The Pocket Tree^_©™Story

Or...The Quick, Light, Simple, & Complete 9+ Generation Ancestry Chart!

 In preparing for a multi-day research trip to a genealogy library, I was remembering from a previous experience what had gone wrong the first time:  I needed to be organized differently so frustration didn't occur.  I needed my complete family tree in an instant to refer back to--continuously.  I knew that carrying my genealogy chart was vital so I could switch gears in another lineage direction, without having to go back to a table where I had parked all my notebooks.  Bottom line: It had to be functional, handy, and easy.  So I decided to buy a tool just like that.

Except I couldn't find anything like it anywhere.  

So, I made my own.  It was SIX 8-1/2 x 11 sheets of paper taped together.  

During my trip, this huge chart worked!  For researching, I was very mobile, always having all my family names, dates, and locations with me--whether I was on the floor in a file drawer, in the book section, or the microtext room.  I had a great reference tool!   The down side: It was huge and crumpled after just 3 days.

From that research trip experience, I went to work with a talented, flexible, open-minded publisher, and a graphic design artist.  What we developed together became the Pocket Tree^©™.