Status

This document enumerates a set of event types to be used for genealogical data exchange, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.

The current state of this document is as a "stable draft", and as such, the document may be subject to limited changes, BUT NOT backwards-incompatible changes, according to the discussion and suggestions for improvement.

Copyright Notice

Copyright Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

License

This document is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. For details, see:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Summary

The GEDCOM X Event Types spec specifies a set of enumerated values that identify common event types that are relevant to genealogical research. An "event" is an occurrence that happened at a specific time or period of time, often at a specific place or set of places. Genealogically relevant events are often described by referencing the persons that played a role in that event. Hence, events often refer to persons and might infer relationships, but events are described independently of those persons and relationships. The spec includes notational conventions, event types, and the URI reference used to identify event types.

1. Introduction

An enumeration of types of events provides the means for descriptions of historical events to be semantically processed by applications, rather than being only interpreted by people. This specification provides such an enumeration by identifying specific event types and defining the semantic significance of each type.

1.1 Identifier and Version

The identifier for this specification is:

http://gedcomx.org/event-types/v1

For convenience, this specification may be referred to as "GEDCOM X Event Types 1.0". This specification uses "GEDCOM X Event Types" internally.

1.2 Notational Conventions

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14, RFC2119, as scoped to those conformance targets.

1.2.1 The URI Reference

The Uniform Resource Identifier ("URI") is used to identify event types. The URI is specified by RFC 3986. This specification uses the term "URI" to refer to both a "URI" and a "URI Reference" as defined by RFC 3986.

2. Event Types

The following event types are specified:

URI	description
http://gedcomx.org/Adoption	An adoption event.
http://gedcomx.org/AdultChristening	An adult christening event.
http://gedcomx.org/Annulment	An annulment event of a marriage.
http://gedcomx.org/Baptism	A baptism event.
http://gedcomx.org/BarMitzvah	A bar mitzvah event.
http://gedcomx.org/BatMitzvah	A bat mitzvah event.
http://gedcomx.org/Birth	A birth event.
http://gedcomx.org/Blessing	A an official blessing event, such as at the hands of a clergy member or at another religious rite.
http://gedcomx.org/Burial	A burial event.
http://gedcomx.org/Census	A census event.
http://gedcomx.org/Christening	A christening event at birth. Note: use AdultChristening for a christening event as an adult.
http://gedcomx.org/Circumcision	A circumcision event.
http://gedcomx.org/Confirmation	A confirmation event (or other rite of initiation) in a church or religion.
http://gedcomx.org/Cremation	A cremation event after death.
http://gedcomx.org/Death	A death event.
http://gedcomx.org/Divorce	A divorce event.
http://gedcomx.org/DivorceFiling	A divorce filing event.
http://gedcomx.org/Education	A education or an educational achievement event (e.g. diploma, graduation, scholarship, etc.).
http://gedcomx.org/Engagement	An engagement to be married event.
http://gedcomx.org/Emigration	An emigration event.
http://gedcomx.org/Excommunication	An excommunication event from a church.
http://gedcomx.org/FirstCommunion	A first communion event.
http://gedcomx.org/Funeral	A funeral event.
http://gedcomx.org/Immigration	An immigration event.
http://gedcomx.org/LandTransaction	A land transaction event.
http://gedcomx.org/Marriage	A marriage event.
http://gedcomx.org/MilitaryAward	A military award event.
http://gedcomx.org/MilitaryDischarge	A military discharge event.
http://gedcomx.org/Mission	A mission event.
http://gedcomx.org/MoveFrom	An event of a move (i.e. change of residence) from a location.
http://gedcomx.org/MoveTo	An event of a move (i.e. change of residence) to a location.
http://gedcomx.org/Naturalization	A naturalization event (i.e. acquisition of citizenship and nationality).
http://gedcomx.org/Ordination	An ordination event.
http://gedcomx.org/Retirement	A retirement event.