How to Create a Pedigree Chart

It can be fascinating to look through ancestry lines and learn about your family roots. Genealogy has become a popular hobby for many people. Creating a family pedigree chart can be challenging or easy, depending on how well family records have been preserved. With some research and some elbow grease, you are on your way to compiling a pedigree chart that will be cherished for generations.

Things You'll Need

• Pedigree chart

Instructions

1. Visit a website that has free pedigree charts. Look through the charts, and pick one that meets the needs of your family.

2. Begin filling in the chart by writing the name of the person who the chart is for. Fill in the name of the person's parents in the two boxes connected to the single box.

3. Work on one side of the chart at a time. Fill in the mother's mother and father. Stay with the maternal line, and fill in her mother and father. Continue to do this until you run out of information.

4. Start filling in names for the father on the maternal side. Enter the father's mother and father, and continue to add names until all information on the maternal side is complete.

5. Fill in names on the paternal side. Enter the father's father and mother. Continue to fill in names on the paternal side of the chart just as was done on the maternal side.

Tips & Warnings

• Visit an online genealogy resource for help in tracking down family names, dates and other information.

• Start small. Work with the information that is easy to access before moving on to challenging names.

Resources

• Free pedigree charts