A week or so ago, a genealogist by the name of J. Paul Hawthorne posted an image of five generations of his ancestry, which was color-coded by birthplace. Well, his idea (and his Excel template) went viral, and genealogists have been creating their own colorful ancestry charts and posting them on social media. (Read more about it and download the free template on J. Paul Hawthorne's blog, GeneaSpy.)
Instead of making one for my own ancestry, I decided to go one generation forward and make one for my kids. And instead of limiting it to five generations, I completed the chart until I reached the 'immigrant' generation of each line. As you can see, my kids' Ohio roots run deep, but they also claim ancestors from seven separate present-day European countries. In other words, this is a great opportunity to use their ancestry to teach them some European geography.
Instead of making one for my own ancestry, I decided to go one generation forward and make one for my kids. And instead of limiting it to five generations, I completed the chart until I reached the 'immigrant' generation of each line. As you can see, my kids' Ohio roots run deep, but they also claim ancestors from seven separate present-day European countries. In other words, this is a great opportunity to use their ancestry to teach them some European geography.
My daughter loves to color, so she used colored pencils to fill in the states and countries listed on the chart onto blank, black-and-white political maps. There are lots of free, printable map resources out there on the Internet, but my favorite one is the Maps section of SuperColoring.com.
The color I used for each location on the chart is the same color my daughter used to color that location with. Visually, I think it helps her connect the chart more with the map than if we had used different colors. Feel free to talk about the locations and the individual ancestors as much or as little as your child will tolerate. Perhaps hang the colorful maps in their room or playroom as a reminder of where they come from. :-)
The color I used for each location on the chart is the same color my daughter used to color that location with. Visually, I think it helps her connect the chart more with the map than if we had used different colors. Feel free to talk about the locations and the individual ancestors as much or as little as your child will tolerate. Perhaps hang the colorful maps in their room or playroom as a reminder of where they come from. :-)
©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder. Ancestry chart template created by J. Paul Hawthorne (JPaulHawthorne@gmail.com)
