Whakapapa
Pedigree Charts
This is the most ancient part of my ancestry that I can find. It follows the male lineage from somewhere between 1150-1200AD through to 1832. There it moves mentions a female - Te Rangahau - My last fully Maori Ancestor - and her marriage to John Henry Leaf from Plymouth England. This is part of my whakapapa or ancestry.
Whakapapa, Hereditary, Inheritance, Genealogy, Ancestry, Family Trees
All these words have the same idea, it is the link to your family links over time. Its the path that leads to you. All the peoples whos lives and personal choices eventually resulted in your existance
This is your personal heritage.
Pedigree Charts
Along with looking into family trees. You can find that certain traits are inherited. My Family all have similar ears. We call it 'Cowley ears'. Because it is from my Dads side of the Family. However, it is really Hurley Ears as my Grandma Molly has those Ears and so do those on her side of the family.
These are thus dominant traits, and they are inherited. They are Biological Heirlooms.
If we try to follow traits through families the charts can become very messy
So to simplify things, we use symbols
A Square is a Male, and a Circle is a Female
A Shaded in means that they have the trait
No Shading means they don't
A half shade means they are carriers
In the example below the colour red is used as 'shaded'
You can tell that the trait that is being researched is probably recessive. You know this because recessive alleles need to be double recessive to show up and this is a rare.
In the example below, you can see the relationship between alleles and traits
Pedigree Charts with Amoeba Sisters
Amoeba Sisters explain everything you need to know about Pedigree charts. Have a watch