Presentation

[craggus]

Having spent the last six months researching my mums family tree, I would like to give her a 'Your Family Tree' book at Christmas. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice as to the best way to present this information?

My original idea was to include one large ancestry tree (with siblings), together with a generation report and copies of all documents discovered so far (census scans, certificates, photos, wills etc).

But then I got thinking ... a report by generation containing "Mr xx was born on the blah blah in blah. He married blah on the blah of blah" etc could be a bit boring? So I tried to write it more as a story instead, and that failed miserably as well. And is it worth including copies of census papers etc? If you are told that your great-great grandmother was born on a certain day, would you want to see a copy of the birth certificate?

Arrrrrggggghhhhhhh! 

I know there is no 'correct' answer to this question, but it may be something some of you clever people have done before? 

Any advice greatfully received 

[Jane Masri]

Craggus, what a lovely idea!  From your name I don't know if you're male or female, but regardless of gender, have you got an artistic leaning?  I was thinking of presenting the family tree in the form of a SCRAPBOOK.  They have great kits these days and the finished results are so nice.  You can type-up small family story's, add photo's, layer the coloured papers etc.  You could go for a 'vintage' kit which would give the right feel for the project.  I think most craft stores would stock such things.  Get creative, I'm sure the end results will be fantastic and your mum will treasure it.
Jane

[suttontrust]

I did a Family Tree book for my great-nephew's christening (that was the excuse, anyway).  I started with a branch of the family as far back as we could go and traced them forwards to the point where they met another branch - then traced that branch.  It makes sense if you include mini-tree charts to show just a few generations.  I also included brief descriptions of the places they came from, and plenty of pictures.  I got the finished product colour copied and spiral bound.  Expensive but well worth it.

[M.T.H]

Hi'ya Craggus,

Great idea

For what it's worth,I would definately include things like census pages, and any certificates that you may have as,imvho,not only are they interesting documents but they help to support the story.

good luck,Mick

[D ap D]

Hi Craggus,

I'm doing exactly the same thing for my parents - just I'm intending distributing it to those family members who have helped with info and those from whom I''m hoping I'll get a good response.

I've put a tree together on A1 size paper (we've got an AO size plotter at work, so it makes things easier than taping separate pages together.) This gives names and dates.

I've then put a blah blah together, but separated into chapters, according to family. I've arranged it with the male line coming first and the female lines joining on in order of date. However, it is with the female lines that I go back furthest. So whereas with my direct males ascent I go back 6 generations, with one of the female ones I go back 17, which distorts the numbering of generations somewhat.

I've arranged each chapter according to number of generation i.e  the furthest back is generation 1. I've included photos of people, houses, churches, graves etc. Where I have addresses, I have also included extracts from maps, showing exactly where they are. I have a rout planning programme on my pc, so I can highlight each address separately. My best example is Aberystwyth where I can show 12 addresses of various families (at that time) all on one page.

At the end, I've just got a list of references.  I'm not going to all the effort of copying census entries, BMD certs etc. I'm keeping all these in my "master copy", to which people can refer if they are interested.
I am putting in the wills though, as most family members are quite happy moaning about how much they should have been entitled to, so that will keep them happy for a while. It might also be an idea to convert some of the figures into todays values.

I'm putting the lot together with a spiral binding, with some sort of photo collage as a title page.

I'm hoping that I will get about a 20 % response from the family.

Its not particularly imaginative, but that is what's easiest for me.
I did toy with the idea of a snappy power point presentation, but binned it as not feasible. Another possibility is an interactive, i.e. like a web site, but as my older rellies don't have pcs, thats not feasible either.

Perhaps someone else has an idea which we can put to use.

[Sylviaann]

My records are all in word processing form anyway.  Some years ago I made up books, one for my fathers side and one for my mothers side.  I made it A5 size to fit on a book case.  I have pages for each name and included maps and pictures.  In the back was a foldout tree.  I sent one to each of my cousins.  I thought they could tuck it in their bookcases and forget about it once they had read it.  Everyone was thrilled and promised to send me more pics.  These have not materialized.  Other people do not share our enthusiasm but I thought maybe their grandchildren would find the book when clearing out the house!

I also sent a copy to the relevant family history societies.

I have been trying to update things and now have far too much to make the book up, I have 52 pages of one name without pics and maps.  I am going to send out CDs sometime and they can print their own.  Of course I am now the elderly relative.  A book is a definate for the olds if you have them.  It's a wonderful idea.

Sylviaann

[dinkey]

What a great idea. You could also give a potted history on their occupations and what was happening in their area at that particular time. Also. if you could include pictures of their towns or villages so that they can compare the past and present.

dinkey

[Gardener]

Going the other way.... my Mum decided to make books fro my 3 kids with  a photo of every member of their grandmaternal "trees". Back to the kids gtgrandparents where possible. So she gathered together good quality xeroxes in triplicate along with 3 small books with plastic pockets and armed with a labeller set to work. And a fine job she made of the first one....and 1/3 of the second one..... And that was it! She ran out of steam and passed it on to me. Naturally I put it away to mature for a while and then both my parents died so I didn't quite feel like doing it. Maybe Craggus' query will be enough to spur me on to finish the job

[Berlin-Bob]

I am also writing a book. It is in hypertext, so it can be read using a browser, but I am deliberately keeping to a format, which I can print out easily, as not every relative has a computer.

I have structured the contents, roughly as follows:

The people are grouped into families and each family has 4 sections:

1) Family History (concerning the whole family).
- Where they came from, moved to etc.
- Census scans
- Photos
- maps
- any other interesting documents (like excerpts from my mum's diary from 1938/9)
- interesting web links i.e. to places they lived, etc.

This corresponds, I think, to Dinky's idea:

... You could also give a potted history on their occupations and what was happening in their area at that particular time. Also. if you could include pictures of their towns or villages so that they can compare the past and present.

2) Biographies, sorted in generation groups
each person has a "mug sheet" with a standard format
- born
- died
- parents
- siblings
and per Spouse
- spouse
- children

If available I include thumbnail shots of BMD certs. and photos (The thumbnails are links to the full-size images).

Then comes a box, where I add anything we know about this person. This may be empty, or just have Occupation (from the census) or run to several pages.  The more we know, the easier it is to write a "story" and not, as Craggus says

"Mr xx was born on the blah blah in blah. He married blah on the blah of blah"

3) a family tree. I use an Excel spreadsheet to draw this, as I haven't found a suitable program yet. I may end up writing one myself.

4) a pedigree chart, starting with the youngest generation of each family. This is a standard output from PAF or Legacy, and probably most other gen. software.

I also have a page with family legends and stories. i.e. unsubstantiated, or not referring to a particular person. Two of these, I have already "printed" here
("Are you related to royalty":
http://www.rootschat.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=3318.msg8055#msg8055, and the Hessie Story: http://www.rootschat.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8416.msg13644#msg13644 )

Add an introduction, and that's it.

This is an on-going project, I burn it onto CD and print it about every 6 months or so and distribute it, but I think the same thing could be done, using WORD, without the hypertext elements.

D ap D is

... hoping that I will get about a 20 % response from the family.

I have now "published" twice, and that's about the response I actually get !
A bit like Sylviaann, really:

Everyone was thrilled and promised to send me more pics.  These have not materialized.

p.s.
on other threads, we are discussing web-pages and books, etc. but they are about the media. 
I think this thread is great for a discussion about the content of web-pages, once RootsChat starts this service.