Family Tree Template
Different Templates for Family Trees
Before you begin research on your family tree, it is helpful to have an idea of how you want to present your information. That way you have a goal in mind and know what data will be required for your purposes. You may want relatively easy-to-find names, dates and places of your direct-line ancestors or you may want to expand your search to include siblings and their spouses, as well as details of their lives and photos.
There are a number of different ways to present your family tree, and many web sites now offer templates for family trees. One such site, familytreetemplates.net, offers 40 different formats ranging from simple 4-generation pedigree charts to ones that include photos and have watermarks of trees, and include a template for the family tree of someone who is adopted or someone who is part of a stepfamily. You can download your choice of family tree template, enter the information, and upload it to the web in a matter of minutes. And it's free!
Another site for free family tree templates, myheritage.com, allows free use of Family Tree Builder 4.0 for your use. They claim that you can add thousands of people in a matter of minutes, and offer to search your genealogy in the top ten genealogy sites. They will work with your photos and help you produce charts, narratives and just about anything else you want. They support 35 languages and have maps.
Yet another site is uftree.com. They offer not only free family tree templates but also research calendars (so you can keep track of which sources you searched, what you were looking for and what you found), research extract sheet, correspondence logs, family group sheets and source summaries. You can also download Family Tree Maker from this site to assist you in organizing your data.
Genealogy.about.com also offers free family tree templates as well as 24 other types of forms for you to use in gathering and organizing your genealogy. One of the more interesting charts they offer is a genealogy relationship chart. This can be invaluable for determining exactly how you are related to which distant cousin. Historically, Elizabeth I of England and Mary Queen of Scots addressed each other as "sister", which could have been very confusing (they were indeed "sister" queens, but did not have the same parents. Margaret Tudor, Mary's grandmother, was the elder sister of Henry VIII, Elizabeth's father, making Mary and Elizabeth first cousins once removed. This site (genealogy.about.com) will link you through to ancestry.com.
A Power Point template for a family tree is available at Office.microsoft.com. This version is a simple pedigree chart which covers four generations but moves from great grandparents on the left to you on the right.
Another site, thetreemaker.com, offers coats of arms among its products. Please be wary of offers we often receive in the mail that offer you coats of arms and histories of everyone with your family surname. The coats of arms are often expensive and sometimes not original. Know the history of heraldry for the country in which your ancestors lived before ordering. Thetreemaker.com lets you know if your family did not have a coat of arms. Also, since so many genealogical sources can be found online or on microfilm, please do not waste your money buying something like a telephone book.