How to use the blank family tree template
The chart opens as a 4-generation ancestor chart with every box empty: the person it starts from on the left, their two parents, four grandparents and eight great-grandparents to the right. Choose Generations to switch between 3, 4 and 5 generations, and Style for a classic, modern, colourful kids’ or decorative tree look. The Decorative tree style turns the chart upright, with the person at the trunk and the ancestors in the branches. Then press Download PDF or Print.
Want the names on it already? Tap any empty box to add that person, type their name and years, and the box fills in. Boxes you don’t know stay empty, with two lines to write on.
Numbering the boxes
Each box carries a small number in its corner. Box 1 is the person at the start; doubling any box number gives that person’s father’s box, and doubling plus one the mother’s. So the grandparents fill boxes 4 to 7 and the great-grandparents 8 to 15. (That is the convention for a chart filled in by hand; on screen, the first parent you enter for someone goes in the even box.) Write the numbers on the back of old photos or in a notebook, or use them when you ask a relative: “Do you remember who number 11 married?”
Filling it in with family
Print one copy per branch of the family and bring them to the next holiday gathering: the oldest relatives usually know the great-grandparents’ names, where they lived and roughly when they were born. Write “c.” before a year you aren’t sure of. When you get home, type the answers into the chart, and the same tree becomes a full family tree you can print as a poster, with aunts, uncles and cousins added.