Creating your family tree can be simple or sophisticated depending on what you want to do with your genealogy data and family history information. Learning about the heritage of your ancestors and building your pedigree chart can be exciting activities in homes and in classrooms. Here are four online resources you can use for creating or printing free family tree templates.
Create Wall-Size Family Tree and Pedigree Charts with Free Software from FamilySearch.org courtesy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) has one of the largest ancestral databases in the world. The LDS church has created a genealogy website called FamilySearch.org where they offer free genealogy services and software programs for investigating and documenting your family history and your family tree.
The LDS genealogy website has family history software called Personal Ancestral File (PAF) that you can download for free in English, Chinese, German Japanese, Korean, or Swedish languages. You can download the older PAF v4.0 in French, Portuguese, and Spanish. The PAF Free Family History Software includes ancestral charts and family history templates to organize your genealogy research.
You can also download the free companion PAF product called PAF Companion Basic that has color templates for creating your Family Tree from the basic PAF program, including photographs of family members. The free basic version of PAF allows you to create up to three generations on your family tree and comes in English only.
You can upgrade for $6.75 to the full version of the PAF companion product. The full version of PAF includes 10 additional charts and reports for your family history and family tree with unlimited generations documentation. The full version PAF software program allows you to create wall-sized Family Tree charts and create PDF files to transfer your family history to the web or send by email.
Use Face Recognition in Family Tree Builder from MyHeritage.com to Identify Unknown Family Members in Family Photos
Family Tree Builder is a free user-friendly genealogy software program in Windows that you can download from MyHeritage.com. Family Tree Builder supports 34 languages and with a few simple clicks, the family history data can be made into a web page. Family Tree Builder does not have any limits on how many generations you can include in your family tree and the family tree charts are printed with colorful graphics.
One of the coolest features of Family Tree Builder is the face recognition technology that allows you to crop, drag, and drop faces of family member photos into the genealogy page for that person. The feature also allows unknown family member faces to possibly be identified through the wealth of family information included in their genealogy database.
Family Tree Builder has useful tutorials for those new to investigating and documenting family history. You can learn how to begin the genealogy process or you can use the advanced genealogy features if you already have some family history search experience. As with most family tree builders, this program allows you to scan and store vital statistics documents and photos.
Create Classroom or Home School Heritage Activities with Free Family Tree Templates from familytreetemplates.net
These Family Tree Templates are free and 20 different designs can be downloaded into PDF format. These free family tree templates come in a variety of colors, designs, and are multigenerational. For $4, you can choose any family tree template in a more sophisticated format that can be edited using Microsoft Word, Google Docs or other word processing applications.
The free family tree templates at this site can include photos, graphics, and genealogy data for up to seven generations. You can also download the free Legacy 7.0 Family Tree software to create your own family tree. The free family tree templates at this site include designs for kids, like apples and birds, to use in a classroom or home school activity about creating a family history.
One of the free family tree templates at this site is called Adoptive Family Tree and can be used for children who may or may not know their birth parents, but want to build a family tree. The design is a tree with roots under ground. There are spaces in the underground root area for the names of the birth parents if known. The spaces above the ground, in the tree, are for names of adoptive family members.
Print Medieval or Heritage Family Tree Charts Using Free Family Tree Charts from www.freefamilytreecharts.com
These very simple Family Tree Charts are free and can be downloaded in PDF format. They were designed using fun clip art for the Traditional Family Tree, the Heraldic Family Tree and the Medieval Family Tree. There are also some free family tree and genealogy charts you can download to help with your family history investigation.
While these free family tree charts are not sophisticated, they are fun if all you want is to record generations of ancestral pedigree using heraldic graphics for ancestry from Germany, Scotland, Poland, Ireland, Mexico and the U.K. The Medieval Family Tree Charts include graphics for Knight and Sword.
The free Traditional Family Tree charts include a pedigree fan chart, a simple family tree record chart, and a family group sheet. These forms are useful for gathering information on different generations of your ancestry.
Sources:
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp
http://www.myheritage.com/family-tree-builder?gclid=CIeTi5G13JgCFRwDagod-3wrcw
http://www.familytreetemplates.net/
http://www.freefamilytreecharts.com/
