Blank family trees, ready for you to print

Make your own family tree

The blank family trees pictured below will record three generations of direct ancestors.

They are set against a backdrop of a tree in full summer bloom providing shade to some sheep and their young. When completed, the chart makes a unique keepsake of your family history.

Blank family trees, 3 generations, with leafy tree background

To download and open these blank family trees ready for printing, you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. You can get the latest version, free, from www.adobe.com

You can make your own family tree by adding your name to the base line, below the trunk, and adding the names of your parents, your grandparents and your great grandparents.

Or you could create something really special for a friend or other family member, by placing their name in the base line and researching their line backwards in time to fill in all the boxes.

Because the tree is so pretty, these blank family trees also look outstanding framed and hung on the wall for all to see. A great gift idea!

You can download the blank family trees below, but you must first decide how you wish to complete the chart.

OPTION 1: Print one of these blank family trees before filling in your ancestors' details by hand. .

This download will be successful with any version of Acrobat Reader.

OPTION 2: Fill in the tree on your screen and print it when you've finished.

For this option, you need Acrobat Reader version 8 or higher. Please bear in mind that you can't save the completed tree to your computer so you need to be ready to fill it in with the names of all your ancestors at one sitting.

Where next?

See Toolkit's full range of family tree templates.

Do you need some free family history forms to keep your research organised?

Return from Blank Family Trees to Irish Genealogy Toolkit Home.

Make it a family affair

If you involve the whole family in the creation of your ancestral tree, you'll probably find you discover a lot more than you would on your own. You'll certainly get along quicker if there are several other eyes and minds contributing to the research.

Here are a few tips for getting others, especially youngsters, caught up in the project and making it fun:

Re-focus. Don't keep your eyes so focussed on finding the next bit of genealogy information that you forget to enjoy today's discoveries.

Real people, real lives. Family history is about real people — your ancestors — who lived, worked and loved. Don't just uncover their dates of birth and death. Explore how they lived and what their main contemporary concerns might have been. Try to uncover some stories about them as individuals (perhaps interview someone who may have known them). This approach makes family research far more interesting and, for the kids, far more educational.

Send a newsletter. If several members of the family are contributing to the research, it's a good idea to keep everyone up to date with all the team's discoveries. Send a regular email update or newsletter. This is a great way of building and maintaining family relationships, especially if there is a lot of distance between you all.

If you follow these tips you'll not only be able to quickly fill in the blank family trees on this page, you'll also be able to relate interesting stories and anecdotes about your ancestors to those that admire your completed chart.

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