How to Make a Family Tree Online?

Do you have a thing for history, or do you like to dive into your family history? Your ancestors, forefathers, and your family history? Making a family tree is fun to learn more about your family. Learn how to do it online!

1. What is a Family tree?

A family tree is the most common drawing that shows the relationships among the family members or visually represents the lineage in a family. It can also help people trace back to their common ancestors. However, don't limit your imagination and think that the family tree can only be drawn in just one family. When a couple gets married, you can connect the two families and make a larger family tree.

simpsons family tree

Click on the image to edit. Source: EdrawMax Online

2. Why Create a Family Tree?

Why would people like to spend time in creating a family tree? Maybe it’s just for fun, but when you decide to do that, you might have some interest and want to get insight into who is your ancestry or where you came from.

Besides, using a family tree to record your family information is a good way to stimulate children's interest to learn about family history, instead of long family group sheets.

3. How to Make a Family Tree?

It can be simple or complicated to draw a family tree. If you decide to include a large number of family members, like your siblings, your uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. and contains abundant personal information on each leaf, such as names, births, marriages, deaths, it will take you a long time to finish the drawing process.

Therefore, before you get started to make a family tree, make sure that you have a detailed plan and gather enough information about the family. Otherwise, it will become an endless work. Here’re the simple instructions on how to make a family tree quickly for beginners.

STEP 1: Gather information about family members

We recommend you use different methods to record your family information, like documents, pictures, and videos. Then you can double-check the accuracy of the information.

When you are new at making a family tree, it would be better for you not to create a complicated one. Because without existing and reliable records, it’s hard for people to find accurate and detailed information about your ancestry even a hundred years ago. You can try to make a simple family tree and know how to do it at the beginning.

STEP 2: Draw a Family Tree Outline

You can draw a family tree outline on your paper or using EdrawMax Online. Doing so will help you transfer the information from sheets into a basic chart on the canvas. And you can also decide what kind of family tree you will want to make or how it should look like.

edrawmax make outline

STEP 3: Add Information to Each Leaf

After you outline the basic structure of the family tree, the next step is to fill the chart with the information that you gather before. For example, you can add the names, births, and deaths on each leaf.

Each family member will be connected by lines to represent their relationships, and you can change the line colors to mark different relationships, like spouses, siblings, and parent-child.

But, how to insert photos into each leaf? In EdrawMax Online, use org chart shape as the leaves of the family chart, because you can replace the photo with your family member in the shape.

edrawmax org shape

STEP 4: Share Your Family Tree Chart

Sharing good things with your family will always give you more happiness and peace of mind. So does share the complete family tree. Besides, you can invite your other family members to provide additional information or correct the wrong information instantly.

If you draw your family tree in EdrawMax Online, click “Share” button on the upper right corner and select the desired way to share your family tree.

edrawmax share

Besides, you can select to export the family tree diagram to several common formats. Go to the File tab, click Export and choose one or some file types to download your family tree.

edrawmax export



4. Free Family Tree Examples

Apart from starting from scratch, you can also use pre-made family tree examples to work out your family tree diagram. Below are some common family tree examples that can help you complete a simple family tree.

Example 1: 4 Generation Family Tree

This diagram is a free template on EdrawMax and shows the life of Sander and Sara, who they gave birth to. Their descendant's information is all stated in there. You can use this family tree in case of inheritance issues or just for fun. If you come across an unknown linage, you can also share it online and allow otherkin and family members to suggest a correction in the information. They can also prove immensely helpful in legal matters.

4 Generation Family Tree

Example 2: Cartoon Family Tree

This kind of family tree is very interactive and fun to make. You can choose from over 26 thousand symbols from EdrawMax's library and design the cartoon family tree according to your preference. You can also edit the labels avatars and add pictures according to your choice and then share them with your family members with just a few clicks. This family tree template is quite helpful while stimulating your kids and toddlers and making them aware of their family history.

Cartoon Family Tree

Example 3: Pedigree Chart

The pedigree charts from EdrawMax offer tons of customizations. These charts most commonly show the occurrence, appearance, or other specific details of a particular gene or organism ranging from its ancestors to the next generations. It indicates the organisms' originality, traits, characteristics, age, and phenotypic variability. It is most commonly used to validate breeds of dogs racehorses and can be used for humans as well, such as a well-known personality or a descendant of someone important in history.

Pedigree Chart

Example 4: 5 Generation Ancestor Chart

This 5 generation ancestor chart is one of the many templates available on WonderShare EdrawMax. It is a great way to represent information of 5 generations of ancestors. You can put in different types of information for every individual. Ranging from the birth date, place of birth, date of death and place of death, name, and umpteen other details, you can customize the chart in any way you wish to. It can also be an excellent present for anyone in your family or a nice way of engaging your children in the family history. You can also print this family tree or export it as a digital file in many different formats using EdrawMax and then share it with anyone.

5 Generation Ancestor Chart

5. Key Takeaways

There are many reasons people use family trees; it can be to use them for legal purposes or ignite a spark in their kids to learn about their ancestral history. They also make family trees to look into their ancestral world themselves. EdrawMax Online is a platform online and offline, and it can prove excellent in making family trees. You can use tons of preloaded templates and further edit them using the tools provided by EdrawMax, such as symbols, colors, different avatars, and personal customizations.

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