Family Trees

I treasure my hand-me-downs from both of my grandmothers. They have both led incredible lives and I love knowing the stories behind the things they give me almost as I love the things themselves. One of my most prized possessions is a family tree that was handwritten by my great, great grandfather, General William J. Snow. When my great grandfather, Colonel William A. Snow was killed far too young, his father worked on this to help console his grief. I've never seen the equal. The picture does not do it justice. And I cannot begin to imagine how he would go about researching something like this before the days of the computer and online programs like ancestry.com.

Every name is handwritten in black and every date is written in red. The entire tree was drawn by hand by my great, great grandfather in pencil and then traced over in pen. The genealogy is traced by to year 694 (no, I'm not missing a one in front of that number)!

It is HUGE. It takes up the entire wall at the bottom of my stairs.

Displayed on the wall up the staircase I also have old family photos, mostly black and whites, of family that were passed down to me from my grandmother. I love that none of the frames are too matchy-matchy since a lot of them were antiques or ones I picked up from thrift stores. It was hard to get a good angle to take the photo but you get the idea.

My grandmother in the Red Cross in WWII:

These two chicks are so old that my grandmother doesn't even know who they are but something is scribbled on the back. They were passed down to her from her grandmother so despite not knowing exactly who they are or how they are related to me, I keep 'em in the collection.

Because I am fortunate to have such an original and intricate family tree from my great, great grandfather, it got me thinking about other interesting ways to display a family tree.

Check out these modern ones from My Tree & Me:



This one from HookedonHouses isn't exactly a family tree but a neat idea for displaying photos and other memorabilia:

And of course Etsy had a slew of really creative ideas that the artists customize for you:

Happy House Pink by PixelandPost on Etsy

Personalized Silhouette Family Tree from LePapierStudio on Etsy

Birds in a Tree Custom Print from EllenCrimiTrent on Etsy

Realistic, Rustic Tree from PelicanPieces on Etsy

Custom Painting of Family Tree from Recaldej on Etsy. Wouldn't this be a cute wedding gift with those Love Birds at the bottom?

Family Tree for a Child's Room from Kindly Noted on Etsy

Custom Photo Family Tree from WestWillow on Etsy