Family tree facts for kids

An example of a family tree from left to right instead of down to up.

A family tree is a chart showing family relationships in a tree structure form. The more detailed family trees used in medicine, genealogy, and social work are known as genograms.

As normally shown, a family tree "grows" down from the top, from the oldest generations at the top to the newer generations at the bottom.

A tree showing the descendants of an individual (illustration right) will more closely look like a tree in shape.

One showing the ancestors of an individual (illustration below in "The Family Tree of Sigmund") will be wider at the top than the bottom.

When looking at the bottom of the tree, it will show more recent generations, and when looking farther up, there will be older generations.

Family tree displaying an ancestor chart of Sigmund Christoph, Graf von Zeil und Trauchburg

Related pages

• Ancestor table
• Genogram

Images for kids

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  An ahnentafel family tree, showing three generations of the Kennedy Family

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  Screenshot of Gramps (v. 5.0.1) displaying a fan chart and the Given name cloud gramplet on the bottom.

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  Family trees are an age-old phenomenon. This example dates from the sixteenth century.

See also

In Spanish: Árbol genealógico para niños