Genealogy for Beginners: Ways to display your genealogy

Modern genealogy programs all have a way to output your data to paper, at least  by GEDCOM. Some common output forms are:

Ahnentafel :  a numeric list with all male ancestors assigned odd numbers and all female ancestors assigned even numbers.

Pedigree Charts: using the same numbering system as above, this is the familiar branching chart. It can run from left to right, or be formatted as a fan or a tree.

Outline or narrative: A format where the earliest known ancestor is the beginning, and spouses and children are listed, in many cases with notes on major life milestones, careers, etc.

But these are not the only ways to display your research. Especially at a family reunion, you may want to try these formats:

Time Line: Starting with the earliest known ancestor, show the names of all by birthdate. Add historical events to understand your ancestor’s life better, including a location timeline for your ancestor, entering in where he was for each date.  Show the cousin relationships by entering dates of birth on a timeline and putting your common ancestor in parenthesis.

Fabric: You can create a family tree in the pedigree chart of your choice using photographs and the transfer paper that allows you to iron images onto cloth. You can do this with quilt blocks, t-shirts, tablecloths, and many other textiles.

Photograph Collage: Scan in old photographs of ancestors, print them out and create a pedigree chart, framed and captioned with names and dates.

Maps: Show the migration of your ancestors with map pins attached to names and dates. You can find outline maps at  http://www.eduplace.com/ss/ssmaps/. Use different colors for different generations!

Posted by elizabeth in Family trees, Genealogy, How to | Trackback |