How to Use This Template
- Open the template in your browser using the button above.
- Print the master chart and the numbering guide, plus continuation charts as your research needs them.
- Fill in the master chart — generations 1 to 5 — and number the 16 ancestors in its right-hand column.
- Continue each numbered line on its own continuation chart, carrying it to generation 10.
- When a line passes generation 10, give it a second-level continuation chart. The numbering guide keeps every page linked back to chart 1.
About This Template
Fifteen generations is the deepest pedigree anyone realistically documents, and the numbers explain why: 32,766 direct ancestors, 16,384 of them in generation 15 alone. This pack doesn't pretend that fits on a poster. Instead it uses the linked chart system professional genealogists rely on — a master chart for generations 1–5, and a reusable continuation chart applied at two levels: once to carry lines from generation 5 to 10, and again from 10 to 15. A one-page numbering guide documents the system so a folder of charts stays navigable years later.
Honesty matters at this depth: most family lines cannot be documented past the 1500s–1600s, because parish registers simply don't go back further (England's begin in 1538, and survival is patchy). Lines that do reach generation 15 usually pass through a gateway ancestor — someone whose connection to royal, noble, or gentry pedigrees is documented in heraldic visitations, charters, or published works. The pack's add-a-page-as-needed design mirrors that reality: brick-walled lines cost nothing, and the rare deep line grows its own linked trail of pages.
If you're not chasing gateway lines yet, the 10-generation chart pack is the same system one level shallower, and the research log is the companion sheet that stops a multi-chart project collapsing into loose paper.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many ancestors are in 15 generations?
32,766 direct ancestors in a complete 15-generation pedigree — 16,384 in generation 15 alone. The pack's linked continuation charts mean you only print pages for lines your research actually reaches.
Is it actually possible to trace 15 generations?
Rarely, and only for some lines — generation 15 reaches the 1400s–1500s, before most parish registers existed. Deep documented descents usually pass through royal, noble, or gateway ancestors with published pedigrees. Most researchers use this pack for a handful of deep lines while the rest stop earlier.
What is included in the chart pack?
Three page designs: the master chart (generations 1–5), a reusable continuation chart used at two levels (5–10 and 10–15), and a numbering guide that documents how the chart numbers keep every page linked.