Hello from NZ.
In my opinion this family tree takes some beating, for ease of understanding a descendancy table of one early ancestor.
Last year it was on display at a family reunion, and all attending could follow, at a glance, the principal family name back 240 years. And how the family evolved once they settled in NZ.
That family has had numerous reunions over the last 40 years, since one of my Father’s relatives contacted his cousins prior to a reunion he was arranging, and hand entered the data gained in a circular fashion, on a map sized sheet of paper. He also added his Uncles account of the family lines back in Scotland, whence they came. The table radiating outwards, from James (b.1888) and his siblings.
Bottom left illustration being the homestead that James came to in 1905.
Copies for family who wanted one, were printed by a map maker.
The paper circular chart has been updated, by hand, over the years, but for the 2018 reunion, the late instigator’s Grandson, somehow managed to coax a computer into producing this impressive chart.
I set about trying to gather enough information to do one for our family, but 40 years later I have to admit I’m stumped, because I cannot locate several baptism records in Scotland around 1800.
To make a tidy circle you need to know how many names you have for a complete generation band, from which to radiate out, or you end up with a big blank wedge. Here the computer would help in the display, as it can automatically space things out.
The three NZ generation one I did produce, had an OOP’S wedge when my calculations went astray. After drafting the big circle with all it’s wedges, I started entering the names around the circle only to come up one name short, and was not prepared to restart, as it was very time consuming to prepare for.
Alan.
