by Kellea Croft

Created on: September 13, 2008   Last Updated: April 07, 2011

Finding a documentation technique to record the generations of the family tree is easy with the pedigree chart. There are many styles to choose from and you can get them free online, in books on genealogy research, historical societies, and libraries with a family history section always has some on hand for you to copy.

A pedigree chart shows your ancestors starting from yourself as number one then on to your parents, grandparents, etc. Your first generation page is also number one and for subsequent pages I use the number then a dash to place original page the name appears on and a corresponding letter to associate with subsequent lines. Information that each line should contain is their name, birth date and place, death date and place, marriage date and place.

This tool will also help in your search for generations in the United Kingdom as they were required to register them to register their coats of arms. These are recorded in the College of Arms that can be obtained for a fee. There are also publications with pedigrees such as Burke's Peerage and Landed Gentry for the United Kingdom and Almanach de Gotha for continental Europe.

Some areas online for free charts are genealogy.about.com/library/free_charts/bl_pedigree. htm , www.thetreemaker.com/pedigreechart.pdf and
www.misbach.org/pdfcharts/pedigree_chart.pdf (this one is a landscape 6 generation chart).

If you would like to make frameable charts with beautiful designs to display your line check out www.funstuffforgenealogists.com for great gift options. There are a variety of styles to suit your needs.

Most genealogy software will also produce pedigree charts for you that are generated from your data already inputted to the computer. There are a variety of options on the program for the design, amount of information and layout you desire.

Most of the charts you find will be laid out much like the system used to record the pedigree of an animal, but there is another layout with a circle or circle with generations having colours to correspond. I find these confusing and more troublesome, but the trick is finding a system that works for you.

When you go on your research trail at libraries, courthouses and such taking these charts with you for a reference source is much handier than the cumbersome amount of notes you have accumulated. Also bring a notebook to add whatever you find for your charts and search to add onto later.

The paper trail of a family history search can be cumbersome and using a great organizational tool such as the pedigree chart will help make the journey easier. It is an outline of the generations of your tree to reference over and over.

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