ferris Curran, Madilyn Coen Crane, and John H. Wray, Numbering Your Genealogy: Basic Systems, Complex Families, and International Kin, National Genealogical Society Special Publication No. 64 (Arlington, Va.: National Genealogical Society, 1999). find in a library via WorldCat

Children of Jane Doe and John Smith (if the couple has married, you could add their marriage date following John's name or a note like 'm. 1980')

  • Michael J. Leclerc and Henry B. Hoff, ed., Genealogical Writing in the 21st Century, 2nd ed. (Boston: NEHGS, 2006). find in a library via WorldCat
  • See Joan Ferris Curran, Madilyn Coen Crane, and John H. Wray, Numbering Your Genealogy: Basic Systems, Complex Families, and International Kin, National Genealogical Society Special Publication No. 64 (Arlington, Va.: National Genealogical Society, 1999). find in a library via WorldCat

Children of Jane Doe and John Smith (m. 1980)

  • Michael J. Leclerc and Henry B. Hoff, ed., Genealogical Writing in the 21st Century, 2nd ed. (Boston: NEHGS, 2006). find in a library via WorldCat
  • Joan Ferris Curran, Madilyn Coen Crane, and John H. Wray, Numbering Your Genealogy: Basic Systems, Complex Families, and International Kin, National Genealogical Society Special Publication No. 64 (Arlington, Va.: National Genealogical Society, 1999). find in a library via WorldCat
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Jan Murphy
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Using terminology like step-child (or in earlier times, "son/daughter-in-law") for a child in relation to a parent, only works for a child's relation to one of the parents (for example, the head of household in a census household).

Doug could be a stepson of both Jane Doe and John Smith if Jane is a widow and her family looked like this:

Children of Jane Doe and John Smith (if the couple has married, you could add their marriage date following John's name or a note like 'm. 1980')

  1. Doug b. 1 Dec 1979 (Jane's stepson; son of Sarah (White) and Jane's late husband Doug Brown)
  2. Justin b. 20 May 1981
  3. John b. 20 Jan 1987
  4. Jane b. 12 August 1989 (not a DNA relation; adopted into this family 1 Sep 1989)

But to say that Doug is a stepson of both Jane and John without any other context wouldn't make sense to the average person.

Resources:

Resources:

Using terminology like step-child (or in earlier times, "son/daughter-in-law") for a child in relation to a parent, only works for a child's relation to one of the parents (for example, the head of household in a census household).

Doug could be a stepson of both Jane Doe and John Smith if Jane is a widow and her family looked like this:

Children of Jane Doe and John Smith (if the couple has married, you could add their marriage date following John's name or a note like 'm. 1980')

  1. Doug b. 1 Dec 1979 (Jane's stepson; son of Sarah (White) and Jane's late husband Doug Brown)
  2. Justin b. 20 May 1981
  3. John b. 20 Jan 1987
  4. Jane b. 12 August 1989 (not a DNA relation; adopted into this family 1 Sep 1989)

But to say that Doug is a stepson of both Jane and John without any other context wouldn't make sense to the average person.

Resources:

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Jan Murphy
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You say "I'm creating a list of family members" but you don't say for what purpose. Since you migrated it here, I'll assume it is for the purpose of family history.

As noted in an earlier answer, the date format is problematic. If you want to stick to American date style, write out the month so it's clear to worldwide readers which standard you're following.

 Mother: Jane
 Father: John

 Children
 --------
 Biological, Justin, 5/20/1981
 Biological, John,   1/20/1987
 Adopted,    Jane,   8/12/1989 *
 Step,       Doug,   12/1/1979 **

*  Not biologically related to the mother or father.
** Biological child to one of the parents, not the other.

What wasn't discussed earlier, and the reason you've painted yourself into a corner and are tying yourself in knots over terminology, is that you haven't followed one of the most basic precepts of family group sheets or genealogical writings, which is to list the events in a biographical sketch or history in chronological order.

If you list the children in the order of their birthdates instead of prioritizing the biological children of this couple over their adopted sibling and half-sibling, then your problem goes away.

Assume that Jane is the mother of all the children, and you must make the blood relations clear for DNA study purposes. Your list might look like this:

Children of Jane Doe and John Smith (if the couple has married, you could add their marriage date following John's name or a note like 'm. 1980')

  1. Doug b. 1 Dec 1979 (Jane's son from her previous marriage/relationship)
  2. Justin b. 20 May 1981
  3. John b. 20 Jan 1987
  4. Jane b. 12 August 1989 (adoptednot a DNA relation; adopted into this family 1 Sep 1989)

See how much clearer this is?

Resources:

  • Michael J. Leclerc and Henry B. Hoff, ed., Genealogical Writing in the 21st Century, 2nd ed. (Boston: NEHGS, 2006). find in a library via WorldCat
  • See Joan Ferris Curran, Madilyn Coen Crane, and John H. Wray, Numbering Your Genealogy: Basic Systems, Complex Families, and International Kin, National Genealogical Society Special Publication No. 64 (Arlington, Va.: National Genealogical Society, 1999). find in a library via WorldCat

You say "I'm creating a list of family members" but you don't say for what purpose. Since you migrated it here, I'll assume it is for the purpose of family history.

As noted in an earlier answer, the date format is problematic. If you want to stick to American date style, write out the month so it's clear to worldwide readers which standard you're following.

 Mother: Jane
 Father: John

 Children
 --------
 Biological, Justin, 5/20/1981
 Biological, John,   1/20/1987
 Adopted,    Jane,   8/12/1989 *
 Step,       Doug,   12/1/1979 **

*  Not biologically related to the mother or father.
** Biological child to one of the parents, not the other.

What wasn't discussed earlier, and the reason you've painted yourself into a corner and are tying yourself in knots over terminology, is that you haven't followed one of the most basic precepts of family group sheets or genealogical writings, which is to list the events in a biographical sketch or history in chronological order.

If you list the children in the order of their birthdates instead of prioritizing the biological children of this couple over their adopted sibling and half-sibling, then your problem goes away.

Assume that Jane is the mother of all the children, and you must make the blood relations clear for DNA study purposes. Your list might look like this:

Children of Jane Doe and John Smith (if the couple has married, you could add their marriage date following John's name or a note like 'm. 1980')

  1. Doug b. 1 Dec 1979 (Jane's son from her previous marriage/relationship)
  2. Justin b. 20 May 1981
  3. John b. 20 Jan 1987
  4. Jane b. 12 August 1989 (adopted into this family 1 Sep 1989)

See how much clearer this is?

Resources:

  • Michael J. Leclerc and Henry B. Hoff, ed., Genealogical Writing in the 21st Century, 2nd ed. (Boston: NEHGS, 2006). find in a library via WorldCat
  • See Joan Ferris Curran, Madilyn Coen Crane, and John H. Wray, Numbering Your Genealogy: Basic Systems, Complex Families, and International Kin, National Genealogical Society Special Publication No. 64 (Arlington, Va.: National Genealogical Society, 1999). find in a library via WorldCat

You say "I'm creating a list of family members" but you don't say for what purpose. Since you migrated it here, I'll assume it is for the purpose of family history.

As noted in an earlier answer, the date format is problematic. If you want to stick to American date style, write out the month so it's clear to worldwide readers which standard you're following.

 Mother: Jane
 Father: John

 Children
 --------
 Biological, Justin, 5/20/1981
 Biological, John,   1/20/1987
 Adopted,    Jane,   8/12/1989 *
 Step,       Doug,   12/1/1979 **

*  Not biologically related to the mother or father.
** Biological child to one of the parents, not the other.

What wasn't discussed earlier, and the reason you've painted yourself into a corner and are tying yourself in knots over terminology, is that you haven't followed one of the most basic precepts of family group sheets or genealogical writings, which is to list the events in a biographical sketch or history in chronological order.

If you list the children in the order of their birthdates instead of prioritizing the biological children of this couple over their adopted sibling and half-sibling, then your problem goes away.

Assume that Jane is the mother of all the children, and you must make the blood relations clear for DNA study purposes. Your list might look like this:

Children of Jane Doe and John Smith (if the couple has married, you could add their marriage date following John's name or a note like 'm. 1980')

  1. Doug b. 1 Dec 1979 (Jane's son from her previous marriage/relationship)
  2. Justin b. 20 May 1981
  3. John b. 20 Jan 1987
  4. Jane b. 12 August 1989 (not a DNA relation; adopted into this family 1 Sep 1989)

See how much clearer this is?

Resources:

  • Michael J. Leclerc and Henry B. Hoff, ed., Genealogical Writing in the 21st Century, 2nd ed. (Boston: NEHGS, 2006). find in a library via WorldCat
  • See Joan Ferris Curran, Madilyn Coen Crane, and John H. Wray, Numbering Your Genealogy: Basic Systems, Complex Families, and International Kin, National Genealogical Society Special Publication No. 64 (Arlington, Va.: National Genealogical Society, 1999). find in a library via WorldCat
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Jan Murphy
  • 25.8k
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  • 127
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