How do I make a Family Tree Scrapbook

by Carol

Hello

I want to make a family tree scrapbook but don't know how to start. I want to include both my parent's sides of the family. All I can think of is to make a tree shape and put the pictures of family members on that, but that won't make an album

Can you help?
Carol.

************************************

Hi Carol

Yes, making a family tree album can be a daunting task when you may not have seen others make them. Here's what I would do:

A family tree scrapbook can expand and expand, depending on how 'deep' into the family's past you want to go. It really can be a story about your family's history. The best place to find out where your family is from, who did what and why, are the older people in your family. Interview them and ask them for photos and memorabilia.

One friend I know started her family history album by placing her family in the middle of the album. Then she worked backwards in the album to show her Dad's side of the family, and forward in the album to show her Mother's side.

If you have photos of your parents, your own family and those of your brothers and sisters, you can make a page about each family. You can even break this down into making a page about each person, especially if you have not yet formed your own family. Say where each person was born and when, what work they do, and maybe a little summary of the highlights of their life so far.

The if you have pictures of your aunts, uncles and cousins, you can make pages on each of them or do a collective page about each family.

Then go back a generation. Collect photos of your grandparents and make pages about them. If you have photos of your great aunts and uncles and their families, make pages about them.

Work backward or forward in the album to show which side of the family each of them are on.

Go back another generation. Add in pages about your great-grandparents and their brothers and sister's families. Go back further if you can.

It would be wonderful to collect stories about things your ancestors did and to write them into the scrapbook. Tell about where they came from, where they lived, what work they did, what they were good at, or about any unusual events that happened to them.

If you have military ancestors you can write to the armed forces they were in (army, air force, or navy) and sometimes they will have interesting records for you to include.

If you have them put in certificates like birth, marriage and death certificates.

Add in photos of houses different family members lived in, or their gardens, or pictures of the towns they lived in.

I have some poems one of my ancestors wrote and some copies of old letters. Things like that make your family history come alive.

I hope you have a few more ideas for how to make your album as large as you want it to be ☺ Have fun with it and show me some pages from it when you are done!

Susan
www.papercraftcentral.com

PS If anyone wants to know, this page shows how to start scrapbooking.

Here you can find out answers to questions about how to make a scrapbook

Here you can find some scrapbooking tips