drawing up family tree on paper??

[ali607]

Ok, so 5 A2 sheets of paper later.....how exactly do you draw up your family tree on paper???
The problem is that my 'tree' is more of well.... 'bush'. By God can you tell TV hadnt been invented 100 years ago! Every member of my family had a least 8 kids! My grandma was one of 11 - not that ive found them all yet - but i know she was. So immediately from like two generations back ive filled the width of the paper - by the time everyone's finished getting married god knows how many times. Ok so what happens when i get back to the next generation and there's 10 of those and each one of their children has 10 children and is married twice?
Obviously, I know i have to just follow one family name back on one sheet of paper but its still impossible to fit even half of the ancestos i have on the paper - no sheet is big enough!! Dont family tree scales exist like on a map?! AAAGGGHHH!   
Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
Alison

[RJ_Paton]

1. Use a pre printed "Tree" outline ...... although like you I understand the problem created by the "bush spread" factor ...... what happened to all those claims about our ancestors being strait laced and gathering round the piano for a good old sing song before retiring to bed for a few hours sleep before getting up at the crack of dawn to earn the daily crust. 

2. Use a computer ........ storing and sorting information is what computers actually are good at (sometimes )

3. sketch out your plans vaguely on a4 before committing yourself to A2 size.

[ali607]

Hi - yeah i am building my tree on Genes Reunited and in the whole tree ive got about 250 names so obviously ive broke it down into families which i was then going to draw out separately on large paper - but theyre still too big!!
Yes computers are great for ordering all the info so it all fits together but i get frustrated that i cant see it all infront of me...Also my parents dont have a computer and they would love to see it...
Thanks for the advice though...what do you mean by a pre printed tree outline though?
Alison

[Patches]

Hi

Why not use a roll of wallpaper, I've got an idea to someday print of all my trees on A4 from the pc and to stick them on wallpaper, just to see how really big it is when its all joined together.  That way if it needs extending and renewing its not costing lots of pennies.

Havent quite got round to it yet.

Patches

[ali607]

Hi yeah what a cracking idea!
Due to the 'bush' problem id also thought of  writing/painting it all up on a blank wall of like a study or something - after ive been researching for years and years!! But then i thought that would probably be quite sad...I would just love to see how big it is now like the whole thing - after a month - nevermind 10 years! 
Alison

[SS from The Rhondda]

what do you mean by a pre printed tree outline though?
Alison

Here are some pre-printed examples:
http://www.genfair.com/shop/pages/gpr/page05.html

[ali607]

Thanks theyre really good arent they?
the thing is ive already got 7 generations (along one line of the family) back to the 1770s - im guessing there's people on here who have been doing this decades and have got back to 1400 and something! What on earth do they do if i cant handle my sized tree???
Alison

[SS from The Rhondda]

It is very difficult to get every single relation on the same tree.

You can, however:

Use a pedigree chart to follow one line.

An ancestor chart can be used to show all direct ancestors of one person (inverted pyramid shape).

A descendant chart shows all the descendants of a person (pyramid shaped).

[teddybear1843]

Hi there

I have been doing this since 1977 and I cannot put all my relations on one type of tree, it is impossible.

You either have to choose a tree to show all of your ancestors with you either at the bottom or on the left and double the number of people at every generation OR you choose one couple in the past and show all of their descendants.

Although this is the easiest way of explaining it, it is not as easy as it sounds.  On an ancestry chart you have awful problems of repeating people if cousins marry or if, as in one of my cases, there is incest in the family!

On a descent chart you have similar problems if relatives marry as they have to be in two places at the same time.

I have been informed that you just anotate the tree but it still looks silly to me.

I wouldn't worry too much about a tree, make it into a book, tracing all the descendants of a chosen couple and writing up a narrative history with the barest of trees in the front to show where people are.

Much more interesting than a list of names & dates.

Another idea is to get some books from the library or look at some of those Victorian family histories to see just how complicated they can get, they are so interwoven that they are only readable by experts so what use are they?

Best of luck

Teddybear