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How to make a family tree

As you get into the hobby of family research, it's a great idea to involve everyone in the family--including your children! Sure, you could download and print one of those generic family tree templates. But instead, why not have the kids make the tree?
First off, it's your turn. Consult with the oldest living members of your family to see how far back they remember their ancestry. Write these down. Next, using an Internet resource such as genealogy.com or ancestry.com, it should be easy to fill in the gaps in your family. Write these names down as well.

Now get two large pieces of poster-board and colored water markers. Help the children draw a tall tree. Make sure the tree has the limbs branching correctly. For instance, think how far back you want to go: to great-grandparents level or Great, great grandparents? Great, great, great grandparents can be recommended as a good starting point. They will be the "root" on the tree. So at the lowest level of the tree will be branches for each of their children. Each of these branches will then have a branch for each of their children, and so forth, with the branches getting smaller as they go up the tree. Try to balance the limbs on both sides of the tree, to make it even.
Now it's your turn again. Neatly write all the names you'd gotten before into their respective "limbs." In the future, if you manage to go back further on your family history, you can turn the "root" into a limb on the new "root" (the new, earliest ancestors).

By: Alex Gwen Thomson

Max Roberts also writes on topics such as How to Make a Family Tree and How to Get a Divorce Visit How to make a family tree.

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