CMA Genealogy Committee

The Genealogy Committee (GenCom) is responsible for collecting, organizing, sharing and archiving information on McAlister family history for the Clan McAlister of America. Over 30+ years we have amassed an enormous collection of McAlister genealogical information and family histories. The key activities and responsibilities for the Committee are described in the Position Descriptions. Below is some additional information about the GenCom daily tasks, resources, and tools.

Ancestral Line Designations

To organize our McAlister Genealogy, we assign a unique code for each family line. We begin with the earliest known ancestor of the line and then use the initial(s) of his/her given name(s). For example, James McCallister is designated as a "J" line while George Washington McAlister is a "GW" line. A two-digit number is added to the letter code to distinguish the many progenitors with the same initials. So, A01 is the first family line in our system with the initial "A" and J04 is the fourth family line with the first initial "J." The family line code is then the prefix for all the descendants of the line.

• As of September 2020, we have 350 active family lines.
  
• A total of 530 family lines have been named over time. When we find a common ancestor for two lines, we combine the two lines and retire the subordinate line. A line designator can also change if an ancestor of a line progenitor is discovered, becoming the new progenitor. So far 180 lines have been retired.
  
• We publish the complete list of active ancestral lines annually in the Summer Journal.
  

Ancestral Line Files

• ALL the genealogical data that CMA possesses is in our Ancestral Line files.
  
• This collection is comprised of more than 50,000 pages of research, family trees, written family histories, newspaper articles, photos, and other information submitted by members and others. These materials are organized by Ancestral Lines.
  
• After years of these files being in paper form and stored in plastic crates, they were digitized in 2011. The paper files were deposited at the Ellen Payne Odum Library in Moultrie, GA which is our official depository for the Clan's genealogical research and historical material. This library emphasizes Scottish immigrants to America and is an archive for more than 130 Scottish clan organizations.
• Any member can obtain the digital file on their particular line to see if the research materials and documented family trees are of value to them.
  
• All new material submitted to the Genealogy Committee is scanned and added to the Ancestral Line Files after review and appropriate changes are made to the Database.
  
• Although these files are our unique McA resource, nevertheless the CMA cannot vouch for the accuracy of each contributed item that has been submitted to us. The validity rests with the Line Coordinator or document author.
  

Line Coordinators

• The Genealogy Committee strives to designate a CMA member as the coordinator/expert/contact for each Ancestral Line. Unfortunately, many lines do not have a Line Coordinator.
• The role of a Line Coordinator is to have an active interest in the family line and to be willing to communicate with the Genealogy Committee and CMA members about the line.
• The Line Coordinator plays an important role when there is a decision about merging two lines together or adding new descendants to a line.
  

CMA Ancestral Database

• The CMA Database (DB) is the tool that we use as an index to the McA descendants that are identified in our Ancestral Lines.
  
• The Database is arranged in order of our family Lines, from A01 to ZZ. Each record in the DB identifies a McA descendant and their spouse, along with selective genealogical data (names, birth/marriage/death dates and locations, etc.). It is essentially a distillation of the material in the Ancestral Line files.
• As of September 2020, there are almost 104,000 McA descendants in our DB.
  
• The DB search capabilities make it a useful tool for the Genealogy Committee to answer queries to identify which Ancestral Line a McA descendant belongs to, and also to help discover possible links between family lines.
  
• GEDCOM files can be converted into our DB format using a proprietary software program that the CMA paid to have developed by a prominent GEDCOM expert. The DB Manager must review and adjust the results of such conversions since each person that contributes their family tree to CMA uses different formats, abbreviations, terminology, etc. Also, any conflicting information must be resolved.
  
• The Genealogy Committee adds new information to the DB on almost a daily basis. Folding in new descendant information into existing lines must be done with careful oversight.
  
• Significantly, the Database does not have a complete genealogical profile on individuals and also does not have source citations, notes, qualifiers, stories, pictures, etc. Those details and all other supporting materials are only found in our Ancestral Line files.
  
• The Database is not intended to be a genealogical source or to imply factual certainty. It is simply an index of selected genealogical elements of each Ancestral Line as submitted to the CMA.
  

ZZ lines

• In addition to our Ancestral Lines, our Database also includes other McA individuals and families gleaned from various documents and records (for example, Federal census records and cemetery records). Often, these sources provide just a snapshot of a single household.
  
• If we are unable to connect these McAlisters to an established family line, we still want to capture the records in a searchable format. For these "snippets" of family information we create a "ZZ" line in the DB so the information is available to answer queries and to match family trees submitted to the Genealogy Committee.
  
• Jeanne Bowman is the engine that drives our ZZ lines. She has performed the research and entered the data identifying almost 3000 McAlisters in this effort, some of whom have eventually found their home in one of our Ancestral Lines.
  

Queries

• Queries submitted through the query function on the CMA website are forwarded to the Query Editors on the Genealogy Committee.
  
• We research the inquiry using our primary tools: the Database and the CMA Wiki.
  
• Each query from a non-member receives an invitation to join CMA, and is a primary avenue to recruit new members.
  
• Queries are organized and numbered on a monthly basis for archiving in the CMA Wiki. Selected queries of interest are published in the Journal.
  

The CMA is not a “McA Genealogy Cop”

• CMA does not attempt to be the final authority on genealogy matters, especially regarding individual lines. That function is for the Line Coordinators who are the most familiar and knowledgeable on their particular line.
  
• CMA's function is to be the central data repository, and to provide cross links between the various lines whenever possible. The Genealogy Committee can only pass along the information that has been provided to us – we cannot verify its accuracy in every case.
  

Example Record from the CMA Database