6-generation fan chart template

Expect gaps

The outer ring alone has 32 third-great-grandparents, likely born around 1850 to 1875 for someone born in 2000. Very few people fill every slice. In the US, 1850 is also the first census that names everyone in a household, so lines often get much harder just beyond this ring. On Letter or A4 the outer text is too small to write by hand, so type it, or print at 11 × 17 in (Tabloid) or A3, which many copy shops can do from this PDF.

What is on this template

• 63 places across 6 generations
• Soft green rings, one shade per generation
• Prints best on Tabloid or A3
• Also fits Letter and A4 for typed names

It has room for 63 people: you, your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and further back.

How to fill it in

1. Print at 100% ("Actual size"). A plain-paper draft first saves spoiling the good copy.
2. Write your own name first, then your parents, then each earlier generation. On a fan chart, your father's side is on the left and your mother's side on the right.
3. Add the years of birth and death under each name, like 1931–2005.

Prefer typing? Open this template in the family tree maker, type the names and print a clean copy.

What six generations covers

Six generations is 63 people: everyone from you back to your 32 third-great-grandparents. For someone born around 2000, that outer ring was mostly born between about 1850 and 1875, the period when family lines usually move from living memory to records: censuses, church registers and immigration papers.

At 63 places, the outer slices are narrow. On Letter or A4, type the names online so the text is sized to fit; to write by hand, print on 11 × 17 in (Tabloid) or A3, which many copy shops can do from this PDF.

Using it to plan research

• Fill in what you know, then shade the empty slices: each one is an ancestor to look for.
• Work outward from the most recent gap, since each record you find usually names the parents of the person in it.
• Keep the details (dates, places, sources) on family group sheets; the fan chart is the overview.

Questions