How to Make & Print an Online Family Tree Chart
The current popularity of genealogy is reflected in the growing number of online websites that offer a variety of services and products for those researching their family history. From offering a template to print and fill in to full-service web searches for ancestors, these websites facilitate both the research and the diagramming parts of making your own family tree chart. You can choose how much information to include and with whom to share your family tree.
Instructions
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Make a list of all the family members that you know about. Write down their names and their relationships to you. Draw a rough draft of the family tree with you at the center, your parents on the line above you and your children on the line below you. This will help you identify any people missing from your list.
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Talk to each person on the list and examine birth, death and marriage certificates to collect information on each person. At the very least, include everyone's given name as shown on their birth certificate, any nickname they are known by, each person's birth date, and marriage and date of death if applicable. Include any other areas of interest to your family, such as the place of birth, any military service or when they immigrated. Collect photos of your relatives. Verify each piece of information from as many sources as possible.
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Select an online family tree site to use. Some sites offer just a template to download and print. Other sites guide you through a set of questions about the basic details of your family and create a chart for you to print. Still others take this information and search the Internet for any related stories or people, and tell you the results so that you can update your family tree. These sites require registration and keep your information for you on file. You may also have the option of uploading family photos and stories to attach to your tree. Many of these sites allow you to specify people who can also register and look at the family tree. You will also need to decide whether you want to give other family members access to add information to the family tree.
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Sign on to the site and register if needed. The online program will guide you through adding all your family's information into a form. Don't worry if you have incomplete information, just enter what you have.
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Choose the diagram format that you want for your family tree. The most popular are the familiar tree diagram in which each person forms a "leaf" on a branch, and the fan chart which is a series of concentric half-circles radiating from a central point. If applicable, decide what photos, audio or video you want to add to the chart. You may also be able to add a border or decoration to the chart before printing it. Experiment with different fonts to change the look of the chart.
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Select the print chart option on the online website. Specify the size of the desired paper, checking to see if there is an option to print the chart across several pages that you can then tape together.
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Tips & Warnings
Record, either in audio or video, your relatives' stories to add depth to your family tree information.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit family tree image by Judy Ben Joud from Fotolia.com
