Descendant Fan Charts

A descendant fan chart can be designed in either a full circular display or a semi-circular display depending upon the number of generations and the amount birth, marriage, and death information that you want included on your chart.  The starting individual is in the center, and each successive ring contains the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, and so on until the outer ring of the chart. Depending upon the size of the family and the amount of information which you want in each box, a descendant fan chart can normally include 6 to 9 generations.  Once you go above this level, you will need to use the traditional descendant chart which is presented in landscape mode.  Photos don't work well in fan charts and should be avoided.  Some of the condensed descendant charts shown below are ideal to make available to attendees of a family reunion who don't want to purchase a 25 to 50 foot chart showing complete details, but who would still like some record of their family genealogy to take home.  If you're designing your own chart, your genealogy software program may lay out your information differently than the examples shown below; however, since we can print from most any genealogy software program, the actual design is not an issue for us. To view other examples of family tree charts, return to our examples page.
 

This is an example of a descendant fan chart which begins at the center and then branches out in an arc to show each generation of descendants. Using 12 point bold for the names and 10 point regular for the birth, marriage, and death facts, this fan chart which includes 7 generations would measure 42 inches square.

Here is an enlarged portion of the chart which shows the popular option of outlining males in the traditional color blue and females in pink.

Another interesting and colorful design for a descendant fan chart is to color the rings for each change of generation as shown below.  This type of descendant fan chart includes only names along with the birth-death years. As a result, it is more compact since it doesn't include as much information as a standard descendant chart.  This 7 generation fan chart would be about 36 to 42 inches square.

In this descendant fan chart only 6 generations are shown which allowed it to be presented as a half circle.  This type of descendant fan chart includes only names along with the birth-death years. As a result, it is more compact since it doesn't include as much information as a standard descendant chart.  This 6 generation fan chart would be about 36 inches wide.

Another interesting and colorful design for a descendant fan chart is to color the lineage differently starting with the first generation descendants.  This full circle chart shows just names birth-death years and as a result, it is more compact since it doesn't include as much information. This 7 generation ancestor fan chart would be about 36 to 42 inches square. This type of condensed descendant chart is ideal to make available to attendees of a family reunion who don't want to purchase a 25 to 50 foot chart showing complete details.

In addition to the other types of family tree charts shown on our examples page which you just came from, there are also many other examples of printed family tree charts on almost every page on our site, so please take the time to browse around for awhile. There are even a few examples of charts with a photographic background on our page about enhancing your chart. We've also included several tips to keep in mind on our page titled submitting your order that you might find helpful as you go about designing your chart.

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