Pedigree Charts

One of the fundamental tools of a genealogist is the trusty pedigree chart. As many do, I have never really given it much thought as a place to do more than collect names and dates for ancestors. A few weeks ago, I saw a post on twitter suggesting that you create a pedigree chart based solely on the birth location information of your ancestors. I did my pedigree chart all the way back to 7 generations mostly because I had so little diversity in my 5 and 6 generation charts. As one twitter follower said "I think you are from Pennsylvania" and I think he is mostly right! Of course, they further back you get the more diversity starts to creep in...but the further back you get, the harder it is to read on the chart.

Based on a suggestion by a facebook group I am a member of this week, I filled out my pedigree chart based on the ages at which my ancestors died. I added a couple where I have approximate ages at death and two that are still living so they will be greater than their current age at death. This really got my mind thinking about all the different ways a pedigree chart could be analyzed.

So I created a pie chart to look at the percentage of my ancestors (to 6 generations) that died during each age group. The results are very fascinating, with my largest group being in their 60s, followed by 70s, and then 80s. Exactly 50% of my ancestors died at age 70 or over.

I have to be honest, this surprised me a bit. If you look at my grandparents generation, they are all age 70 or over with three of them being what I would characterize as pretty darn old (heck, two are still living at 90 or older). Here I was, thinking I had these great, long living genes. What the analysis of my pedigree chart shows is that the longevity is really in my more recent generations.

My next step will be to fill out my chart with as many cause of deaths as I can find for my 6 generation chart to analyze any patterns that might arise. I am especially interested in the very early deaths (28, 32, etc). After that, who knows? I am excited to literally sit around and dream up new charts to explore to see what different perspectives I might find in my own tree.