Different Types of Family Trees
For many, the first encounter with their family tree has to do with a grade school project that involves tracing relationships of one’s immediate family in a rather rudimentary format. While it is true that the traditional boxes and lines of grade-school family tree projects are indeed a popular layout, they are by no means the only methods of illustrating a family tree.
Many people find that the most basic of family tree layouts can be quite limiting in scope. If you want to create a comprehensive family tree that traces multiple generations and numerous family branches, the boxes and branches approach will only get you so far. That is why many genealogists (both novice and advanced) turn to other family tree formats to trace the history of their families. Here are some of the most popular methods of creating family trees.
Pedigree charts probably have the closest resemblance to the family trees that many of us have created in school. If you want to take a more simplistic/traditional approach to family tree creation, a pedigree chart may be just what you want.
A pedigree chart shows the direct ancestry of a given individual and assigns each person in that ancestral line a number. Number 1 is the person at the end of the family tree. Numbers 2 and 3 are the father and mother (respectively), 4 and 5 are the paternal grandfather and grandmother and 6 and 7 are the maternal grandparents.
When illustrated, the pedigree chart looks somewhat like a rocket ship sitting on its side. You can view more information and illustrations of pedigree charts here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedigree_chart
Those who want to trace their family history and share it with friends and family will often use creative layouts to do so. These layouts include photo montages, scrapbooks, paintings, and other creative mediums.
A photo montage can be a great way to display your family history in video format. By creating a photo montage on DVD, you can use family pictures (both old and new) and music to illustrate the history and relationships of one’s family while entertaining those who watch it.
Photo montages don’t usually work well for those who want to create an extensive family tree that dates back hundreds or thousands of years, but they are perfect for those who want to create a remembrance of a few generations past for future members of the family.
Scrapbooks are another wonderful way to creatively display a family’s lineage. By scrapbooking your family heirlooms and photographs, you can create a gift for future generations of your family to share. Pictures, letters, birth and marriage certificates, even locks of hair, pieces of jewelry and old family recipes can be placed in a family scrapbook.
You can find more information on scrapbooking your family tree here:
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/scrapbooks/a/family_history.htm
For those who would like to display their family history for all to see, a professional painting may be the ideal choice. There are artists who cater to those studying their genealogy and are experienced in illustrating family histories.
Once you have gathered all of your family information together, the artist can create a painting detailing your family’s past. Some people choose to commission paintings that depict a family’s historical migration while others have ornate and detailed trees painted with the names of family members incorporated into the branches.
You can find out more about family tree paintings here:
http://www.familytreepaintings.com
Pedigree charts probably have the closest resemblance to the family trees that many of us have created in school. If you want to take a more simplistic/traditional approach to family tree creation, a pedigree chart may be just what you want.
A pedigree chart shows the direct ancestry of a given individual and assigns each person in that ancestral line a number. Number 1 is the person at the end of the family tree. Numbers 2 and 3 are the father and mother (respectively), 4 and 5 are the paternal grandfather and grandmother and 6 and 7 are the maternal grandparents.
When illustrated, the pedigree chart looks somewhat like a rocket ship sitting on its side. You can view more information and illustrations of pedigree charts here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedigree_chart
The genogram is a type of family tree that has often been used in the psychiatry and medical fields. Unlike a traditional family tree that just illustrates names and dates, a genogram displays family relationships and medical histories.
While genograms haven’t traditionally been used by genealogists, they are becoming more and more popular as people are beginning to realize the importance of tracing hereditary medical conditions. You can view more information and illustrations of genograms here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genogram
Ahnentafel charts are an increasingly-common method of recording one’s family history. Because of the Ahnentafel’s layout, they take up less space and those who want to record genealogies in a notebook find that Ahnentafel format to be very convenient.
An Ahnentafel chart is made up of names and numbers. When creating the chart, the number of the father is always two-times that the number given to the child. The number given to the mother is two-times the number given to the child plus one.
For example, in your Ahnentafel chart you would be given the number 1, your father the number 2 and your mother the number 3. Then your father’s father would be given the number 4 and your father’s mother the number 5. This would continue all the way up the tree.
The numbers in an Ahnentafel chart correlate with the numbers in an illustrated pedigree. You can view more information on Ahnentafel charts here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahnentafel
The online creation of family trees has become increasingly popular and as such, there are a wide variety of family tree makers on the Web. However, while many people were excited to see the wealth of family tree makers on the Web, the sheer number of service providers became problematic over time.
Genealogists routinely like to share information with one another to help further their research. When genealogist A would try to share information with genealogist B, there wasn’t an efficient way for them to transmit the data to one another if they were using different family tree programs. That’s is when GEDCOM came into play.
GEDCOM stands for Genealogy Data Communication. It is a standard file format that most of today’s genealogy software is able to read. To put it simply, GEDCOM enables you to take your family tree and convert it to text format, thus enabling you to share your family tree information with other genealogists and upload any GEDCOM family tree to the family tree software of your choice (assuming you use a family tree maker that is able to read GEDCOM files).
GEDCOM was developed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The church wanted to create a uniform format for exchanging genealogical data to assist with their genealogy research. Further information on the GEDCOM standard can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEDCOM
The possibilities offered by today’s family tree tools are endless. Whether you want a simple and straightforward outline of your immediate family or an in-depth collaboration of your entire bloodline, the family tree tools currently available through websites today are making today’s family trees some of the most elaborate in history. There has never been a better time to start tracing your own lineage and creating your family’s illustrated history.
Javier Colayco is the founder of TribalJunction.com (http://www.tribaljunction.com), a site that makes it easy to create a family tree and find distant relatives. With additional features like group email, customizable user profiles and more, Tribal Junction also helps families keep in touch.
What is Genealogy?
Genealogy, generally defined, is the study of one’s ancestry. However, in actuality, genealogy is much more involved and interesting than its general definition lets on.
When you begin studying genealogy, you realize just how much interesting information your family history can reveal. Genealogy can shed light on where your ancestors came from, where they lived, what they did for a living, who they married and what property they owned.
Almost everyone, whether they realize it or not, has participated in some form of genealogy activity. In grade school, did you ever make a family tree? That’s genealogy! Genealogy can be as simple as making a record of your family tree from you to your great grandparents or as complex as tracing your entire lineage back to ancient times.
The history of genealogy dates back to the Old Testament of The Bible. In the very first book, the Book of Genesis, we see a family’s bloodline narrated and the importance of genealogy. The New Testament would later also reflect the importance of genealogy in religion and society. Both the Books of Matthew and Luke outline the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth.
But The Bible is not the only written record that lends credence to the importance of genealogy. Throughout history we find records of disputes, murders and even wars where genealogy played a part in the story. Ties to royalty, rights to inheritances and eligibility for rulership are all tied to a person’s heritage, and genealogy provides the map that illustrates who has right to what claims.
There are a number of instances throughout history in which genealogy played an important role as certain dramas unfolded before humanity. From something as significant as the lineage of Jesus of Nazareth to something as modernly-trivial as the true father of Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter, genealogy has oftentimes been at the forefront as history played itself out.
Genealogy also played a large role in England’s historical claim to the throne of France. King Edward III was a Norman-French descendant. When his uncle, Charles IV of France, passed away Edward tried to lay claim to the French throne.
He tried convincing the powers that be that even though his mother could not lay claim to the throne because she was a woman, she could pass on the bloodline’s right to the throne, making him the rightful ruler of France. Of course, the descendants of the male side of the bloodline didn’t agree and the argument eventually led to the Hundred Year’s War.
England and France aren’t the only countries to have disputes over who would be the rightful heir of a throne because of genealogy. Rowena’s, Byzantium, Portugal, and even ancient Egypt all have histories that are rich in bloodline disputes.
Genealogy finds aren’t all ancient history. Modern genealogy issues have hit the media recently. Al Sharpton’s recent discovery is proof of the ironies that genealogy may uncover. Mr. Sharpton, who earlier this year stated that he might run for president in 2008, recently discovered through genealogy research that his great-grandfather was a slave owned by none other than Senator Strom Thurman’s great-great-grandfather. In fact, the two may be related by blood.
Then, of course, there are the less-significant genealogy disputes that don’t have nearly as much importance as some of these historical and political events, but they get enough media coverage to make them world famous. The true family tree of Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter is just one instance. Perhaps this dispute over lineage wasn’t historically significant, but it appears that many found it to be a topic of intense interest.
There are a number of reasons why people pursue genealogy. From something as simple as a mild interest in one’s family history to something as significant as trying to find the parts of a broken family and piece them back together, the reasons for studying genealogy are numerous.
Genealogy can help a person get in touch with who they really are. You can find out who your ancestors were, what they did, where they lived, and more. By tracing your roots, you not only learn about those in your bloodline who have gone before you, but you can research and gain an understanding of these members of your family that you never had the chance to meet.
While genealogy doesn’t always dig up buried treasure, it is indeed a possibility. Did you have a rich great uncle who died without any heirs? One you never knew about? If you did, genealogy could help you uncover the details that would help you claim what was rightfully yours.
There have been times throughout history when extreme circumstances split families apart. World War II, for instance, tore brother from sister and mother from child. Genealogy is a tool that can help piece broken families back together and thousands of people have done just that.
Sometimes genealogy is just plain fun. Wouldn’t it be exciting to find out you were a distant cousin of a famous celebrity, or that your great-great-great-great grandfather was a king? Many times genealogy can uncover interesting and exciting facts about a person’s family tree.
Genealogy, while always important, didn’t experience such a widespread explosion in popularity until the advent of the Internet. Gone are the days when researching your family tree meant running from one public records facility to the next, hoping you could find missing pieces to the puzzle by mailing away for information that might never arrive.
With more and more public records being made available online, priceless genealogy information is just a mouse click away and easier than ever to create a fluid family tree. Its no wonder millions of Internet users have started tracing their family lines on the Web. What used to take years to accomplish can now be done in a matter of days or weeks.
With genealogy becoming more and more popular and advanced genealogy tools now so readily available, there really hasn’t been a better time to get involved. Whether you only want to trace your family history back a few generations or you want to see just how far back you can climb up your family tree, the genealogy tools now available will make the process faster, more efficient and much more enjoyable.
Javier Colayco is the founder of TribalJunction.com (http://www.tribaljunction.com), a site that makes it easy to create a family tree and find distant relatives. With additional features like group email, customizable user profiles and more, Tribal Junction also helps families keep in touch.
Some Key Terms Directly Related To Studying Your Ancestry
Before beginning a study of one’s ancestry, it is important to know one’s terminology. Here then are a few key terms that one would do best to know.
Ancestral Charts
An Ancestral Chart is a picture or diagram of a descendant and his ancestors. It is the framework or skeleton on which a Family History is built. It may be arranged in any one of a multitude of ways, sometimes resembling an open fan, but more often shown by a plain diagram on one or more sheets of paper ruled for the purpose and indicating the multiplication of lines necessary to represent the geometrical progression needed to accommodate the actual number of ancestors of any one person.
An Ancestral Chart will contain only names, dates of births, deaths and marriages, and possibly the place of residence of the various people named. It is a skeleton history giving only the vital record.
Ancestral History
An Ancestral History in a compilation of data combined with interesting incidents, with reference to lines of ascent from a common descendant. It starts with a person in the present or some recent time and works back to earlier dates along all lines of blood which have contributed to the life of the individual selected as the starting point, thus embracing many families of different surnames and many strains of blood in no way connected only as they are the ancestors of a common offspring. Ancestral History is one straight line from child to parent so far back as it is carried.
An Ancestral History, because its focal point is in one person of recent date, or at most in one family of brothers and sisters, is of more private nature than a genealogy. It is of interest in its totality to only a few people and is prepared more for a pastime than for any historical value it may reveal and, therefore, is not prepared with a view of publication.
Genealogy
A Genealogy is a compilation of data with reference to lines of decent. It starts with one common ancestor who may be the emigrant, or one of the emigrants if there were several bearing the same surname, who came to this country in colonial times. Or it may begin with any subsequent ancestor heading a particular branch of the family surname.
From the beginning point, wherever it may be, the genealogy works down to a more recent date, even to the present time enumerating by generations the descendants of the selected ancestor and following only the blood lines of the one chosen forefather. Genealogy is a history of one family of one blood strain only.
The genealogy may be restricted to those persons bearing the same surname as the selected ancestor in which case it is only the history of sons and unmarried daughters of the family, or it may be enlarged to include the marriages of daughters and the enumeration of their immediate families, which by the way is the most common practice and the plan to be most strongly recommended, or it may be still further extended to include all known descendants of the ancestor, thus embracing the ancestral name and the surnames acquired by the daughters through marriage in all branches.
The latter method would produce a family history which could be termed a full genealogy and would be the complete history so far as it could be gathered of an ancestor and all his blood descendants – the complete history of one strain of blood. Thus, while an Ancestral History is the history of a descendant and his ancestors, a Genealogy is a history of an ancestor and his descendants.
Genealogist
A Genealogist is a person who, professionally or otherwise, practices the science of examining public and private records with the object of compiling in some form the history of a family. In its broader meaning it embraces both those persons who are working on Genealogies and those who are preparing Ancestral Charts and Ancestral Histories. In this treatise the term Genealogist will be used in its broader sense to indicate any person who for any reason is examining and compiling any sort of family records.
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The Family Tree Is Important To All Families
Family Tree provides detailed information on the families past history. To organize your research you need to create a worksheet of your family tree. There are many tools to use to help start the process of your family tree, they are not expensive and widely available, and they are great tools for organizing. Studying genealogy will give you the knowledge you will need to understand your ancestry, and it will help in creating the family tree. The family tree is a graphical representation of how the family fits and is related to each other. To make it easier it is a good idea to separate the generations, this will make it easier for tracing the family roots. By seeing the generations it is a good rule of thumb of you your family tree will be formed and how extensive it is. Use a family tree to elaborate on how each of us is connected to each other. The family tree is a great tool for showing children how the family is related plus it give a perspective of how the family was formed..
There are plenty of websites that have great tools to use to keep you organized with your records. Keeping records is very important, along with maintaining them in a secure and good condition.
When searching for information about families the most common type of information that is found is that information that is public. Full names are also essential. As you go through old letters, many of the names will be completely unfamiliar to you. Include any dates; also take note of the addresses on envelopes, and the dates the letters were posted. Names can get you into a muddle if several of your ancestors share a name. Genealogy is now becoming popular for many people. Searching for your past and for ancestors is very fun; many people find it interesting and a great way to learn about their history.
One of the easiest and cost effective way to start is to talk to living relatives and pick their brains about past relatives. Watch for free genealogical courses at your local library. Now that family tree research is so popular, many libraries hold short courses (lasting a couple of hours) on how to conduct library research. Try entering the names into any of the online search resources you’re no doubt familiar with. One of the reasons so many people get frustrated with their family tree research is that they simply can’t find much if anything online. It’s possible you’ll find an Internet cousin or two on this site. Sharing research is an excellent technique for getting faster results.
There is no need to place expensive phone calls or travel to all parts of the world just to meet your distant cousins. A lot of family tree software can be bought at reasonable prices, and some are free. Most family tree maker software is completely customizable. Most software have some type of safety precautions so you don’t loose your work, many come with a backup utility so you save your work to a separate file. Family tree software is widely available and can be very affordable.
David Marc Fishman is the owner of http://www.tipsquad.com. Watch experts give advice via video on family genealogy.