What to Include in a Family Tree: A Complete Checklist

A family tree that's just names and arrows tells you who's related to whom, but not much else. Here's everything worth capturing while you're building yours — so it becomes something the next generation actually wants to read, not just a chart.

The essentials — start here for every person

• Full name, including maiden names where relevant
• Birth date and birthplace
• Death date and place, if applicable
• Parents (linked directly in the tree, not just written as text)

These four alone are enough to make someone a real entry in the tree. Everything below adds depth — but don't let missing details stop you from adding a person in the first place.

Relationships worth recording precisely

• Marriages, with dates where known — and any that ended, since that matters for understanding the family structure later
• Adoptions, noted clearly rather than left ambiguous
• Step-relationships — a stepparent or stepsibling is often just as significant to someone's actual life as a biological one
• Multiple marriages and the children from each, kept distinct

The details that make people feel real, not just listed

• A photo — even one, even a poor-quality scan of an old print, changes how a person's entry feels entirely
• Occupation — what someone did with their life is often more memorable than when they were born
• Where they lived, and if they moved somewhere significant (immigration, relocating for work, etc.)
• A short story or two — how they met a spouse, a nickname that stuck, a war they served in, a business they ran
• Military service, if applicable, including branch and years

Practical information that matters more than people expect

• Cause of death or notable health history, where known and appropriate to share — some families find this genuinely useful for their own health awareness, not just historical interest
• Religious affiliation, if it shaped the family's traditions or records (church records are often a key genealogy source too)
• Where someone is buried — useful for anyone who later wants to visit

How to gather all of this without it becoming overwhelming

Don't try to fill in every field for every person before moving to the next. Add what you know now, mark the rest as unknown, and come back to it — often the missing piece turns up later from a relative, an old document, or a conversation you didn't expect to be useful. A family tree is something you build over years, not in one sitting.