In genealogy, the pedigree chart is the document everyone recognizes: a tidy, left-to-right diagram with one person on the left and their ancestors branching out to the right. It's been the standard way to record a family line for well over a century, and it's still the first chart most people draw when they start tracing their roots. This page explains exactly what it shows, how to read one, and when a different layout might serve you better.
A quick note first: there's a different chart called a pedigree in biology, used to track how a trait passes through a family. That's not what this page is about. Here, "pedigree chart" means the genealogy chart — an ancestor chart, plain and simple.
What a pedigree chart actually shows
A pedigree chart is an ancestor chart, and the word "ancestor" is the key to understanding it. It shows only your direct line — the people you descend from:
- your parents,
- their parents (your grandparents),
- their parents (your great-grandparents), and so on.
It deliberately leaves out everyone who isn't a direct ancestor: no siblings, no aunts and uncles, no cousins, no children. That restraint is the whole point. By showing only the direct line, a pedigree chart answers one question cleanly — who do I come from? — without the diagram exploding into hundreds of relatives.
This makes a pedigree chart different from a general family tree, which is a looser term that can include the whole extended family. Every pedigree chart is a family tree, but most family trees are broader than a pedigree chart.
How to read a pedigree chart
Reading one is genuinely simple once you know the pattern:
- Start on the far left. The single person there is the subject (sometimes called the root, or person No. 1).
- Move one column to the right to find that person's parents. By long convention the father sits on the upper branch and the mother on the lower branch.
- Keep going right. The next column holds four grandparents, the next eight great-grandparents, and so on — the number of people doubles with every generation.
- Every column is one generation back in time. The farther right you read, the deeper into the past you go.
Because fathers are always up and mothers always down, you can trace any single line just by following one branch all the way across the page. The whole paternal line, for example, runs along the top edge.
What goes in each box
A useful pedigree chart records more than names. For each person, genealogists aim to note:
- Full name (including a woman's maiden name, which keeps her own line traceable).
- Birth — date and place.
- Marriage — date and place, written between a couple.
- Death — date and place.
Recording places, not just dates, is the habit that pays off most later: "born 1898, Glasgow" gives the next researcher somewhere to look, while "born 1898" alone is a dead end.
Pedigree chart vs. fan chart
A pedigree chart and a fan chart show the exact same thing — your direct ancestors — in two different shapes:
- A pedigree chart is rectangular and reads left to right. It's familiar, formal, and ideal for three or four generations on a printed page.
- A fan chart wraps those same ancestors around a semicircle of colored generation bands. Because each ring has more room than the last, it fits five or six generations onto one readable page — and it looks like wall art.
There's no need to choose permanently. In Kindred you enter your family once and switch between a pedigree chart and a fan chart freely, since both are drawn from the same tree.
Make your own pedigree chart
Add your ancestors in the free editor, or import a GEDCOM from Ancestry, MyHeritage, FamilySearch, Gramps or RootsMagic and your whole line snaps into place. Pick a theme, set how many generations to show, and the chart lays itself out. Previewing is free and needs no account, and your data stays private in your own browser. A one-time $29 export unlock — never a subscription — gives you a print-quality, watermark-free chart in poster sizes, plus premium themes and GEDCOM export.
Start your own pedigree chart and see how far back your direct line reaches.