Which family tree template to pick
| If you need… | Use |
|---|---|
| A school project for a young child | Kids’ worksheet: large boxes, simple labels, space to draw each person |
| A school project for an older student | 3-generation tree, or the tree with photos if the assignment asks for pictures |
| A family reunion poster or name-tag wall | Extended family (cousins) tree, printed on Tabloid or A3 |
| A gift: a framed print for parents or grandparents | Decorative tree or the 5-generation fan chart |
| Starting your genealogy research | 4-generation tree to see what you know, plus a family group sheet for each couple |
| Something that fits any family shape | Blank family tree, with no labels on the boxes |
All of these are ancestor or descendant charts with a fixed number of boxes. That is what makes them easy to print and fill in, but it also means they cannot show everyone. If your family includes remarriages, half-siblings, adoptions or more children than the boxes allow, the family tree maker builds a tree that grows to fit. For a research-grade ancestor chart with Ahnentafel numbers and continuation references, use the pedigree chart maker.
How to fill in a family tree template
- Start with yourself in the “Me” box, then your parents, then their parents. Each generation back doubles the number of boxes.
- Write women under their birth surname, the name they were born with. It keeps each family line traceable; a married name can go in brackets if you want both.
- Use full dates where you have them, written as day, month as a word, year (“14 Feb 1931”). For a printed tree meant for display, years alone (“1931–2004”) are easier to read.
- Ask relatives early. Grandparents and older aunts and uncles can often fill a whole generation from memory, and their recollections are worth recording before they are lost.
- Check what you can against documents: birth, marriage and death certificates, family Bibles, obituaries and census records. Note uncertain details in pencil or with “abt.” (about).
- Leave a box empty rather than guess. A blank box is an honest question; a wrong name can send later research in the wrong direction.
Tips for printing large family trees
- Choose the paper size before you fill in. Templates rearrange their boxes to fit the page, and Tabloid (11 × 17 in) or A3 gives twice the writing space of Letter or A4.
- Print at “Actual size” or 100%. “Fit to page” shrinks the margins and can make handwritten boxes cramped. The PDFs already leave a margin that home printers can handle.
- Copy shops print Tabloid and A3 cheaply, often on heavier paper. Take the PDF on a USB stick or email it; the file is vector, so it stays sharp at any size.
- Use ink-saving black and white for working copies and color for the final version. The black-and-white option also photocopies cleanly for handing out at a reunion.
- For framing, a Letter or A4 print fits an 11 × 14 in frame with a mat; a Tabloid or A3 print suits a 16 × 20 in or 40 × 50 cm frame. The fan chart and the decorative tree are drawn for this.
- Test-print one page on plain paper before printing on card stock or photo paper, so you can check that names fit.
What a family group sheet is
A family group sheet is the genealogist’s standard form for one family unit: a husband and wife (or two partners) and all of their children. For each parent it records full name, birth, christening, marriage, death and burial with dates and places, plus their own parents and any other marriages. Below that, each child gets a row with sex, name, birth, death and spouse. A space at the bottom records the sources: which certificate, register, census or letter each fact came from.
Where a pedigree chart shows the direct line on one page, family group sheets hold the detail. You would normally keep one sheet for every couple on your pedigree, filed by surname or by Ahnentafel number. Siblings matter more than they seem: a brother’s marriage record or a sister’s obituary often names the parents when your direct ancestor’s records do not.
Making the most of a printed template
Templates are a good way to gather information at a family event: print several blank copies, hand them out, and ask each branch of the family to fill in their own part. Afterwards, you can enter everything in the family tree maker to keep one tree that is easy to update and reprint.