A tree can tell the story of your origins or bring together an ancestor’s descendants. The difference is the people you include, not the direction of the drawing.
Inspired by an old family album · fictional portraits
01 / TRACE BACK
An ancestor tree: “Where do I come from?”
Start with a reference person, then find their parents, grandparents and earlier generations. Ancestors’ siblings and their descendants are not part of direct ancestry.
In our example: Emma finds Claire and Julien, then Auguste, Lucienne, André and Jeanne.
To explore your origins and keep track of your research.
02 / BRING TOGETHER
A descendant tree: “Who descends from our ancestors?”
Start with a common person or couple, then follow their children, grandchildren and subsequent generations. Partners can be included to help explain households.
In our example: Auguste and Lucienne are Claire and Marc’s parents. Their descendants meet across the different branches.
To prepare a family reunion and place your cousins.
03 / CONNECT
A mixed representation: several branches meet.
Bring together ancestors, descendants and, depending on your chosen scope, other relatives. Blended families and partners’ ancestors make the graph richer.
In Cœur de Famille, people are grouped into households and known relationships appear according to viewing permissions. Branch settings guide new additions without changing privacy rules.
To explore the relationships in your family space.
Change your perspective
The difference is clearer when you try it.
These educational filters select people in the preview. They help compare representations without changing any family data. If your own file appears here, choose the reference person in the workshop.
Every branch in the file: several stories in one graph.
0 visible households·Select a household to discover its history.
Settings
100%
Interactive tree. Select a household to discover its history. Drag to pan, pinch with two fingers or use the minus and plus buttons to zoom, and use Re-centre to return to the selected household.
Building family relationships…
Genealogy preview
Drag · pinch to zoom
Caption
Selected householdCouple or householdKinship pathDeceased person+Descendants to open
Click a household, search for a name, explore a relationship.Try my GEDCOM
Information to check in your file
Shape and scope are different things
Horizontal, vertical, circular… The drawing changes; the relationships remain.
A fan chart often places one person at the centre and their ancestors around them. A descendant tree can also be circular. Cœur de Famille uses an interactive household tree: other shapes are explained here, without presenting them as available application modes.
