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Drawing A Family Tree The Right Way
There are several right ways to draw a family tree, depending on the reason the tree is being drawn. There is the
basic way of drawing a family tree – the one that most people would recognize as the single right way. The name of
the person whose ancestors are being charted is at the bottom of the chart. Two lines rise up the names of that
person’s parents. A horizontal line connects the parents. Two lines rise vertically from each parent to connect to
his and her parents. Connect siblings on the same horizontal line that is connected to the shared parents.
Rectangles can be used for the men and circles for the women. A different color can be used for the four main
families ascending from the grandparents. There, that’s done.
Descendant Tree
The general family tree is called the “ancestor tree” because it traces someone’s ancestors. You can also try
drawing a family tree starting with an ancestor and tracing all of his known descendants. This is useful for
tracing your family starting from a famous ancestor, the founder of the family business or the first of the family
to immigrate to America.
Another type of chart can also trace ancestors or descendants with their siblings. Drawing a family tree of this
type means lining up all of the family from one generation and connecting them to a line showing their parents with
their siblings. Rectangles can be used for all family members with a different color for each generation and that
color darker for the direct descendants. Other shapes or color schemes can used as long as a key is provided to
decipher it.
The Hourglass Or Bowtie
If your family tree is getting a little hard to read, try drawing a family tree in the hourglass or bowtie shape.
Start with the central person in the center and trace the mother’s family on one side and the father’s on the
other. If you are using a computer application made for drawing a family tree, it will be easy to add pictures of
the family as you go.
By using different several different methods for drawing a family tree, the emphasis can shift and the family
picture can appear different. Be sure to include known dates for birth, death and marriage as well as information
about where they lived. Drawing a family tree can be a great way to make family history.
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