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Practical guides on building, charting, printing, and growing your family tree — written for real, messy family histories.
No one wrote down your grandparents' story either — that's exactly why it's worth starting now. What gets lost when a lineage isn't recorded, and why the record starts with whoever decides to keep it.
Read guideWhat is a second cousin, actually? A plain-English guide to how bloodline and marriage relationships connect across generations — cousins, removes, in-laws, and half-siblings included.
Read guideMost gifts are used once and forgotten. A family tree poster gets hung, read, and pointed at for decades. Here's how to make one worth framing, for a parent, grandparent, or your own wall.
Read guideNot a school assignment — a way to give kids a sense of where they come from. How to involve them in building a family tree they'll actually pay attention to.
Read guideA practical, start-to-finish guide to building a family tree — what to gather, how to organize generations, and how to turn it into a chart you can print and share.
Read guideWhat to look for in a free family tree maker, where paid tools trip you up, and how to build a complete tree online without paying a subscription.
Read guideBlank templates are limiting. Here is how to build a printable family tree that scales to any number of generations and prints cleanly for framing or archiving.
Read guideGEDCOM (.ged) is the universal format for family history. Learn what is inside a GEDCOM file and how to open and view one online in seconds.
Read guideMost family tree tools assume a tidy nuclear family. Here is how to accurately chart blended families — multiple spouses, step-parents, and half-siblings included.
Read guideYou do not need an Ancestry subscription just to build and keep a family tree. Here are the free alternatives — and what each is actually good for.
Read guideA simple, kid-friendly walkthrough for building a family tree school project — how many generations to include, what to ask relatives, and how to print it.
Read guideHow many generations can you realistically document, what records run out and when, and how to keep a large multi-generation tree readable.
Read guideAncestor charts, descendant charts, hourglass, fan charts — a plain-English guide to the main types of family tree charts and when each one works best.
Read guidePrinting a large family tree is where most tools fall apart. Here is how to get a clean, print-ready chart sized for a single page or a framed poster.
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