Genealogy Chat

Ive heard of people doing separate trees for different members of their family or say a birth family and an adopted family etc,but has anyone done just an ancestral tree pure and simple ie,one with just direct ancestors-no siblings or going off on tangents-2,then 4,the,8,then 16,then 32,then 64 etc ?

Yes, Thats all i'm doing. Looking into the siblings but just out of curiosity Not putting them in my tree.

I don't think that is possible to do what you suggest. Once you start your tree you can't help but to search all branches of it.

My tree is so unbalanced as despite being thorough ,certain lines are more researchable,and a few lines go to Ireland which is nigh on pointless.Ive gone back 12 generations in one part and only 3 in another!!.....Ive ended up in avillage and theres tons of them ,then i get sidetracked because theyve had loads of kids and easy to record.........my tree looks like one of those japanese acers that withers on one side in the wind and sun but flourishes on the other side !!

That's the beauty of FTMaker, You can put everyone on, but then just print out an ancestor tree if you want to. Kath. x

Ive got 101 in my tree,but there are 26 different surnames !!

How would you sort out anything pre-1837 (in particular)??? I have had to construct dozens of people into families in order to sort out who is who in many villages. It has taken nearly two years of studying five or six parishes to add one generation of direct people to one branch of my tree (six names - so four of them should be excluded!!), but I had to go back and forth through the PR's several times to do it.....prob added 150++ people to the tree for just one gen on the direct line! Merry

One of the surnames ha only got 31 entries on this site,and Ive contributed 14 of them !!

It just so happens that in one village,they are all from one father in 1600,but he married twice-and the second marriage produced a sort of noticeable splinter group due to money and one particular funny name passed down.I could enter about 85% of the surname from the village as mine but it would get very lob sided and my tree may fall over !!

I do both sorts of trees. I have a large fan chart for direct ancestors then further fan charts going outwards for branches I can't fit on there. I have the chart you can download from GR printed onto A3 size paper and further rows added outwards. I find the fan charts helpful because it is instantly obvious where there are gaps and you need to try to find more. I've also started doing an ahnentafel as a list because I can't fit enough generations in any other way. This is going to take me a long time to sort out but is an interesting way to record direct ancestors. Remove brackets to see a site explaining this if you are interested. http://www.familychronicle(.)com/Ahnentafel(.)html My online GR tree has some siblings and cousins while the trees I have on my computer have a lot more information and got living people on them. Sue

There's a surname on this site with 232 names and mine are 133 of those. About half of the rest are what I've given other people and they have added to their trees!! My tree fell over years ago Alter......I have given up trying to straighten it! Merry

Think i need to stick some stakes in the ground and get some twine.....

think i'll have a look at that ahnentafel when Im less tired....my head is battered today with someones presentation of a bloodline-its done very well but it takes some getting used to-I'll paste it to show you what i mean.>>>>>

Descendants of Richard Tudbury aka Tudsbury 1 Richard Tudbury .. +Mary Mellers m: 16 August 1627 in Perlethorpe, NTT ........ 2 Richard Tudsbury 1627 - ............ +Anne ................... 3 Godfrey Tudsbury 1654 - ....................... +Elizabeth Hall - 1682 m: 12 November 1678 in Worksop, NTT ............................. 4 George Tudsbury 1679 - ............................. 4 John Tudsbury 1681 - ................... *2nd Wife of Godfrey Tudsbury: ....................... +Anne Wright - 1727 m: 9 November 1682 in East Retford ............................. 4 Elizabeth Tudsbury 1683 - 1727 ................................. +Thomas Woodcock m: 27 February 1708/09 in Worksop, NTT ............................. 4 Godfrey Tudsbury 1685 - 1703 ............................. 4 Charles Tudsbury 1688 - ................................. +Mary Cupit m: 18 July 1722 in Worksop, NTT ............................. 4 William Tudsbury 1689 - ............................. 4 Johnathan Tudsbury 1693 - 1693 ................... 3 Mary Tudsbury 1656 - ................... 3 Richard Tudsbury 1658 - 1723 ....................... +Dorothy Stanfield - 1723 m: 3 July 1682 in Edwinstowe, NTT ............................. 4 Elizabeth Tudsbury 1688 - ................................. +John Billyadd m: 13 October 1713 in Edwinstowe, NTT ................... 3 Ruth Tudsbury 1660 - ................... 3 Susanna Tudsbury 1663 - 1690 ................... 3 William Tudsbury 1667 - ................... 3 Anne Tudsbury 1670 - ........ 2 Dorothy Tudsburye 1630 - ............ +Edward Stones m: 5 July 1853 in Edwinstowe, NTT ........ 2 Mary Tudsbury 1631 - ........ 2 Godfrey Tudsbury 1636 - ........ 2 Charles Tudsbury 1638 - 1688 ........ 2 Anthonye Tudsbury 1642 - ........ 2 William Tudsbury 1644 - 1707 ............ +Susanna Bellamy - 1710 m: 17 June 1668 in Worksop, NTT ................... 3 William Tudsburye 1669 - ................... 3 Grace Tudsburye 1671 - ....................... +John Bird m: 14 June 1690 in Rufford, NTT ................... 3 Susana Tudsburye 1673 - ....................... +Mr Hind ................... 3 Joseph Tudsbery 1680 - 1680 ................... 3 Charles Tudsbury 1684 - ............................. 4 William Tudsbury 1723 - 1784 ........................................ 5 William Tudsbury 1748/49 - 1842 ............................................ +Ann Hind - 1841 m: 10 April 1782 in Edwinstowe, NTT .................................................. 6 Richard Tudsbury 1784 - ...................................................... +Elizabeth Mitchell 1786 - m: 5 May 1812 in Edwinstowe, NTT ............................................................. 7 Richard Tudsbury 1812 - 1894 ................................................................. +Ann Whitworth 1814 - 1880 m: 20 May 1839 in North Wingfield, DBY ........................................................................ 8 Richard John Tudsbury 1840 - ........................................................................ 8 William Tudsbury 1843 - 1843 ........................................................................ 8 Mary E Tudsbury 1846 - ........................................................................ 8 Annie Helena Tudsbury 1853 - ........................................................................ 8 Frederick Tudsbury 1854 - ...........

I can do one that looks like that on my tree program....but it doesn't have a fancy name....just called a descendant report. Merry

Took me a while to get to grips with it-it was sent to me like that even though i had most of the details-its been stitched together- Im starting to have to think in a more ordered way now .

I find those descendant lists with all the spouses and children included very hard to read. If I'm adding children then I find traditional trees much easier to see. The advantage of an ahnentafel (which is always only for direct ancestors) is that the numbering system is consistant. So if someone is numbered for example 5 that means that person is first of all female (all odd numbers are female), she's the wife of number 4 and numbers 4 and 5 are the parents of number 2 plus paternal grandparents of number 1. Genealogists use the system to compare people and their relationships. As soon as you've got the hang of how to use them then an ahnentafel list means you can quickly trace back particular bloodlines. You can create an ahnentafel for yourself or for anyone in your family tree. I've done some for people who are beyond my fan chart and I couldn't fit any more generations in. Sue

My tree is probably more lopsided than most. On one branch I hit gold when I got in touch with someone who'd been researching for years and had got back to before the Norman Conquest. On some others (mostly Joneses and Evanses) I'm still stuck at 1881, although I live in hope that when I finally get time to go to the Glamorgan RO I might manage to unearth something there.

One of the advantages of using a programme such as FTM is that it will print out whatever type of tree you want (fan, vertical, standard) and reports (descendant, ahnentafel) at the press of a button - and of course you can include as many generations as you wish.

Well .......................... I know now what an ahnentafel is !! Next step is to try Family Tree Maker :) Angie