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How to make a family tree

A family tree is easiest to build from the present backwards: start with yourself, add what you know, then let relatives and records fill in the rest. This guide walks through the eight steps genealogists use, in order.

1. Decide the scope

Before collecting a single name, decide what kind of tree you are making. The choice changes how much research you need:

• Ancestor (pedigree) chart — you plus your direct line: 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents. Each generation doubles, so five generations already means 31 people.
• Descendant chart — one couple at the top and everyone descended from them. Good for reunions and anniversaries.
• Family tree with relatives — ancestors plus their siblings, partners and children, so aunts, uncles and cousins appear too. This is what most people picture, and it is what our free family tree maker draws.

Three or four generations is a realistic first goal. You can always extend it later.

2. Write down what you already know

Start with yourself and work outward. For each person, note:

• Full name — including middle names and, for married women, the maiden name (the surname at birth). Records are filed under it.
• Birth date and place; marriage date and place; death date and place.
• Parents, partners and children.

Write "about 1930" or "abt. 1930" when you are guessing, and leave blanks blank. A gap you know about is far more useful than a wrong date you later forget you invented.

3. Interview relatives

Your oldest relatives are the most valuable — and most time-sensitive — source you have. Call or visit, and if they agree, record the conversation on your phone.

Questions that tend to unlock the most information:

• What were your parents' and grandparents' full names? Where were they born?
• Where did the family live when you were a child? Did anyone move from another country?
• Who were your aunts, uncles and cousins? Who married whom?
• What did people do for work? Did anyone serve in the military?
• Is there a family Bible, box of letters or photo album somewhere?

Bring old photos — faces jog memories that questions don't. Ask who else in the family "knows about this stuff"; there is usually one keeper of family history.

4. Gather documents at home

Many families already own the paper trail. Look for:

• Birth, marriage and death certificates
• Family Bibles (births and marriages were often written on the front pages)
• Obituaries and funeral cards — these usually list surviving relatives by name
• Letters, diaries, passports, naturalisation papers and military discharge papers
• Photos with names or dates written on the back

Scan or photograph everything, and name the files clearly (for example 1951-marriage-arthur-bennett-margaret-lee.jpg).

5. Search public records

Once family knowledge runs out, records take over. The main types are census returns, civil registration (birth, marriage, death) indexes, church registers, immigration and passenger lists, military records and cemetery records. Our guide to finding genealogy records explains what each contains and where to look.

Work one generation at a time: confirm a person's parents before trying to find their grandparents.

6. Build the chart

Now put it together. You can draw a tree on paper with a printable family tree template, or build it on screen:

1. Open the family tree maker and add the first person — usually yourself.
2. Click the person to open their details, then use Parent, Spouse, Child and Sibling to add relatives. The chart lays itself out by generation.
3. Fill in dates and notes — birth and death years appear on each card; notes are good for places, occupations and stories.
4. Add photos if you have them. They are shrunk and stored in your browser, never uploaded.

Everything saves automatically in your browser. Use Save file to keep a backup copy, or Print & export → Export GEDCOM to move the tree into other genealogy software (see what is a GEDCOM file).

7. Check your facts and cite sources

Quick sanity checks catch most mistakes:

• Parents are usually 15–50 years older than their children (mothers rarely over 50).
• Nobody is born after a parent's death — except a father's child born up to about nine months later.
• Children aren't born before their parents' own births, and nobody lives to 130.

Note where each fact came from ("1921 census", "Aunt Rose, phone call 2026"). If two sources disagree, record both and say which you believe and why.

8. Print, share and back up

Use Print & export → Print in the family tree maker to print the chart or save it as a PDF; it adds a title like "The Bennett Family" automatically. Choose Download image in the same menu to get a PNG for messages and social media. Keep the saved tree file somewhere safe — cloud storage or email it to yourself — because browser storage can be cleared.

Frequently asked questions