Trying to create complete working wall chart with 20 siblings to fit on the wall

[manrich63 0]

After weeks of trying i decided to bite the bullet and ask for help.

I have wasted so much ink and paper and time.

 

My chart is based on my Great Grandfather (George Heinrich Ludwig Richter )who has 19 siblings.

Names are sometimes long with German ancestry.

I have 8 generations with a couple of names for most recent generation (9th generation). TMG v7 I use tells me that I have 674 names so far. Doesnt sound like many at this point - it is the large generation that causes difficulties causing the width.

I have 13 working legs from those siblings. ( Due to deaths/non marriages of the remaining).

 

At this point I have all 20 siblings going across my wall measuring 73 inches across total.(only like 6 inches remain on the wall width.)

 

I have George and his siblings plus their children ( listed downwards with their spouses to their immediate right).

 

I have Georges Parents above also going across ways and also Georges Grandparents names just above and on the left of his father.

 

In total at this stage i have put 4 generations on the wall and it measures 31 inches top to bottom. I dont really want it much larger than this top to bottom. Side to side across ways I have around 1 inch seperating each married couple / or single if unmarried. In fact i have 1 inch seperating names top to bottom.I was going to draw a box around each group to differentiate each child and their and their descendents. And lines from the parents to each child group.

 

I have been printing the names as descendent box charts.

Then i cut each box from the paper and then assemble with doublesided tape to 2 large sized papers side by side.

 

I now want to add the next generations for each of Georges children (and also the other legs) downwards but if i do that then i shall have anyone on their knees to try and read the text....not good for my Dad whom is 88 nor his remaining sister.

 

Text is Names Bold Tahoma 10 B

Data Lines Regular Tahoma 6

Surnames in Caps (Thinking of other people trying to read) - eventually want to use this at a family reunion.

Boxes 160 pixels wide

No frame nor shadow

Box border is 3 pixels

Box contents are Birth Group Abbr date

" " PlacePrep Place

Death Group Abbr date

" " PlacePrep Place

 

 

Surety no threshhold ( though I dont understand what that is)

Allow word wrap

 

Places ticked are City/town

County/Parish

State/ Province

Country

 

 

I just want the people on a white background nothing fancy - but I do want to add names as i come across them. I cannot at this point afford to pay for a chart to be done. Besides i want a more complete chart to print when i do.

 

I think at this point i have overgoogled and researched doing this for a handful of weeks now that my brain is overcooked.

 

Georges ancesters are based in Germany otherwise all the rest (George, his siblings, and all their descendents) at this stage are based in South Australia?Western Australia.

 

 

I just want to fit all generations of all those siblings on the wall. Although i am thinking to remove Georges descendents (because it is particularly my leg) and place that one alone on another wall opposite (measuring 32 inches across). If i move a freestanding cupboard (these walls are in my passageway) then i shall have more space ( 80 inches across there). And i shall continue to try to find any ancesters in Germany.

 

 

 

Hopefully the post is not too long....thanks in advance for any ideas and have a great day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Virginia Blakelock 0]

You have a real challenge fitting that many lines on a wall chart. One option is to create a chart with the first two lines, and then individual charts for each of the 8 lines which continue. These are also easier to keep updated.

 

Your options look good; you might squeeze in a little more space with these suggestions:

 

Include only lifespan data; 6 pt is small for reading on a wall. Furnish more details in handouts - for example, Family Group Sheets or one-page charts of individual families. I include ID numbers in case people have questions or want more info on an individual.

 

The surname in caps may be enough. Bolding takes up a little more space

 

Try a 2-pixel line.

 

To include all data, tick both 'No threshold' and 'Include blank surety'. You may not use sureties, but there may be some unknown surety settings in your data. The sureties determine which data is included in a report. By ticking both those options, all the data you specified will be included.

 

Will this be black and white? Color is a big help for accenting family groups. If you don't have color ink, you can mount individual charts on different colored posterboard and outline the boxes on the master chart with colored pencils.

 

Good luck. Let us know how you work it out -

 

Virginia

[Karla Huebner 0]

I'm not a chart expert and this may not be the solution you're hoping for, but my suggestion is that you make one chart that has the 20 children and then make a separate descendant chart for each one.

 

Progenitors with loads of children (often around 14 but probably not as many as 20) were what kept me from pursuing genealogy prior to computers and TMG.

 

Good luck with this! (and Virginia, if you're in Yellow Springs, we're practically neighbors)

[Virginia Blakelock 0]

Karla - I agree that a single chart for the 20 children and then separate charts for each line that continues is the logical way to go. Yep, we're neighbors - and I suspect that you and my daughter-in-law may teach at the same place. Small world. Virginia

[RobinL 0]

manrich23,

 

I have had a lot of experience with larger charts. I also live in Adelaide. Please send me an email here, so we can arrange a meeting to discuss your problem.

 

The approach that I have adopted in the past for these very large initial families is to produce a sub-chart for each sibling and their descendants, as top-to-bottom.

The maximum width of all of the these charts defines the final chart initial width.

 

Now create a left-to-right 2 generation chart starting at the progenitor. This then enables (with careful editing) you to place all charts on the final canvas linked in child order down the page.

The vertical gap between the initial siblings can be adjusted for the height of the previous siblings descendants.

 

As a rule of thumb, the width a simple top-to-bottom descendancy chart is about 40% of (the number of persons in the chart) multiplied by (the width of one box + its gap to the next box). This is based on the observation that about 40% of the people are shown in the widest generation, usually the penultimate. With 674 persons and a box width + gap (160+20pixels @ 96ppi = 2" or 50mm) giving 540" or over 13.5m.

 

If there is significant in-balance between the size of the various sub-charts there is a way to reduce the depth of the chart or the width of the chart, a technique I call re-shaping. Shown on page 143 of the Getting the Most Out of The Master Genealogist (Ed. by Lee Hoffman).

 

I hope that this helps

RobinL

[manrich63 0]

Thank you for all your replies...

 

Virgina: I was going to do black and white but i think the idea of color will make it easier for others to understand what they are looking at - me too at a glance.I have a colored printer thankfully.

 

Karla i think that sounds like a great idea with seperate charts - and you confirmed Virginias same idea.

 

RobinL nice to see a neighbour....I shall be in touch soon. And you also mention the seperate charts.

 

I shall print your replies so i can digest all your replies then have a good think before i rush into any more printing....thanks heaps for your thoughts and ideas - i certainly will let you know how it goes.

 

Definitely food for thought

Mandy

 

 

[RobinL 0]

I have put up a picture to help others who are following this topic:

 

 

RobinL

[Virginia Blakelock 0]

Robin -

 

That is beautiful - and a very clever way to consolidate the chart. Thank you for sharing the picture.

 

Virginia

[manrich63 0]

Robin......that chart is absolutely gorgeous in my opinion!

 

Thank you very much for sharing absolutely.

 

This is so not the picture i had in my head - and i now have changed my mind to create the same as your example shows.

 

I have already created seperate legs each in their own seperate colors.- not yet printed.

 

I also have 3 very large sheets of cardstock for the wall (found unexpectantly by the grandaughter in my family history / arts and crafts room) and shall cut the name squares out and assemble these on the card,

 

I did enlarge the text also which I am much happier with.

 

I now feel thanks to all your help each of you that finally after such a long time messing around i have an end to focus on.

 

Have a great weekend all...

Mandy