A family tree with aunts, uncles and cousins

To show brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins, draw a tree that comes down from a couple as well as going up from you. A pedigree chart holds only your direct ancestors: parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.

Start a tree as a guest: no account is needed for up to 50 people.

Which tree or chart shows whom

A pedigree chart shows one person and their ancestors, two parents for every person, so it fits on one page however big the family is. Make a printable pedigree chart covers it.
A descendant chart starts from one ancestor or couple and shows everyone descended from them, with the people they married. Make a printable descendant chart covers it.
A family tree draws everyone you add, linked as parents, children and partners: your ancestors, their other children, those children's families, and so on. This is the one with aunts, uncles and cousins in it.
A family group sheet lists one couple and all their children, so it is where brothers and sisters go on paper. The free blank charts include one, and a blank family tree with room for your brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles.

Who counts as an aunt, an uncle or a cousin

Your aunts and uncles are your parents' brothers and sisters, and the people they married.
Your first cousins are your aunts' and uncles' children. You share a set of grandparents with them.
Your second cousins share a set of great-grandparents with you: your parents' first cousins' children.
"Removed" means a generation apart. Your parent's first cousin is your first cousin once removed, and so is your first cousin's child.

So to draw your cousins, you need the grandparents you share with them, then each of the grandparents' children, then their children. How cousins are counted goes further.

Add the family

Start from yourself and add your parents and grandparents. In Draw My Tree, Create starter tree begins you with You, a Mother and a Father; use the + on a parent's card and choose Add a parent for each grandparent.
Add your brothers and sisters: use the + on your mother's or father's card, choose Add a child, and pick the other parent when it asks, so the child sits under both.
Add your aunts and uncles the same way, as children of your grandparents. Use Add a partner on each to add the person they married.
Add your cousins as children of each aunt or uncle and their partner.

You can also type a change into the search box (Ctrl+K, or ⌘+K on a Mac) in plain words, such as "add Paul as Mary's brother, born 1952". A sibling needs a parent in the tree first, since siblings share their parents. Building your tree has the details.

If the family is already in Ancestry, MyHeritage, Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic or another program, import a GEDCOM instead of typing it in. A file usually brings the aunts, uncles and cousins its owner recorded.

Draw one set of cousins

A big tree can hold several branches of cousins at once. To draw just the cousins on one side, show one grandparent's descendants:

Open Filter on the rail. Under Focus on a person, choose the grandparent.
Choose Descendants, then 2 generations. The tree redraws with the grandparents at the top, their children (your parent, aunts and uncles) and the people they married below, and the grandchildren (you, your brothers and sisters, and your first cousins) under them.
Choose 3 generations to add your cousins' children, or All generations for everyone descended from that couple.

To come back to the whole tree, use Reset filters in the same panel. A focus you use often can be kept with Save current filter.

Once you add the parents of the people who married in, the tree draws their side of the family too. To keep it to your own family's line, turn off Show in-law ancestors under People shown in Filter. The partners and their children stay; their parents and their other relatives leave the drawing.

Right-click a card (or long-press it on a phone) and choose Relationship to… (under More if you can edit the tree), then pick the other person. Draw My Tree names the relationship, such as "2nd cousin once removed", names the ancestors the two share, and can draw the line between them on the tree. How are we related? explains it.

Print it

A tree with every aunt, uncle and cousin is wider than a pedigree, so it needs a bigger page or fewer generations. Make a print, from the tree's ⋮ menu or A print in the Export panel, asks who the print should show and which chart. Printing at paper or poster size comes with a one-time Keepsake for the tree or the Family Plan, and then it also asks the size and says when the names would print too small to read. Print your family tree covers the sizes and formats.

Frequently asked questions

Can a pedigree chart show siblings? No. A pedigree has one box for each ancestor and nothing else. Choose Family tree in Draw My Tree to draw the whole family, or use a family group sheet for one couple's children.

How do I show half-brothers and half-sisters? Add the child to the parent they share, and choose A different (new) partner or the other partner when it asks who the other parent is. Each family's children are drawn under their own couple.

What about step-parents and adopted children? A person has at most two parents in the app. To add a step-parent, use Add a partner on their parent; Draw My Tree then names them a stepfather or stepmother. For an adoptive or foster parent, set the link's type beside their name under Family. Multi-parent families explains how they are drawn.