How to Make a Family Tree: A Step-by-Step Guide

Building a family tree is one of the most rewarding projects you can take on: it turns scattered names and half-remembered stories into a single, clear picture of where you come from. This guide walks through the whole process — from the first name you write down to a finished chart you can print and share.

Start with yourself and work backwards

Every family tree starts with a single person, and the easiest person to start with is you. Add your own details first, then your parents, then their parents. Working backwards one generation at a time keeps the tree accurate and stops you from guessing at connections you cannot yet prove.

For each person, try to record:

• Full name (including maiden names, which are essential for tracing women's lines)
• Dates of birth, marriage, and death
• Places they lived
• Relationships — parents, spouses, and children

You will not have all of this at the start. That is normal. Add what you know and leave the rest to fill in later.

Gather information from the people around you

Before you touch any online record, talk to your living relatives. Older family members are the single best source you have, and that source does not last forever. Ask open questions: where the family came from, what people did for work, who married whom, and whether anyone kept documents, letters, or photos.

Write down (or record) everything, even details that seem irrelevant. A nickname or an old address can be the clue that unlocks a whole branch later.

Verify with records

Once you have a rough shape, confirm it against real records: birth, marriage, and death certificates; census returns; land and court records. FamilySearch is a free, non-profit archive of digitized records, and many national archives publish their census data online. If your research already lives in another genealogy program, export it as a GEDCOM file and carry on from there rather than retyping it.

Record where each fact came from. Sourcing feels tedious, but it is what separates a family tree you trust from a list of guesses.

Decide what the chart should show

A family tree can be drawn in several shapes, and each answers a different question. A pedigree chart follows one person's ancestors back through both parents. A descendant chart follows everyone descended from one ancestor. A lineage chart — in Arabic tradition a nasab or shajarah — follows one line, usually father to son, with each generation's household around it. Decide which you want early, because it decides whose details you need to collect first.

Real families also include remarriages, several wives, half-siblings, and cousins who married each other. Record each marriage separately and put every child under the right one; how to chart a blended family tree explains how.

Use a tool that grows with you

You can start a family tree on paper, but it quickly outgrows the page. A digital builder lets you add people without redrawing everything and keeps the whole tree in one place.

Blaadline is a free, browser-based builder that draws a lineage chart. It shows the selected person's father's line going up, each man beside his wife, and the selected person's descendants below. Click anyone and the tree redraws from their point of view, so every branch is one click away. If you want a pedigree instead — both parents' ancestors and no descendants — the Premium Pedigree template draws one. Add parents, spouses, and children as you go, and link someone who is already in the tree instead of entering them twice.

If you already have a family history file, you do not have to start over: Blaadline imports GEDCOM files, the shared format of genealogy software.

Finish with something you can hold

A family tree is meant to be shared. Once yours is in good shape, export it as a print-ready PDF — on a single page, or as a poster for framing (which paper size to choose). A printed tree is what gets passed around at family gatherings and handed down to the next generation.

The short version

1. Start with yourself and work backwards, one generation at a time.
2. Interview living relatives before anything else.
3. Verify each connection against real records, and note your sources.
4. Decide which shape of chart you want, and record each marriage separately.
5. Build it in a tool that lays out and saves the tree for you.
6. Print it and share it.

Ready to begin? Start your family tree in Blaadline — it is free, runs in your browser, and needs no account to start.