A system much used overseas, primarily in South Africa, is the de Villiers/Pama system. The following information regarding the system was written by Steve Hayes of South Africa amd sent to the authori in 1991.
The de Villiers/Pama system was invented by Chris. de Villiers, who used it in his published work Genealogies of Old Cape Families. published in the 1890s, I think, and revised more recently by Dr. Cor Pama. The same numbering system is now being used in a new work called Genealogies of South African Families, by Heese & Lombard, published by the Human Sciences Research Council.
The original ancestor you start numbering from is a. Every subsequent generation takes the following generation letter, so the children of a are b, the grand children c, and so on. Each child is given a number - the oldest is 1, the second 2, and so on.
So the children of a are
b1 b2 b3Their children are
b1
c1
c2
d1
c3
d1
d2
b2
c1
c2
and so on. Thus the third child of the second child is b2.c3
a Thomas STOOKE . b1 John STOOKE, Born ??? 1592, Died ??? 1642 at age 50 . . c1 William STOOKE, Born Feb 1619, Died 30 Apr 1677 at age 58 . . . d1 William STOOKE, Born 13 Jan 1656, Died 31 Oct 1676 at age 20 . . . d2 James STOOKE, Born 10 Nov 1659, Died 6 Nov 1677 at age 17 . . . d3 John STOOKE, Born 6 Oct 1662, Died ??? . . . d4 Francis STOOKE, Born ??? 1665, Died 6 Jul 1704 at age 39 . . . . e1 John STOOKE, Born 3 Dec 1691, Died ??? . . . . e2 Mary STOOKE, Born 3 Aug 1693, Died 7 Aug 1694 at age 1 . . . . e3 William STOOKE, Born 4 May 1698, Died 30 Jan 1735 at age 36 . . c2 Marie STOOKE, Born Sep 1622, Died ??? . . c3 Nicholas STOOKE, Born ??? 1624?, Died Jul 1710? at age 86 . . . d1 John STOOKE, Born Jan 1660 . . . d2 Mary STOOKE, Born Apr 1664, Died Apr 1664 at age 0 . . . d3 Grace STOOKE, Born Apr 1665, Died Jul 1689 at age 24 . . . d4 Nicholas STOOKE, Born Apr 1668, Died ??? . . . d5 Susanna STOOKE, Born Mar 1670, Died ??? . . . d6 Mary (?) STOOKE, Born Jun 1673, Died ??? . . c4 George STOOKE, Born Jul 1626, Died 23 Jul 1629 at age 3 . . c5 John STOOKE, Born ??? 1628, Died ??? 1696 at age 68 . . c6 Edward STOOKE, Born Sep 1631, Died Sep 1699? at age 68 . . . d1 Edward STOOKE, Born ??? 1656, Died ??? 1727 at age 71 . . . . e1 Mary STOOKE, Died 16 Sep 1686 . . . . e2 John STOOKE, Born ??? 1687, Died 13 Jun 1760? at age 73 . . . . e3 William STOOKE, Born 23 Feb 1691, Died ??? . . . . e4 James STOOKE, Born ??? 1696, Died 1 Jul 1741 at age 45 . . . . . f1 Anne STOOKE, Born ??? 1728, Died 4 Oct 1775 at age 47 . . . . e5 Thomas STOOKE, Born ??? 1700, Died Dec 1789 at age 89 . . . . . f1 Mary STOOKE, Born Jul 1733, Died ??? . . . . . f2 James STOOKE, Born Sep 1736, Died ??? 1768 at age 31 . . . . . f3 Elizabeth STOOKE, Born Mar 1738, Died ??? 1761 at age 22 . . . . . f4 John STOOKE, Born Jan 1739, Died 13 Jun 1760 at age 21 . . . . . f5 Thomas STOOKE, Born Oct 1742, Died Dec 1784 at age 42 . . . . . f6 George STOOKE, Born Jan 1744, Died 10 Dec 1814 at age 70 . . . . . f7 Martha STOOKE, Born Dec 1746, Died ??? . . . . . f8 Francis STOOKE, Born ??? 1748, Died ??? . . . . . f9 Grace STOOKE, Born Jun 1750, Died ??? . . . . .f10 Thomas STOOKE, Born Dec 1834, Died ??? . . . . e6 Edward STOOKE, Born ??? 1701?, Died 8 Jun 1752? at age 51 . . . . . f1 John STOOKE, Born Mar 1730?, Died ??? . . . . . f2 Edward STOOKE, Born Jan 1732?, Died ??? . . . . . f3 William STOOKE, Born Nov 1735?, Died ??? . . . . . f4 Elizabeth STOOKE, Born Apr 1739?, Died ??? . . . . . f5 James STOOKE, Born Jun 1742?, Died ??? . . . . . f6 Grace STOOKE, Born 9 Jun 1745, Died ??? . . . d2 Grace STOOKE, Born 4 Nov 1658, Died ??? 1683 at age 24 . . c7 George STOOKE, Born Sep 1633, Died ??? 1637 at age 3 . . c8 Thomas STOOKE, Born Sep 1633, Died ??? . . c9 Susan STOOKE, Born ??? 1635, Died Nov 1649 at age 14