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Family Charts

A pedigree chart only gives you limited information, dates and places of birth, marriage, death, etc.
To give more detail, and even images about a family, I like to fill in a family group chart for each family.
Looking at our pedigree chart we can create a family chart for person 1, 2 and 3, 4 and 5, 6 and 7, 8 and 9, and so on.
Family charts will give information on other children, their spouses, images, etc.
If father or mother had other spouses with children, you need to create another family chart for that family.

Chart #1
Family Group Chart 2
Family Chart 2 for #6 and #7 on chart #1
Oak Tree - 6"x 8"- Family Chart 3
Family Chart 3 of # 14 and # 15 on chart # 1

Before I fill in a family chart, I determine how many children there are in the family, if I have pictures and portraits of the family, etc..Then I find a suitable family chart.
There are many options:

Family Chart 1 - no images - 3 children, or 8 children with the double page layout.
Family Chart 2 - images for father, mother, children and their spouses, 3 children or 6 children with double page layout
Family Chart 3 - wedding picture of husband and wife, information for 3 children or 9 children with double page layout
Family Chart 4 - same as chart 3, but information for 4 children or 12 children with double page layout.
Family Chart 5 - picture or wedding photo of father and mother, room for 2 children or 7 children with room for photos.

Pedigree Charts

6 Generation - Numbered Pedigree Chart
6 Generation Pedigree Chart - 2 page layout - 6" x 8"

One of the basic tools to create a family tree is a pedigree chart. This chart begins with you and branches back in time, displaying the line of your direct ancestors and results in the presentation of family information in the form of an easily readable chart.

An ahnentafel (German for “ancestor table” is a genealogical numbering system for listing a person’s direct ancestors in a fixed sequence of ascent. The subject  of the ahnentafel is listed as No. 1, the subject’s father as No. 2 and the mother as No. 3, the paternal grandparents as No. 4 and No. 5 and the maternal grandparents as No. 6 and No. 7, and so on, back through the generations. Apart from No. 1, who can be male or female, all even-numbered persons are male, and all odd-numbered persons are female

Our Roots - 7 Generation Pedigree Chart
7 Generation Pedigree Chart - 4 page layout - 8.5 x 11

On a pedigree chart you start with yourself (or the person you are creating this chart for) as number one – whether you are male or female. After your name, all the male names will have even numbers and the female names will have odd numbers.

(The paternal side of the family is the father’s blood relatives. Father’s name is always first – therefore all even numbers thereafter are MALE)
(The maternal side of the family is the mother’s blood relatives. All odd numbers from 3 on are FEMALE.)
(To find the father of a person, double that person’s number.- To find the mother of a person, double that person’s number and add 1. The wife is always one number higher than her husband is.

NAMES
1. Capitalize the surnames; this makes them stand out.
2. For females, use the maiden names.
3. Add nicknames in quotation marks.
4. Use initials only when you don’t know the full name; leave room to add the full name when you have acquired it.
5. Include middle names whenever they are known. Occasionally someone will have as many as four or even five names; your earliest ancestors may have had only one name.
DATES
6. Record dates as in the military system. (Example: 16 October 2019.)
PLACES
7. Record the place names in this order separated by commas: city, county, state.

Pedigree Charts are available in the number of generations. From 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 up to 15 generation foldable charts. Each generation the number of ancestors doubles. Each person has their own number, that also makes it easy add and to file documents and photos associated with that person.

How many ancestors do you have?

Chart #1 is the first chart. If you continue with a branch of the tree, use an un-numbered chart, and give the first person the same number as he/she has on chart #1.

Images for my Genealogy Charts

Family Group Chart 2

I am a little OCD about adding photos to my pedigree and family group charts. I like them to be the same size, the same coloration, etc.
Many years ago, a found Photoscape, a free online program. Once downloaded it is easy to use, not very complicated and great for the purposes I need it for. You can resize photos to any size you want, add text and label your photos, crop photos, combine photos, and print photos to any size you desire.
Your first step, if you have not already done so, is to scan all your old family photos into your computer (most printers have to ability to scan, store them on a memory stick and transfer images onto your computer into a separate folder, so they will always be easy to find.
Always keep your original photos in a safe place, away from the sun.
Download Photoscape onto your computer. Once you open the program,, choose the “Edit” option. It will show the all the folders in your top left.
Choose the folder that contains your images. The content of the chosen folder will show at the bottom left. Click on desired image image, which will appear on your screen

Crop the area you want to use, click crop, and then “save as” with a new title for the new image. This will preserve the first image.

I then use the same wedding picture and go through the same process to crop out a picture of the bride.
I did this with all the images of my ancestors to create a collection of portraits which I can use on my genealogy charts.
Go to print, if you need images for your chart.
Set up printer with paper size.
Choose amount of columns and rows, as well as the size of the intervals.
Drag your images onto the screen, choose grayscale or sepia or leave original colors. Print. 

Download Photoscape

There may be better ways to do this, but this works for me 🙂

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