Gift Idea #13 – A Family Tree

A beautiful family tree or pedigree chart would make a wonderful gift for any member of your family. There are so many, many ways to do a family tree. I did a post about pedigree charts last summer that shows a few options. Some are very simple with and others are very elaborate works of art. You can make your own from scratch or there are lots of options for customized charts. Minted.com has more than a dozen Custom Family Tree Art options. A search of “custom family tree” on Etsy.com comes up with more than 4,000 items. I never dreamed there were so many family tree styles out there. One summer not too long ago I drew a couple of family trees for my mother and my mother-in-law. I’ll have to find those on my computer and write a post about them sometime. You have two options. Create something yourself or pick one of the customizable options out there. If you enjoy drawing or crafting I’d suggest doing something on your own. Look at the options out there and let them be your inspiration.

 

 

My Generations Project – Mary Taylor

Mary Taylor

The next step in My Generations Project as out lined by The Generations Project episode “Do Your Own Generations project”, is to populate my family tree. So I went to FamilySearch.org on the right hand side of the page is a link for “just getting started”. If you don’t have an account you can set one up there. Step one is to build your tree. Mine was already built so I went to the second step. Discover your fan chart. If you have an account for FamilySearch you can go straight to CreateFan.com and login there. Then just select create and it will create a pdf file ready to save to your computer or send it to one of four printing options.   It was really slick and easy. Here is how mine turned out.

There are several free downloadable genealogy charts through TreeSeek.com. One of the other options there is a cloud style tree. I picked the one that is just last names. Here is how mine came out.

As I explored TreeSeek.com I found a link on their about page to Misbach Enterprises. They have blank pedigree charts and some are free that you can download. One is a graphical family tree that looks interesting. A few weeks ago I found a bunch of blank free pedigree chart at ObituariesHelp.org. I really like an 8 generation fan chart that I have used for my puppies pedigrees.

family_tree        fan_chart         eight_generation_family_charts_fan_triangles

There aren’t too many blanks spots on my mom’s side of the family. My dad’s side has a lot more holes. Maybe sometime I’ll work on filling in those holes but I don’t see it happening anytime soon. I really like how compact and clear the fan charts are in organizing so much information.Have you used a fan chart?