How to Draw a Family Tree by Hand

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Making a family tree is a fantastic way to illustrate your family's history. Start by researching your ancestry to find out who should exist included, and then diagram each generation to create your family unit tree. You can embellish your diagram to plough it into a display-worthy work of art, or merely salvage your research so you'll e'er have your family unit history on paw. See Stride 1 to become started.

1. 1

   Write down the people you lot want to include in the diagram. A family tree begins with y'all, and branches out from there. Commencement by writing downwards the names of people in your firsthand family, then move to your parents' generation. Make certain you don't get out anyone out! Your family unit tree volition be an important piece of family history, then take time to create an accurate diagram.

   • Write downwards your proper name, your siblings' names, and your parents' names.
   • Write down your grandparents' names, your aunts' and uncles' names and your cousins' names.
   • Write downwardly your smashing grandparents' names and your bully aunts' and uncles' names.
   • Many people terminate there, just you can include every bit many generations every bit you lot desire.

2. 2

   Fill up in the holes past doing some research. It might start getting hard to fill in names once you go back a few generations. In an effort to make sure everyone gets included and all the names are authentic, conduct some research to double check yourself. This is a peachy opportunity to learn more about your family history.^[1]

   • Talk to older members of your family to notice out more data. Notice out the names of your grandparents' siblings, their spouses, their children. Ask around to find out as much as you tin. If you lot're lucky, you'll become the opportunity to hear some surprising family stories and secrets, too.
   • Do online enquiry using a genealogy tool. There are many online tools that let y'all simply enter your proper noun and your parents' name, then do all the enquiry for you. These sites ordinarily give y'all a limited amount of information free, and so require payment for more than in-depth research. If you're serious most mapping your beginnings, this is a cracking way to collect data.

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3. 3

   Decide what other information you want to highlight. In addition to including the first and last names of your family unit, you might want to listing their birth dates, expiry dates (if applicable), marriage dates, and then on. Having these dates on the family tree will brand information technology fifty-fifty more informative every bit a historical document for your family. In addition to dates, you could consider including your relatives' birthplaces or hometowns.^[2]

4. 4

   Decide whether to include photos. If you have access to photographs of your ancestors, you could include a modest portrait of each person. This option is all-time for family trees that are relatively contained, since the pictures could take up a lot of room on your finished diagram.^[3]

   • If you only have a few photos, you could merely include pictures of your immediate family unit members.
   • Track down photos of equally many family unit members as possible. If you want to make them yet size, browse them into your reckoner and use Photoshop or another photo editing program to alter the scale.

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1. 1

   Start with your generation. This is the base of the tree, and includes you, your parents, and your siblings. The shape your diagram volition have is your option. If you want it to branch out vertically and get bushier at the summit, like a tree, start at the lesser of a big sheet of paper. Yous may also start on the left side of a sheet of newspaper so that your diagram will be like shooting fish in a barrel to read from left to correct. No matter what shape you lot want your diagram to accept, fill in the following data to go started:^[iv]

   • Write down your name.
   • Draw a line from your name to the name of your mother. Describe another line from your proper name to the proper noun of your male parent. Describe a horizontal line connecting your female parent and father.
   • If yous accept siblings, draw lines from your female parent and father to their names.
   • If your siblings have spouses, write them in and connect them with lines.
   • If your siblings take children, write them in and connect them with lines.

2. 2

   Fill in your parents' generation. At present it's time to fill in the second generation - your parents' generation. Connect each married couple with a horizontal line, and draw lines from parents to children.^[5]

   • Write your maternal grandparents' names above your female parent's proper noun. Write your paternal grandparents' names above your male parent's proper name.
   • Connect your maternal grandparents' names to your mother's siblings. Connect your paternal grandparents' names to your father's siblings.
   • Add the names of your aunts' and uncles' spouses.
   • Add the names of your aunts' and uncles' children, your cousins.

3. three

   Diagram your grandparents' generation. If you have a large family, your diagram may already exist threatening to become over the border of the page. Some people stop here, with both sets of grandparents serving equally the crown of their family unit tree diagram. If you desire to keep going, information technology's time to include your grandparents' generation. Remember to connect married couples with horizontal lines, and to depict lines from parents to their children.^[6]

   • Add the names of your maternal grandmother's mother and father and your maternal grandfather'southward mother and father. These are your bully grandparents.
   • Add the names of your paternal grandmother's mother and father and your paternal grandfather's mother and begetter. These are your great grandparents.
   • Add the names of your maternal grandparents' siblings - your peachy aunts and uncles.
   • Add together the names of your paternal grandparents' siblings - your nifty aunts and uncles.
   • Fill in the names of your peachy aunts' and uncles' spouses and children.

4. 4

   Decide how far back yous desire to go. If yous're enjoying the experience of researching your family unit history, keep tracing it dorsum every bit far as you tin can. There's no limit to the potential size of your diagram, especially if it's digital!

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1. ane

   Embellish the diagram yourself. Now that your diagram is complete, consider putting an creative spin on information technology so you can share it proudly with the rest of your family unit. Re-create the diagram in pencil on a large canvass of cartoon paper, then use dainty ink or pigment to render the names and add colorful embellishments. You lot could cull to utilize the classic tree shape or try something new and artistic to illustrate your ancestry. Here are a few ideas:^[7]

   • Turn the connecting lines into branches, and write each person's name on a unlike leaf. Children's names tin be written on apples or berries.
   • Make a family milky way, with people's names written on planets and stars. If y'all want, make your proper name the "sunday."
   • Create a family neighborhood, with each proper noun written on a lilliputian house, all connected by streets.

2. two

   Utilise software to create a computer-generated tree. If you desire your diagram to look visually appealing but you'd prefer not to illustrate information technology yourself, there are hundreds of options to choose from online. Practise a search for "free family unit tree" to come upwardly with templates or auto-generated diagrams you lot tin print out and hang on your wall.

3. 3

   Consider having an creative person practise an original rendition. Find an artist to render your family tree as a beautiful piece of work of original art. You lot can choose to accept the names written in calligraphy and have them set up confronting a gorgeous groundwork. If y'all exercise an online search for "family tree artist" you'll observe lists of artists whose work you can commission. Take a close look at different portfolios to discover an artist whose piece of work matches your family's style.

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Add New Question

• Question

  When listing a married family member, does the maiden name become first or second, and do you use parentheses?

  

  The maiden name goes second. You put "née" in front of the maiden proper noun, and you can use either parentheses or a comma. If Mary Brown marries John Light-green and changes her name, she can be listed equally "Mary Green (née Brown)" or "Mary Dark-green, née Chocolate-brown."

• Question

  Can a widow without children be added to the family tree?

  

  Yes. If the widow's belatedly hubby's parents were Mary and John Smith, y'all put the widow'south name connecting to Mary'southward and John's names, as if the widow was their child.

• Question

  How exercise I add together step and one-half-siblings and parents to a family tree?

  

  Ashton Carter

  Community Answer

  Connect them with lines. For case, if your parents are John and Mary Smith, but your half-sibling's mother is Mary Smith, connect your half-sibling to your mother, and their dad with lines. For step-siblings, first write your parents, then connect your step-parents (your parent's spouse) to the parents they married with lines. Adjacent, write the step-parent(due south)' former spouse(south) and their children (your step-siblings), then connect the lines.

• Question

  How do I add people who have divorced?

  

  Do this by varying lines and/or numbers. For example, the line could exist dotted for divorce and connected for current marriage. You could have normal lines with number above showing multiple marriages and the number (eastward.chiliad. showtime union etc.).

• Question

  Where should I place siblings?

  

  When writing the names of siblings on a tree, you start with the oldest on the left and work beyond horizontally. Y'all should cease with the youngest on the right.

• Question

  Where do I put my brother-in-police force?

  

  You would connect your brother-in-law with your sibling in a direct line to show that they are married.

• Question

  How do I add someone who is adopted to a family tree?

  

  Place them under the parents, only with an indicator such as a dashed or dotted line that indicates they are not blood related.

• Question

  How tin can I add both my begetter and stepfather?

  

  First, write your mother'south name. Then, write your begetter'southward name on one side and connect it to your female parent'due south name via a horizontal line (preferably a dotted line if they're divorced). Then, draw a vertical line in the middle that connects that line to your proper name. (The 2 lines should look similar a T.) Now, write your stepfather'south proper noun on the other side of your female parent's name, and connect them via a horizontal line like you did with your female parent and father. If your mother and stepfather take any children together, you would create some other vertical line between their ii names and add your footstep-siblings there.

• Question

  Is there a way to become the data needed without having to consult family members?

  

  Some families will have family documents. Sometimes ancestry websites will have the documents online.

• Question

  How do I add siblings to a family unit tree?

  

  Draw a horizontal line connecting the parents and a vertical line going downward from the middle of that line. At the lesser of your vertical line, draw another horizontal line, and add as many vertical lines (again going downwards) as you need for the correct number of siblings.

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Article Summary X

Creating a family tree diagram tin can be a fun way to prove your family history. Start past writing your name at the bottom of the page. Describe your parents higher up y'all with a line between them. Horizontal lines correspond marriage and vertical lines represent parentage. And then, draw whatever siblings you lot accept beside you and connect them to your parents. Once y'all've finished your firsthand family, fill in your parents' generation, including your grandparents, your aunts and uncles, their spouses, and your cousins. Afterwards that, make full in your grandparents' generation and keep going upwards the page as far as you lot tin. For more tips, including how to make your family tree diagram unique, read on!

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Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Family-Tree-Diagram

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