Family tree displays can make thoughtful gifts for loved ones—or bait for luring curious relatives to genealogy. They are also valuable research tools: summing up your progress, identifying any gaps, and providing an at-aglance reference. More than that, they’re visual reminders of where you come from.
Trees are also popular features at family reunions and weddings. I even thought about using a family tree as a seating chart at my and my wife’s wedding, but abandoned the idea when I realized how sprawling the tree would need to be. (I have 21 first cousins just on my mother’s side!)
“All charts are a great way to show family members, who didn’t do the research, the geographic areas and the time frames of how the family has moved through the past,” says Janet Hovorka, owner of tree-printing service Family ChartMasters <www.familychartmasters.com>. “Having your family history out where you can see it all of the time is incredibly powerful.”
But how do you print a family tree? You could hit snags at multiple points in the process: How do you design a tree, and what should it look like? Which ancestors and details should you include? And—perhaps most importantly—how do you print a nice-looking tree, especially at larger sizes?
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