Where to Find Family Tree Templates

by Jen Thorpe | More from this Blogger

06 Sep 2010 12:39 PM

If you come from a great big family, like I do, trying to put together a family tree can be overwhelming. Personally, I find it difficult to try and figure out where to put all of my living relatives on a family tree. I am nowhere near ready to start working on where to place earlier ancestors. I've often thought that a regular family tree wouldn't be enough... I would need a family giant redwood. Today, much to my surprise, I found what might be a better solution than turning an entire wall of my home into a giant family tree. There are family tree templates online, that can be printed out for free!

Today, I learned that there are many different designs that a family tree can be in the form of. Most people recognize the linear form of family tree, where an ancestor and their spouse appear at the top, and lines connect them to all of their offspring. The offspring are connected to their own spouses, who are together connected to their children, and so on, and so on. This shape often resembles the branches of a tree. You can use that form of family tree, or one that looks like a bow tie, a sideways pedigree, and arch, or even a circle! I think that these printable family trees can make an excellent "rough draft" as you do your genealogy research.

Here are a few of the websites I found that offer free, printable, family tree templates:

Family Tree Templates.net This website has 50 different family tree templates that can be downloaded and printed for free. Or, you can pay $4.00 if you want to have a customizable version of one of their templates. Some are in color, with a decoration in the middle (such as a tree, or a bird's nest). One has "frames" where you can place photos of your relatives. They have a five generation, six generation, or seven generation family tree template. There is also a template designed as an "adoptive family tree".

ObituariesHelp.org This website has a variety of designs to choose from. There are circular shapes, hourglass formats, pedigree family trees, and more. Choose from templates designed for six, seven, eight, or nine generations. These templates are very straight forward, and without decoration.

Family Tree Templates Here, you can find a family tree chart that records the ancestors whom you directly descend from. This website also has printable research calendars, family tree research extract sheets, correspondence record sheets, family group sheets, and source summaries. Those can be very useful to help a new, (or experienced), genealogist to organize their research.

Image by Bernt Rostad on Flickr

Learn more about Jen Thorpe

I am currently writing for the Insurance, Deals, Genealogy, and Special Needs blogs.I have also written for the Parenting,Money, Homeschooling, Preschool, Health, Food and Weightloss blogs.

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