Most people give up on their family tree somewhere between the second cousin and the third great-aunt — not because the work is hard, but because the workflow is messy. Names get tangled. Spouses get forgotten. A long-lost uncle suddenly has two birthdays. The trick to finishing a tree is not better software; it is a steady, boring process you can repeat for every branch. This guide gives you that process, end to end.
1. Start with yourself, not your great-grandparents
Every working genealogist starts with the present and walks backwards. Open a blank tree and add yourself in the centre. Add your parents above you, then their parents above them. You are building a "pedigree" — a direct line of ancestors — before you fan out to siblings, cousins, and in-laws. Keeping the early structure narrow prevents the most common beginner mistake: a sprawling tree where nobody can tell which branch is which.
2. Collect names in batches, not in real time
Before you type a single entry into the builder, sit down with a notebook (or a phone note) and just collect raw names. For each person, jot down four things: full name at birth, approximate birth year, place of birth, and who they are connected to. That is enough. Dates and middle names can come later. Trying to perfect each entry as you go will exhaust you by generation three.
What to include in a first pass
- Birth name (including maiden names — they unlock huge amounts of research later)
- Approximate birth year, even if it's just "around 1955"
- Town or country of birth — geography is one of the strongest cross-references
- Their parents and spouse, if known
3. Add the tree in passes, not in one sitting
Open the KithMaker builder and place people in three passes. Pass one: your direct ancestors (parents, grandparents, great-grandparents). Pass two: each ancestor's siblings and spouses. Pass three: the children of those siblings (your cousins). Saving between passes is important — every browser eventually hiccups, and a 60-person tree is a lot to lose.
4. Handle the awkward cases up front
Real families are messy, and that is fine. Decide before you start how you will represent step-parents, adoptions, remarriages, and people who simply aren't on speaking terms. A few common conventions: list the biological parent in the main tree, and add the step-parent as an additional spouse on that parent's row; for adoptions, record both the legal and biological parents in the notes so future relatives have the full picture. Consistency is more important than which convention you pick.
5. Verify before you decorate
It is tempting to spend an hour choosing photos and another hour fiddling with paper size. Resist. Once the structure is in, do one verification pass with at least one older relative — read names and birth years out loud, branch by branch. Half the corrections you'll ever make will come from that single conversation.
6. Export, print, and share
When the tree is right, export to PDF on the largest paper your tree needs. A4 fits a 3-generation tree. Five generations usually need A3 or US Tabloid. Anything bigger looks beautiful on A2 from a copy shop and makes a memorable gift. Share the PDF in your family group chat before the print run — someone always spots a missing cousin.
What to do next
Once your tree is stable, the natural next step is light genealogy research — census records, birth indexes, parish registers. Our beginner's research playbook walks through the free archives that produce the fastest wins.