How to Read a Family Tree

Family trees can go back for hundreds of years.

Ancestry is a topic that varies by country, with some countries forgetting about their ancestors and some countries respectful of their ancestors. In modern times, many consider family trees and genealogy to be either hobbies or science. Reading a family tree can be very interesting, especially for those that have little knowledge of their family history. It is also important for school-aged children, who often are required to make their own family tree while learning about biology or similar sciences, to learn how to read family trees.

Instructions

1. Locate the starting individual. In most cases, this will be the individual searching for the information or it will be the parents. Usually, the starting individual will be the individual to the far left.

2. Look to the right for the parents of the individual. In most charts, the father's name and information will be above the mother's name and information.

3. Continue right to see grandparents. Like the parent's names, the grandparent's names display with the male on the top and the female on the bottom. The father's parents display above the mother's parents. This section lists any information available about the grandparents.

4. Move further to the right to find out information about older ancestors. You can trace some family trees for generations, while others will have little or no information. The further back in time the family tree goes, the less information will be available.

5. Look at the descendants. The family tree lists descendants either to the left of the starting individual or below the starting individual. The family tree will continue to branch off, naming grandchildren, great grandchildren and eventually generations further into the future as they begin.

Tips & Warnings

• Lines connect spouses, parents and children. Every family tree resource will have different connections, like lines or dotted lines. In most cases, there will be a key or listed information to clarify any confusing markings.

• School project family trees will typically have the current generation on the bottom and should have grandparents or great grandparents at the top.

References

• Distant Cousin: Archive of Genealogical Data and Document Images
• Answers in Genesis: How to Read an Evolutionary Family Tree