I was an avid reader as a child and my favorite books
included stories about dogs (the sainted Nancy Drew was my other favorite read,
but that's another topic). Dog books
were the best. Lassie, Beautiful Joe,
Prince Tom - I loved them all. At one
point, the bulletin board in my bedroom was a shrine to Jim Kjelgaard and his
beloved Irish Setters. I loved dog books
so much that I named the puppy I got for my 10th birthday Ginger, after the
title subject in the book "Ginger Pye." Dad even took me to a dog show
once because of my great love of (ie. obsession with) dogs.
When I first started researching my family history, back
when we usually used the word "genealogy" instead of "family
history," I was taught that the first thing I needed to do was fill out a
"Pedigree Chart." Pedigree? Champion dog Prince Tom had a lengthy
pedigree. All the dogs at the dog show
had pedigrees. There's even a brand of dog food that bears the name. Why on earth do I need to fill out a pedigree
chart, those are for dogs!
News Flash! We all
have a pedigree. A pedigree is simply a
list of who your ancestors are: your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents,
and so on. A pedigree chart is a way to
display that list so that we can easily see where each of those people came into
our story to help in the making of us.
Another cool thing about pedigree charts is that when you turn them on
their side, the chart resembles a tree with a trunk and branches. Pedigree chart = family tree.
 |
| Sample Pedigree Chart |
We recently had a severe thunderstorm roll through our
area. The wind whipped our maple tree
around in a frenzy, resulting in the loss of a good sized limb. Now there is a gaping hole in our tree's
foliage where the limb broke off. A
pedigree chart shows us the holes in our family tree. When you don't know who your
great-grandparents, or great-great grandparents are, those lines are left blank
on your pedigree chart, leaving gaping holes in the foliage of your family
tree. It's good to see where the holes
are because that gives you a starting place for your family history research.
In this electronic age family history research is changing
rapidly. There are a growing number of web sites where you can begin
creating your family tree, or pedigree, up in the cloud of the internet. However, I still believe that it's a lot of
fun to fill out your first pedigree chart by hand. It could be a fun family night activity. Below are a few links to charts that
you can print out and fill in by hand, or fill in online and then print out.
1. http://www.byub.org/ancestors/charts/pdf/pedigree.pdf Type in the names on the chart and print.
2.
http://c.mfcreative.com/pdf/trees/charts/anchart.pdf Print chart and fill in by hand.
3.
http://familytreemagazine.com/upload/images/pdf/ancestor.pdf Print chart and fill in by hand.
When you fill out your first pedigree chart, put yourself on
the #1 line. Your mother and father go
on lines 2 and 3. Your grandparents will
go on lines 4, 5, 6, and 7. And on it
goes.
Have fun filling out your first pedigree chart!
