As part of the submission process for the certificate programs in county genealogy societies, a family chart/tree is required.
I am working on a project to submit multiple ancestors as a means of saving/sharing research. My multiple packets will require slightly different family trees.
Looking at the papers previously submitted, in other people’s packets, most of those trees were handwritten (see blank form below).
My arthritic hands could never take that much writing, my writing is not that clear, also good way to make an error.
Here is what a standard form (fill in the blanks, meant to be hand written) looks like -
My youngest built an Excel template for me to use.
As she typed, she took screen shots and texted them to me so I could edit as she worked. Here are three in a long line of texts.
She started with the far right column because the math/space was very specific for 16 boxes.
She worked her way to the left, letting the math/space dictate the design.
Early on she added the background shading to make the boxes pop.
Note there are only attachment lines on box #1 to the far left. Attaching the rest of the boxes at the corners, simplified the page considerably.
It is very readable, even with no data on the page. Again, the background shading makes a huge difference.
I will start with the oldest documented maternal/paternal ancestors, my 4x great grandparents, on the far right column. And do one page with the oldest ancestors, my maternal grandfather’s two family lines (4x, 3x, 2x, 1x great grandparents) who have been in my county from 1849 and the mid 1850’s.
I will add a first page with me, my parents, my maternal grandparents, and my great grandparents. I will add a note to verify which family line is continuing with more details on page two.
On both pages, I will use the bold function to highlight the exact family line I am documenting.
My first submission is my maternal grandfather’s, mother’s, father’s, father’s, mother who died in 1867.
PS - I have Legacy family tree software on my PC, but (to the best of my knowledge) it does not print out a format to get this many people on a single piece of paper.
