Create a Gorgeous, Custom Family Tree Chart in Minutes

Inspired by a genealogy friend, I tried something the other day that I must share with you. It's an easy way to create a stunning, one-of-a-kind family tree chart. I did it in two steps.

One platform did a beautiful job. Another invented an entire family.

Step #1: Print an Ancestor Chart as a PDF or Image

Decide which person you want to be the subject of your custom family tree chart. For this exercise, I'm choosing my grandfather, Adamo Leone. Here are the steps to follow:

• In your family tree software, select the person you want.
• Depending on your software, choose to create an ancestor or pedigree chart.
• Customize the chart as needed, but keep it simple. The websites we'll be using tend to make typos. You may choose to include:
  • name and lifespan
  • 3 generations of ancestors
  • their spouse
• When you're satisfied with the chart, print it as a PDF or an image.

If you can't generate an ancestor or pedigree chart from your family tree, you can create it as a text file. Here's a text format you can follow:

Generation 1: Your Subject's Name (dates) married Spouse's Name (dates)
Generation 2: Your Subject's Father (dates) married Mother (dates)
Generation 3: Your Subject's Paternal Grandparents; Maternal Grandparents
Generation 4: Your Subject's Paternal Great Grandparents (both sets); Maternal Great Grandparents (both sets)

Mine looks like this:

Generation 1: Adamo Leone (1891-1987) married Maria Carmina Sarracino (1899-1992)
Generation 2: Giovannangelo Leone (1850-1942) married Marianna Iammucci (1856-1929)
Generation 3: Nicola Domenico Leone (1796-) married Caterina Pisciotti (1819-); Antonio Luigi Maria Iammucci (1814-) married Annamaria Bozza (1815-)
Generation 4: Giuseppe Leone (1772-1830) married Maria Zarrelli (1772-1804); Giovanni Pisciotti (1793-1842) married Dorodea Petruccelli (1792-); Leonardo Iammucci (1783-1835) married Mariangela Palumbo (1784-1823); Antonio Bozza (1784-) married Angela Cece (1779-1850)

Now you're ready to generate your work of art.

These were my first attempts in NotebookLM, and I adore them.

Step #2: Ask for What You Want

Go to your platform of choice and drop the ancestor chart you created into the conversation. I'm using NotebookLM from Google because I've had good results.

Here's an example of what you can request. Tailor it to meets your needs. You may want to add a photo of your own to use as a background (although this didn't quite work in NotebookLM). Be sure to describe what you want in detail. And tell it what you want the title at the top of the chart to be. I didn't think to do that.

Based on this PDF, create a family tree diagram for Adamo Leone that uses the red, white, and green colors of the Italian flag. Use the photograph named baselice.jpg as a background image.

Give the website a bit of time to create your masterpiece.

After a couple of tries, I got a beautiful chart with no typos that looked the way I wanted. It never used the photo I supplied, but it did create something that matches the feeling of my photograph.

Try Out Other Platforms

Let's see how this works on a platform other than NotebookLM.

1. ChatGPT. I went to ChatGPT for the first time ever. I gave it the same PDF and photograph. I used the exact same prompt. IT MADE UP EVERYTHING. It used my photograph, so that's one good thing. But it made Adamo Leone the ancestor of a bunch of made-up people who are not in my family tree. It used the wrong dates for my grandfather. It said everyone in the chart died in Youngstown, Ohio. That's weird because Youngstown does appear in my family tree, but not for this side of my family.

Since ChatGPT offered me the option to correct the image, I typed in this:

In the PDF I supplied, Adamo Leone (1891-1987) is the descendant, but you made him the ancestor of a lot of people who do not exist. Can you make this an ancestor chart that matches the facts I provided?

More hallucinations. Who are these people? Well, that was the first and LAST time I'm going to use ChatGPT.

2. Copilot. I went to the AI platform I always use: Copilot from Microsoft. I've had sessions with Copilot where I asked a question and learned a lot about a topic. I've also asked Copilot to analyze photos for me, with great results.

I dropped the ancestor chart PDF and the photograph into the chat window and used the same prompt as before:

Based on this PDF, create a family tree diagram for Adamo Leone that uses the red, white, and green colors of the Italian flag. Use the photograph named baselice.jpg as a background image.

It asked me which format I want the result in, and if I want to add portraits to the chart. It said it would use a vertical format, so I asked it to use landscape. There was a button I had to click to get it to run this task.

After several minutes, it looked as if I could click to download the file, but there was nothing there. I asked Copilot, "Where's the PDF?" It asked me for the two input files again, my PDF and photograph. Then it said it was working on it. It listed the four steps it was going to follow. I stepped away and had breakfast. Copilot appeared to have quit after finishing the first step. I asked it what happened, and it told me it was ready to continue with steps 2–4.

I must say, Copilot doesn't usually give me such a hassle, but this is the hardest thing I've asked it to do. OK, steps 2–4 are complete. It's generating files for me to download.

It did what I asked, but I don't like it. The background image is very dark. It put in generation labels and a key that are making things look crowded. And I see at least one incorrect date.

The output does include an SVG file that I could edit if I had the right software. Even if I did, it seems like a lot of work when NotebookLM did such a beautiful job for me.

3. Claude. Now I'll have to try one more platform I was planning to avoid for the rest of my life: Claude. When I tried to create a chart without creating a free account, things did not go well. It created a chart using Courier font and ignoring the lifespan dates. It told me it can't use my photo as a background. But it complemented me on the choice of a photo that shows the Campania region of Italy.

Each AI platform has its strengths. I didn't find Claude's strengths.

I created a free account to see if it would treat me better. It did. Like Copilot, Claude made my background photo very dark. And it put each person's information in white text on a black background. It was all too hard to read.

I asked it to do three things:

1. fade the background instead of making it dark
2. remove the generation labels that were cluttering things up
3. put people's info in black text with a white background.

It did all that in no time. The output is an HTML file—a webpage that resizes as you change the size of your browser. There's a slight shadow that appears when you hover over any person.

I have more edits I'd like. The fonts are hard to read, the image is too faded, and it's upside-down for an ancestor chart. That's when I must have run into a free-account limit. It told me I'd have to start a new chat to do what I wanted. I started over and give it all the specific instructions I wanted it to follow. But it balked and said I gave it too many instructions. Because that's what computers say???

Instead of the text-based chart I wanted to test, I gave Claude the PDF version of the tree and the photograph. I said:

I want to generate a family tree chart from this PDF using this photo, as is, as a background. Do not include generation labels or a footer.

The progress report it was giving me was funny. It said things like "Planting family roots" and "Branching out generations". But it had a problem with the photograph this time, and it couldn't make all the ancestors fit on the page. It was a bust.

Farewell, Claude. We hardly knew ye.

Stick with the Winner

NotebookLM is the clear winner for this family tree project. But a free account limits you to generating three of these charts (which it calls infographics) a day. I wanted to test it using the text-based ancestor chart instead of a PDF, but I hit the daily limit. The next day I did use the text-based ancestor chart to create the image at the top of this article. Love it!

To make sure my text-based chart format is good, I asked NotebookLM to create a table based on the text. Is it OK to separate ancestor couples in the same generation with a semi-colon? It is. The table turned out correct.

I hope you'll have fun with this project. Give careful thought to what you want it to look like, and be specific in your request. Don't try to add to many generations. When you come up with a winning format, copy and save your request so you can use it for other family charts tomorrow.