The biological tree of my family. Family tree: simple step-by-step instructions for creating a visual diagram of a genus

"It is important for a person to know his roots"

V. Peskov

If you treat your family history superficially and lightly, you may at some point find yourself in an awkward situation and not be able to answer the simple question: "What kind will you be?" Earlier, representatives of the highest nobility were engaged in genealogical research with special zeal. This was simply explained - the family's pedigree (a sample of which could be provided to everyone) served as proof of their high origin.

Simpler people also kept information about their origins. Many peoples that have not yet broken away from the great umbilical cord and keep the traditions of their people (for example, Buryats, Mongols, Kazakhs, etc.) are very sensitive to the preservation of information about the genealogy. It was considered shameful not to know your ancestry until the seventh generation. All the information gathered in the pedigree has been and remains a source of pride. From a practical point of view, it protected people from incest.

Recently, it has become fashionable to restore the family lineage. Various computer programs and agencies come to the aid of all comers. In this article we will share how to create a family pedigree (sample # 1) on our own, without the help of professionals. Believe me, only at first this burden seems overwhelming - the main thing is to start!

Step one: gathering information

The first step in creating your family's pedigree is to become a meticulous journalist, greedy for any kind of information. Surnames, first names and patronymics, dates of birth and death, place of residence, date of marriage, and so on, so on, so on. Do not dismiss information that for some reason seems unnecessary to you now. Believe me, when the complete picture comes together, this is the puzzle that will be missing.

Look through your archival documents, ask relatives (especially the elderly). The work of collecting information can be delayed, especially if your relatives are scattered around the world. Do not neglect the epistolary genre, write letters, collect information in telephone conversations, on Skype.

Step two: draw the draft

Already at the stage of collecting information, for convenience, you need to take notes of what you heard and make diagrams. The picture below shows the "skeleton" of a family pedigree, an example of the approximate location of key figures. As you can see, the scheme is simple, female personalities are indicated in round segments, male ones - in square ones. Family pedigree (sample):

For a rough draft of a family tree, a thin one as needed, you will just glue the necessary work area.

It is very important to draw all the personalities that you learned about from the informants. Even those about whom you have practically no data. It's okay, leave an empty circle - there was a person, and sooner or later you will find information about him.

Step three: decorating the tree

How sprawling your family lineage will be (sample # 3) depends on the amount of information collected. Three or four levels (and this is one century) may well fit on a standard sheet of Whatman paper.

A start. To delve deeper into earlier times, you will need to consult archives and libraries. It will be useful to contact the namesakes.

In this article, we have only superficially demonstrated how to compose a family pedigree (an example is also presented in a schematic form). Your family tree can be three-dimensional, it can be illustrated with the coats of arms of clans, portraits of all relatives - everything is in your power. Family pedigree (sample) - an example of your selfless work, which will be appreciated by descendants.

The continuous connection between generations, which has existed since the beginning of time, is the guarantor of the preservation of human memory.

The family's genealogy is a documentary confirmation of such memory - an example of reverent attitude to one's roots.

Drawing up a family tree is quite an interesting, but at the same time, a responsible procedure, which must be treated with increased attention. So, first you will have to study all the features of the biography of your ancestors, find information about the origin of the surname and, in general, the entire genus.

Thus, everyone who has thought about drawing up this important document should be patient, since its process can last for more than one year. In the course of performing this difficult work, you will need to organize a large amount of information, so it is best to create folders with files where the corresponding documents will be stored.

Also, do not forget about the possibilities State Archives, in which you can find a lot of information about relatives who lived in years far from our time.

You can download family tree templates to fill in them yourself, you can by following links:

1. Option 1
2. Option 2
3. Option 3
4. Option 4

Template or your own layout?

To begin with, you can use the template, which can be freely found on the Internet, in particular on our website using the links above.

First of all, all information about oneself is entered into the table, then about the next of kin (parents, their sisters and brothers). At the same time, it is a good idea to supplement the text information with photographs.

The work related to interviewing grandparents will be especially interesting, but in order for the meeting to be productive, it is necessary to prepare a list of questions in advance, since the older generation can delve into memories and devote a lot of time to this.

So, you can simply compose a sample questionnaire by posting the following items there:

• where and when this or that relative was born;
• in which educational institution he was educated;
• place of work and position held or working profession;
• with whom he was married;
• what were the names of the children and their dates of birth;
• who is still alive (if this is information about the last century), and who is no longer in this world (with the date of death);
• what facts from his personal biography were the most significant in historical terms.

When using information from the archives of regional or city status, it should be carefully checked, since there are many namesakes, and incorrect information can be entered into the template. This will create considerable problems in further work.

Family tree template filling scheme

After all the material has been collected, it is necessary to correctly build a system for filling in the information found in the template prepared in advance. To do this, it is necessary to highlight the priority "branches" in the tree of the genus, one of which is the scheme along the father's line, and the second - along the mother's line. You can also use the following pedigree building systems:

• ascending (a descendant is placed in the center of the tree, from which the chain passes to all ancestors), which is convenient enough for those who have just started working with the compilation of a genealogical list and have a minimum of information;
• descending (the main figure is a well-known ancestor, and lines diverge from him to all descendants), used when the compiler has a large amount of information and knows for sure almost all of his relatives.

In this case, it is worth considering also the corresponding lines of inheritance:

• a straight line, which is a chain of the originator, his parents, the parents of the father and mother, and so on;
• lateral - brothers, sisters, nephews, cousins ​​and second cousins ​​of all generations;
• mixed type, when all branches are combined in one template (this work is more voluminous and requires a lot of effort and time and can last more than one year).

The way of placing information can be set in the form of a table or a tree, which is previously recommended to be done in draft form on a Whatman paper.

So, we start filling out the template with ourselves, placing our name in the center of the sheet of the selected format. Accordingly, on the right and on the left are the relatives of the father and mother, headed by them. In order to make it easier to record male relatives, they can be placed in squares, and female relatives in circles.

This will help you quickly navigate through which line to enter information. Often there are situations when only his first and last name, or only his first name, is known about a person. Then it is better to leave room for the subsequent filling of the empty space.

Building a family tree is not only difficult, but also time consuming. So, if we take only straight branches as a basis, then at least 120 people will need to be included in the number of relatives up to the “seventh generation”.

If you choose a mixed type, then you can get confused in several hundred close people. That is why it will not be superfluous to resort to the help of specialized computer programs that allow you to do such work on one of the services in the online system in a short time.

The issue of compiling the genealogical tree of the family was considered relevant at all times. However, few people try to solve it on their own. They are afraid of not knowing their genealogy, which is a big mistake. Without understanding anything in this matter, you can try to solve it. Ask why is it necessary?

First, to know the history of a kind. Secondly, it is a way to find out about all your relatives. Perhaps one of your ancestors was a great scientist, a famous politician, or just a popular person. And what is not the reason: to satisfy your curiosity. Let us consider below the solution to the question: how to correctly compose the family tree of the family.

How to create a family tree

In the era of the development of technology, making a family tree is not difficult. You need to go to the Internet, select the required program and install it on your computer. The "Tree of Life" program received good reviews, which reveals in detail the entire technology of how to correctly draw up a family tree of a family.

The tree of life program

So which step should you take first? Start with yourself. Open the downloaded program for compiling a pedigree tree, enter into it data about yourself, then about your immediate environment. Supplement the entered information with photographs. It happens that there is too little known data. Then you should go to a personal meeting. If you have a voice recorder, take it with you.

1. The meeting should be individual, everyone should not be gathered together, this can lead to polemics, a long discussion. Unnecessary conversations, noisy disputes will only take up time, upset the nerves, make it difficult, but not help to find the answer to the question: how to correctly draw up a family tree of the family.
2. Start your survey with the older generation. They have a lot of knowledge. Old people will deeply plunge into the past. To use your time efficiently, so as not to overwork them, make a list of questions ahead of time. As an example of a questionnaire, the following might be:

• place, date of birth;
• when, where did you study;
• where and when they worked;
• with whom they were in a marriage relationship;
• how many children, their names, dates of birth;
• where, when he died, if someone is no longer alive;
• and so on in the same way.

If someone has skype, communication can be built using this program. This will save time. And it is not always possible to visit everyone. Carrying out communication in a chain, moving from one to another, you can find all the relatives. If some data is not enough, there is always the Internet. You just need to know about whom to look for information.

The respondents themselves can provide good help in finding all relatives. The story about the family tree should interest them, I think everyone is interested in learning how to correctly draw up the family tree of the family.

There are times when many relatives have died, then the archives will help. You can make a request there via the Internet or go and rummage through the papers on the spot.

All information received must be carefully checked so that no error occurs, since there are many namesakes.

So, the material necessary for work has been collected, you can start building a family tree diagram. When using the downloaded program, follow the suggested prompts. When you decide to do without the help of the program, to do everything yourself, think over your work plan, the principle that you will follow.

There are several options for building a pedigree tree schema:

• on the father's side;

Father's line scheme

• from the mother's side;
• descending tree;
• ascendant tree.

Ascending schema

You can build a pedigree in the form of a tree or a table.

When everything is thought out, take a Whatman paper and get to work. Place the one for whom the diagram is drawn up in the center. Divide the sheet into two parts, leave the left for relatives on the father's side, the right for relatives on the mother's side. Glue a pocket or envelope under each surname, where you put notes about this person, additional photographs.

Family tree variant

When they took up the scheme along the ascending line, and the type of it was chosen in the form of a tree, then the trunk will symbolize the main person. Branches extend from it in different directions. The big ones are the parents, the smaller ones are the grandparents. You can put a certain person on each leaf. Fantasy when creating a tree has no boundaries. The main thing is to preserve the accuracy of the data, not to distort it.

Before starting work, you need to think carefully about everything, study this issue from all sides. Then such work will easily turn into a hobby.

This kind of history is worth knowing to everyone. Every family has its own unique stories: acquaintances, unusual hobbies, professions, life stories. In order for the memory of generations to be passed on by family, you need to take care of preparing the family tree of the family.

A family tree is memory and information about relatives and generations, graphically depicted as a branched tree. Previously, every noble family knew the history of the family, and now anyone can write down and pass on valuable information to their grandchildren in the form of a family tree.
Principles for creating a family tree:

1. Decide on the amount of time you are willing to cover. Experts advise to start from the interval of 150 years, although it is not easy to collect information for all 150 years. If this is too much for you, determine the best option. It will be enough to ask the oldest relative about your family.
2. Determine the type of division of the tree. There are two types: horizontal and vertical. Most often, the horizontal type of division is used, when all known relatives are examined and listed. The vertical type describes many generations of the same lineage.
3. Collection of information. It is necessary to find out as much as possible about the relatives and write down the information.
4. Rewriting (printing) data on paper. When all the data is collected, you need to decide on the layout. The tree can be made in a graphic editor, in an online editor on a computer, or drawn by hand.
5. Identify relatives who will continue to record family history after you are gone.

Want to dig deeper? Look for references to pedigree on the internet. Collect information in the archives of local libraries. When gathering information, be prepared to face difficulties: disputes among relatives about the reliability of certain events, illegible records in the archives and inaccurate information on the Internet. Better create a small tree, but with more reliable information from the mouth of relatives. Double-check the data by chatting and discussing one event with several relatives. Find a middle ground.
If you have the opportunity to travel the world, visit Salt Lake City, Utah. The Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) has a wealth of information on genealogies. It contains information on a billion bloodlines from over a hundred countries. The Mormons collected archival documents and digitized them to create the world's largest genealogical archive. Also, Mormons have created family history centers in some countries, where for a small amount you can get interesting information about their roots.

Family tree template.

There are two main patterns for constructing a family tree:

• on the ascending line, when one ancestor is exposed in the center of the tree (usually you), and the rest of the branches with close people go from him.
• descending line, where the ancestor will become at the base of the tree, and the descendants will be in the crown.

Many sites offer ready-made family tree templates.

How to work with them:

Most of the services offer additional services, for example, notify you about memorable events of relatives (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.).
Please note that some sites may display your information in the public domain. If you don't want everyone to know your pedigree, find a function in the settings that turns off public visibility, or go to another site.

Sites that have family tree templates:

We offer several options for graphic templates:

Family tree template for kids.

At school or other educational institution, the child may be given the task of making a family tree.

• For children, there is a rather simplified template where it is enough to indicate parents and grandparents.
• The child starts with himself, indicating his name at the bottom.
• Further, the tree branches out to mom and dad, and from them to grandparents.

The tree is decorated brightly, with beautiful patterns. You can design a tree in an online editor, where there are heroes of your favorite cartoons and kind children's pictures. A good option would be a tree with handprints.

How to draw a family tree?

Most often, younger relatives are drawn in the roots, and then, as they branch out, the rest of the relatives. It is convenient to draw this way, but not entirely correct. It is better to draw the younger family members at the top, and the oldest relatives will be in the roots. Then the phrase “remember your roots” becomes more meaningful.

Filling in the family tree.

To fill in a family tree requires a painstaking job of gathering information.

What information needs to be recorded:

• Be sure to indicate the name, patronymic and surname of a relative, write with whom you have to write. For female relatives, it is advisable to indicate the surname before and after marriage.
• Date of birth, date of death (if the relative is dead). You can indicate where the deceased relatives are buried.
• Occupation. Indicate the place of work, profession of relatives. If there was an unusual hobby, this is also worth mentioning.
• If there are stories of acquaintance of relatives or interesting stories from life, it is necessary, if desired, also to write them down separately..

How to make a family tree of your family as a gift to the hero of the day, a master class?

Such a present is suitable for a gift for both young and old. As a gift to the hero of the day, you can make a slightly non-standard tree:

• Buy a tree wall decal, print photos and details of family members.
• Order a tree of the family from craftsmen who make figures from wood and burn on wood.
• Sew a small felt tree, attach pendants with photographs of relatives to it. Glue information about relatives on the back of the pendant.

How to make a tree, step by step:

1. Cut out the frame of the tree from colored paper.
2. Stick it on paper.
3. Dip your hand in the paint and shape the tree into handprints. Let both adults and small family members leave prints.
4. Complete the design by gluing photos of relatives to the tree and inscribing information about them under the photos.

Video: family tree using scrapbooking technique.

It takes a lot of time and effort to create a family tree. But you can be sure that descendants will remember you when they study this tree. Do everything well so that your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have enough interesting and useful information about their relatives. Interest the younger generation with information, ask them to continue doing business, and then you will be sure that the memory of your ancestry will remain for a long time.

Everyone at least once thought about who his ancestors were, where the family came from, and based on the stories of his grandparents, he compiles a genealogical tree of the family with his own hands. For the school, each of us made a pedigree, but not everyone will be able to remember how to do it correctly. In this article, we will tell you in detail how to independently, without knowledge in the field of genealogy, find out and compose your pedigree. The family tree of the family will allow your descendants to remember relatives.

Why you need to know the pedigree

It takes motivation to build a family tree. Some may find this a complete waste of time, while others continually put off building a family tree until later. Having an idea of ​​why this should be done at all, everyone will think about drawing up a pedigree.

1. With age, everyone has a certain sentimentality. Everyone notices that grandfathers and grandmothers are beginning to remember their distant relatives, great-grandfathers. Give them a little joy, make a family tree of the family with your own hands, show the elderly that the family is important to you, and you remember your roots.
2. If you have children, then make a family tree in order to instill in the child respect for their roots. Children should remember their ancestors, know the history of the family and its traditions.
3. The family tree of the family will clearly show you how big the clan is, how many relatives you have - feel like a part of history, a big family.
4. Satisfy your curiosity: you may have nobles or even kings in your family! What if you have a celebrity in your family at the moment, and you don't even know it?

Professionals in compiling family trees do not recommend starting a search for ancestors among nobles and historical celebrities, since this is a very troublesome business, and most importantly - costly. Basically, the data on such individuals are indirect, and the search for relatives among them will not lead to a positive one hundred percent result. People who have nobles and historical celebrities in the family usually know about this. If you do not have data on this, then, most likely, they will not be found.

What to use when searching for ancestors

Today, folders with documents in the archive have already lost their relevance, no one will group their family in paper form. The easiest way is to use special programs for notes and notes that are available to all Internet users. Such programs will allow you to conveniently and beautifully organize the collected information and display it in a neat form.

Online programs will help you find relatives and ancestors. Almost all such services are paid, but they give good results quickly, efficiently and in full.

Online programs are convenient in that you just need to register in them, enter your data, if there are photos of ancestors, distant relatives, then upload them to the service, and he will independently compose a graphic family tree.

Pay attention to how long the service on which you decide to register is running. If he is still young, then, most likely, he will give out not entirely accurate information. There is also a great chance that one day the program will simply cease to exist, and all the data you entered will disappear on the Internet.

Good services for compiling a family genealogical tree

We offer a list of proven programs that have been "living" for quite a long time, they store a lot of information about people, among whom there is at least one hundred percent, but your relative:

• http://genealogia.ru/genealogicheskaya-programma is a popular online program. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that when entering information, the peculiarity of the Russian family is taken into account - patronymic!
• Site of the All-Russian genealogical tree. It contains information about all historical figures whose relatives are currently alive and living in Russia.
• Center for Genealogical Research. Communication is carried out in the forum, where everyone can suggest something to each other. Also on the site you can find an archive of documents on chronology, estates, registration, land tenure and other information.
• Site of the Russian Noble Assembly. It stores information about all descendants (including possible ones) who belong to the nobility.
• familyspace.ru is a family social network site where you can find lost relatives, chat with people who know your relatives or know your ancestors.

Free pedigree software

In addition to many paid programs, there are good free ones that will help you create a family tree.

1. "Tree of Life" - on this site you can find relatives, find out the degree of relationship with this or that person. You can upload information about yourself, your ancestors and descendants, photos and videos.
2. "Family Chronicle" - the creation of a tree is colorful, bright! Save photos, documents, videos and other information about your family.

Of course, these programs are free only if you provide trial information. To use the full interface, you need to pay a small amount - within reason.

Starting tree formation

If you are interested in how to draw a family tree of a family with your own hands, then you should not give up online programs, they will help you learn more about the genus.

Start building your family tree with yourself - this is the easiest option. Cut out a photo, stick it on a sheet of paper from the very top, write brief information (date of birth, first name, last name and patronymic).

If you have children, attach their photo next to yours. Write down the information with the degree of kinship.

If personal knowledge has dried up, resort to the help of older relatives.

Interviewing relatives

Do not gather all the grandparents for a survey in one room. As a rule, their knowledge may differ, they will begin to argue, disrupting your pace of work on compiling a family tree.

Visit each relative separately (from the mother's side and from the father's side it is obligatory!), Let them talk about ancestors and relatives in a calm atmosphere.

If opinions are divided, then draw up a pedigree based on the data that agree, so there will be the smallest error.

Collecting photos

The penultimate stage is the collection of photos. Look for them in family albums, grandmothers, great-grandmothers.

If there are no photographs of any relatives, you should not remove them from the tree. Ask how they looked, try to depict at least approximately (hair color, eyes, approximate physique). Don't be afraid to paint, even if you have no skill at all!

How to draw a family tree

After collecting information and photos, proceed directly to creating a tree. This is not at all difficult, use the instructions, which describe in detail how to draw a family tree of a family with your own hands.

1. At the root of the tree there should be a photo of the oldest member of the family (determine by the degree of relationship, date of birth).
2. Make branches from the elder to which you can attach photographs of his children. From children, offshoots are already their children.
3. Shape the tree neatly, clearly, attaching photos higher and higher until you get to your photo and photos of your children.
4. Make the branches of the closest relatives higher, and the distant ones (cousins, and so on) to the sides.
5. Finally, decorate the tree with a crown with leaves, draw a trunk and a root.

You can see an example (photo) of the genealogical tree of a family in this article. Based on it, you can easily create your own.