The GEDCOM format, which stands for Genealogical Data Communication, is a plain-text specification developed to allow the exchange of genealogical data between different software programs. Rather than storing a tidy tree, GEDCOM files are more like sprawling lists of individual records—each person, event, or source is assigned a unique identifier. These IDs are then used to cross-reference relationships, weaving a complex web of pointers between parents, children, spouses, and associated documents.
This enrichment of what might otherwise be a simple tree diagram connects a genealogical record to sources like birth certificates, ship manifests, and census records. It’s a cited grammar of migrations, of deaths, associations with land, and of the transmission of culture, language, and wealth—a story far more intricate, and ultimately more revealing, than biological lineage, which is always suspect. GEDCOM is also notable in that it is a religious technology, developed by the Church of Latter Day Saints in the 1980’s.
When I began to build out my game experiment Grotto, I used genealogy data in GEDCOM as a model for the construction of the dungeon maze. I wrote a software parser to transcribe names and dates and familial relationships into rooms with inscribed cenotaphs for the dead and connective passages. I imagined that the Czech All-Souls Day holiday Dušičky would be the basis of the work—a tour of the monuments for the dead, lighting candles, performing symbolic acts of care. But, in creating spaces for all of my dead ancestors of record, I found enormous networks of new rooms that dwarfed the branches that I knew.
GEDCOM FILE EXCERPT
NAME Valentine J /Fridel (Friedl)/ Jr
2 GIVN Valentine J
2 SURN Fridel (Friedl)
2 NSFX Jr
2 SOUR @S1329062894@
3 PAGE National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for Texas, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 502
2 SOUR @S1330637731@
3 PAGE United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790-2007; Record Group Number: 29; Residence Date: 1950; Home in 1950: Brazos, Texa
2 SOUR @S1328949094@
2 SOUR @S1329063702@
3 PAGE Year: 1910; Census Place: Justice Precinct 3, Robertson, Texas; Roll: T624_1585; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 0109; FHL microfilm: 1375598
2 SOUR @S1329063670@
3 PAGE The National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland; Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985; Record Group Number: 92; Roll or Box Number: 578
2 SOUR @S1330636830@
2 SOUR @S1331565662@
3 PAGE The National Archives At Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving At New Orleans, Louisiana, 1820-1902; NAI Number: 2824927; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; Record Group Numb
1 SEX M
1 BIRT
2 DATE 8 AUG 1865
2 PLAC Rozeni Halenkov, Moravia, Austria, Europe
2 SOUR @S1330637731@
3 PAGE United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790-2007; Record Group Number: 29; Residence Date: 1950; Home in 1950: Brazos, Texa
2 SOUR @S1328949094@
2 SOUR @S1329063702@
3 PAGE Year: 1910; Census Place: Justice Precinct 3, Robertson, Texas; Roll: T624_1585; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 0109; FHL microfilm: 1375598
2 SOUR @S1331565662@
3 PAGE The National Archives At Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving At New Orleans, Louisiana, 1820-1902; NAI Number: 2824927; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; Record Group Numb
1 DEAT
2 DATE 27 DEC 1956
2 PLAC Bryan, Brazos, Texas, United States
2 SOUR @S0475@
3 NOTE @N0308@
2 SOUR @S1328949094@
1 EVEN
2 TYPE Arrival
2 DATE 1872
2 PLAC New Orleans, Louisiana
2 SOUR @S1329240924@
3 PAGE Year: 1930; Census Place: Precinct 3, Brazos, Texas; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 0004; FHL microfilm: 2342035
2 SOUR @S1329063702@
3 PAGE Year: 1910; Census Place: Justice Precinct 3, Robertson, Texas; Roll: T624_1585; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 0109; FHL microfilm: 1375598
2 SOUR @S1331565662@
3 PAGE The National Archives At Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving At New Orleans, Louisiana, 1820-1902; NAI Number: 2824927; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; Record Group Numb
1 IMMI