How to Add Aunts, Uncles & Children to Family Trees

Each family is part of a larger familial network.

Knowing your immediate family tree can tell you where you come from, but knowing your extended family tree of aunts, uncles and cousins can inform you of where you can go to possibly know others. Adding your mother's brothers and father's sisters can give you a better idea of your overall family history and can help you remember that you are part of a bigger picture during those times when you forget who you are.

Instructions

1. Draw a line through the line that attaches the child to the parents. For top-down family trees, draw the line horizontally above the child's name. For a left-to-right family tree, draw the line vertically just to the left of the child's name.

2. Write the name of older siblings to the left of the child's name, and younger ones to the right for the top-down family tree. Keep the names in chronological order of birth. For example, if the original child's name on the tree was the third of four children, then you would write two names to the left and one to the right. For the left-to-right family tree, write the names of the older siblings above and the younger ones below. These siblings are the aunts and uncles of the next generation. To add their aunts and uncles, move either up or left one level and repeat the process.

3. Write the name of the spouse of the aunt or uncle next to the aunt's or uncle's name. For the top-down family tree, a male name is written on the left and a female name is written on the right. For the left-to-right, write a male name above and a female name below. Attach the names with a line between them.

4. Extend a line from the connecting lines of the aunt and uncle, either descending the line in the top-down tree or leading it right in the left-to-right format. Write the names of the children in chronological order, either left-to-right or top-down, connecting multiple names with either a line right above or one just to the left. Continue the above process to archive both more recent and distant generations of family.

References

• "Discovering Your Family Tree"; David Iredale; 2002