A visual family tree immerses you in the history of your family by revealing the roots and connections between generations and offering you a unique way to share this with future generations. The family tree templates are available in the formats InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and PowerPoint. Preserve your family history with our family tree templates - and continue your story.
Templates for your family tree: Create your family tree easily
Templates for your family tree: Create your family tree easily
Templates for your family tree: Create your family tree easily
Templates for your family tree: Create your family tree easily
Templates for your family tree: Create your family tree easily
Pedigree templates for download
The interest in one's own ancestors seems quite logical and justified. Origin creates a sense of belonging. Therefore, one wants to know who their own family was in the past, what fates the family members had, where the surname comes from, and also the answers to many other similar and related questions.
One of the most obvious ways to delve into the history of a family is by creating a genealogical (family) tree.
A family tree is a chart that describes the family relationships over several generations. As a result, you can find and visualize your ancestors over multiple generations, all the way to the last descendants of the family. The trunk and branches of the tree are formed by representatives of the family in both cases. The larger their number, the more impressive the appearance of the family tree.
The need to know one's ancestors precisely emerged long ago - millennia ago. With the development of cultural traditions, the creation of a family tree began to confirm aspects such as the age and nobility of the family, which often played a significant role in determining a family's social status.
There are two main types of family trees - ascending and descending. Each of them has its own peculiarities and recommendations for compilation.
The ascending tree is built from descendants to ancestors, and the joining branch for your inner family becomes the starting or root element of the system. This scheme is most suitable when family research is just beginning and only relatively few pieces of information are available. Usually, it involves the closest relatives within one or two generations - parents, their siblings, grandparents. The appearance of a family tree is as follows.
A descending family tree is built in exactly the opposite manner. The root is one of the ancestors of the creator or their spouse. For a meaningful scheme, information about a sufficiently large number of relatives, preferably from multiple branches, is required.
A family tree has primarily a symbolic meaning. A typical scheme consists of four basic elements:
- The tree itself is one of the oldest symbols of life, reflecting the connection of several generations: those who lived in the past, those living in the present for all those who will follow in the future.
- The roots symbolize the ancestors or forebears of the family (the most common form of descending genealogy).
- The trunk represents the current living generation of the family.
- The crown of branches and leaves represents the future of the family, for children who have not yet become creators of history and are just preparing for it.
To put it less pathetically, creating a family tree fulfills several tasks, including:
- a simple and accessible way to tell children the family history and show what is likely to spark an interest in their own ancestry;
- finding relatives who can serve as role models or moral examples;
- exploring the differences and similarities that characterize all or a significant portion of the family;
- tracing a family dynasty when parts of the family have emigrated and immigrated.
Another possible function of a family tree should not be forgotten. It is an excellent gift for any memorable or festive occasion - from New Year's Eve to weddings to birthdays. Moreover, there are many ways to stylishly, modernly, and colorfully design a family tree.
In order to create a family tree, you can contact one of the many specialized agencies. However, this type of problem solving has two disadvantages. The first is the need to pay expensive external specialists, and the second, often more important, is the lack of personal interest.
Therefore, the second method is much more common. It involves independently creating a family tree, at least in the initial phase when the first data is collected. Also, this way you will reconnect more with relatives and learn anecdotes that may have been unknown to you.
In order to make the family tree as informative as possible, you need to collect the following information about each relative:
– full name;
– place and date of birth;
Depending on the method of gathering information, there are various ways to record information. If it is a conversation with a relative or acquaintance, it is useful to record it with a dictaphone. Using your smartphone, you can use a dictation app. When studying archives or photos, it is recommended to take photos with your phone, especially since almost all technical devices offer this possibility today.
The easiest and most accessible way to create a family tree is to talk with relatives. Grandparents can provide particularly valuable information, as they may remember things that are not found in any document. One of the relatives may have even worked on a family tree themselves and can provide you with valuable information.
Old family photos can give you an idea of the number of relatives. Even more information can be found in the archive of documents, which are likely kept by both parents and grandparents. Church archives in the community of your ancestors are also a good source of information.
The information of interest to the genealogy enthusiast can be contained in a variety of documents:
– birth and marriage certificates
– passports and other registry data
Creating a family tree is much more effective when done by more than one person. It is usually not difficult to find like-minded individuals among relatives. Collecting information for the family tree is a challenging and also very interesting and exciting task. To achieve a greater impact, it is advisable to distribute the search directions so that they do not overlap.
Record, save, and systematize all collected information in a timely manner. The best way to do this is by creating folders. Ideally in two formats - the usual paper format and a more modern and user-friendly electronic format on the computer or better yet in the cloud.
You can use various spreadsheets (e.g. Excel) or text editors (including the most popular and widely used Word) to place information.
It is not always possible to find photos of ancestors. It is much easier with contemporaries. In any case, it is recommended to follow a few simple rules:
- A photo of a mature person is most suitable, preferably in uniform or clothing that indicates their profession.
- If no photo is available, it can be replaced by a drawing, even schematic, that can be created by oneself or you can have an illustration created using an image AI that anonymizes a person.
- Depending on the level of design, you can choose either a common frame for the tree or an individual frame for each photo.
The first and most important advice is not to despair. For every task, even the seemingly most difficult, you can find a solution. To replace the photo, you can use drawings as mentioned above, even if they are somewhat schematic and conventional. Or you can choose an option without photos of the relatives.
A gift in the form of a beautifully decorated family tree will surely remain memorable for a lifetime. In addition to its purely decorative function, as mentioned above, it serves several other, much more important purposes. The first and most important is to awaken interest in the ancestors and ancestors of the family. If one does not know where they belong, the sense of home is missing, even if it is just the family's home. Therefore, a family tree is an excellent gift that will be useful for a long time.