Topic: Family History

[Judith]

While researching my family history, wonder what the ancestors would have thought if they knew I was looking into their lives!!!!!!

[Turner]

The current means for doing family research are indeed quite unprecedented. Archives and not at least genealogy websites are becoming really comprehensive - no need for long travels and a lot of spent library time like before, at least as regards a lot of the basic info.

Will most of the western countries' recent population be mapped via the users' contribution to say MyHeritage? It seems likely. But, after all, it's generally rare that hidden, embarrassing material will emerge - that's my impression, at least ... Of course, if there are firm religious or political dogmas in a family, this could be the case ... But then, people inclined to such dogmas are also less likely to be interested in researching those details.

[Biffo]

While researching my family history, wonder what the ancestors would have thought if they knew I was looking into their lives!!!!!!

Unless they are aristocratic I think they would be surprised you are bothering. They might be alarmed that something that wasn't talked about in the family was being dredged up. My parents rarely talked about their immediate ancestors and then it was pretty vague or half-remembered.  When I researched my family it was pretty ordinary. Some of the fanciful stories about one branch of the family turned out to be total fantasy.

[Hollywood]

Delving into the family history for me has been quite a journey indeed. I love geneology and have made some interesting discoveries.

I started out a couple of years ago wanting to know when my maternal grandmother's family (the Hunt side) first arrived in America from England. His name was Jonathan Hunt and he came to America and settled in what is now Northampton, Massachusettes, in 1660. I then discovered through him my 10 times great grandfather was Sir Oliver Cromwell (not the famous Lord Protector of England (my 1st cousin, 11 times removed) but his uncle). Sir Oliver then became my key ancestor who opened the door to my long list of royal ancestors which includes many kings of England, Scotland, France and Spain. They include Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, Henry II of England, Duncan I of Scotland and King Louis IX of France. I love telling people that "I may be descended from royalty, but unfortunately did not inherit any of the land, money or titles."

I am currently watching the BBC TV series "Wolf Hall" which involves two of my relatives, King Henry VIII (my 2nd cousin, 15 times removed) and Thomas Cromwell (my 13 times great grand uncle). I love watching films and documentaries about my ancestors which help me to learn more about their lives and the times they lived in.

[Turner]

Delving into the family history for me has been quite a journey indeed. I love geneology and have made some interesting discoveries.

I started out a couple of years ago wanting to know when my maternal grandmother's family (the Hunt side) first arrived in America from England. His name was Jonathan Hunt and he came to America and settled in what is now Northampton, Massachusettes, in 1660. I then discovered through him my 10 times great grandfather was Sir Oliver Cromwell (not the famous Lord Protector of England (my 1st cousin, 11 times removed) but his uncle). Sir Oliver then became my key ancestor who opened the door to my long list of royal ancestors which includes many kings of England, Scotland, France and Spain. They include Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, Henry II of England, Duncan I of Scotland and King Louis IX of France. I love telling people that "I may be descended from royalty, but unfortunately did not inherit any of the land, money or titles."

I am currently watching the BBC TV series "Wolf Hall" which involves two of my relatives, King Henry VIII (my 2nd cousin, 15 times removed) and Thomas Cromwell (my 13 times great grand uncle). I love watching films and documentaries about my ancestors which help me to learn more about their lives and the times they lived in.

Pretty cool   

[vandermolen]

Delving into the family history for me has been quite a journey indeed. I love geneology and have made some interesting discoveries.

I started out a couple of years ago wanting to know when my maternal grandmother's family (the Hunt side) first arrived in America from England. His name was Jonathan Hunt and he came to America and settled in what is now Northampton, Massachusettes, in 1660. I then discovered through him my 10 times great grandfather was Sir Oliver Cromwell (not the famous Lord Protector of England (my 1st cousin, 11 times removed) but his uncle). Sir Oliver then became my key ancestor who opened the door to my long list of royal ancestors which includes many kings of England, Scotland, France and Spain. They include Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, Henry II of England, Duncan I of Scotland and King Louis IX of France. I love telling people that "I may be descended from royalty, but unfortunately did not inherit any of the land, money or titles."

I am currently watching the BBC TV series "Wolf Hall" which involves two of my relatives, King Henry VIII (my 2nd cousin, 15 times removed) and Thomas Cromwell (my 13 times great grand uncle). I love watching films and documentaries about my ancestors which help me to learn more about their lives and the times they lived in.

Have you been invited to the forthcoming Anglo/American Royal Wedding? It sounds to me like you should be on the guest list.
 

I've thought of getting my DNA examined to trace my ethnic origins.

[Hollywood]

Have you been invited to the forthcoming Anglo/American Royal Wedding? It sounds to me like you should be on the guest list.
 

Looks like my invite may have been lost in the post.   

Prince William and Harry are my 10th cousins, once removed (Princess Diana was my 10th cousin).

[bwv 1080]

All Europeans are related to Charlemagne and William the Conqueror (and their stable-boys)


https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/all-europeans-are-related-if-you-go-back-just-1-f6C9826523

"Anyone alive 1,000 years ago who left any descendants will be an ancestor of every European," the researchers say in an FAQ file about their study. "While the world population is larger than the European population, the rate of growth of number of ancestors quickly dwarfs this difference, and so every human is likely related genealogically to every other human over only a slightly longer time period."

Those conclusions are based on a survey of genetic sequences from more than 2,000 individuals spread from Ireland to Turkey. Ralph and Coop used computer software to search for telltale strings of DNA coding that are common to wide segments of the European population. The length of such strings can be used as a statistical yardstick to determine relatedness: Longer strings suggest that a common ancestor lived more recently.

The researchers were surprised to find that even individuals living as far apart as Britain and Turkey shared a chunk of genetic material 20 percent of the time. To explain that degree of genetic commonality, the researchers say those pairs of individuals would have to have a huge number of common genealogical ancestors 1,000 years ago — a number that takes in everyone who was alive in Europe back then.

Coop stressed that common genealogical ancestors are distinct from common genetic ancestors. "If you go more than eight generations back, you've got so many ancestors back there, it's unlikely that all of them have contributed genetic material to you," he explained.

[Baron Scarpia]

All Europeans are related to Charlemagne and William the Conqueror (and their stable-boys)


https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/all-europeans-are-related-if-you-go-back-just-1-f6C9826523

Interesting that someone has done DNA analysis to confirm this. You can conclude this music be the case using some very basic assumptions.

Suppose ancestor A lived 1000 years ago. Assume that ancestor A had 3 offspring. So after 1 generation there are 3 descendants. Then each of those descendants has 3 offspring. So after 2 generations, ancestor A has 3x3=9 descendants. Then each of those 9 descendants has 3 offspring. In the third generation ancestor A has 3x3x3=27 descendants. In the Nth generation there are 3 to the power N descendants.

In 1000 years, assuming 3 generations per century, there are 30 generations. 3 raised to the 30th power is 205,891,132,094,649. That's about 200 trillion, more people than there are on Earth.

That's an over-estimate, because when we assume that each generation produces 3 times as many new descendants, that assumes that only one of the parents is a descendant of ancestor A. If both parents are descendants of ancestor A, then you don't have one descendant producing thee descendants, you have 2 descendants producing 3 descendants, the 3:1 becomes a 3:2 ratio. Eventually, when ancestor A's DNA has fully mixed with the population the process will saturate.

So yes, we would expect everyone in Europe to be related to Charlemagne.

[bwv 1080]

or the other way - 3 generations per century, 1000 years is 30 generations and then you have 2^30 or about a billion 30x grandparents

mating between cousins of course reduces this number as the world did not have a billion people a thousand years ago

[BasilValentine]

My great uncle Othmar did most of the research for my clan ages ago. Found out I was a son of the American Revolution — if one counts Hessian mercenaries.

[bwv 1080]

My great uncle Othmar did most of the research for my clan ages ago. Found out I was a son of the American Revolution — if one counts Hessian mercenaries.

well my Tory ancestor skedaddled to Canada then came back a few decades later

[bwv 1080]

Just going back 500 years, are about 35 million living Mayflower descendants (including me) in the US:

https://familyhistorydaily.com/genealogy-help-and-how-to/are-you-one-of-35-million-mayflower-descendants-heres-how-to-find-out/

[Baron Scarpia]

Thanks to the Ellis Island web site, I could even see a photo of the boat that took my ancestors to the New World. (Not the Mayflower.) Never tried to trace it back farther than that.