Will We Ever Be Totally Done???

I received an email from a friend who is also researching her family tree.  She proudly proclaimed…”I am done!  I have finished with all of my research!”  And even though I congratulated her whole-heartedly, I can’t image ever being done researching my family.    In fact, I can’t image ANYONE being done researching their family unless they decide to call it quits and box up their information.

Why, you ask?  Excellent question!  If you think about it, for every one person you find to add to your tree, there are two more waiting to be found.  Take you, for an example.  You have two parents.  Your two parents each have two parents, your grandparents.  Your four grandparents each have two parents, your great grandparents.  So on and so on.  Each generation doubles the number of ancestors from the previous generation.  Olive Tree Genealogy (www.olivetreegenealogy.com) did an excellent article on “How Many Ancestors Do We Have????”  In the article, Lorine McGinnis Schulze states, 

“If we double the number of ancestors in each generation, 2 parents, 4 grandparents, and so on, we can see that by the time we are back 10 generations, we have the potential for 1024 ancestors.”

SELF

                           2 PARENTS

                        4 GRANDPARENTS

                     8 GREAT-GRANDPARENTS

                  16 GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS

               32 GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS

            64 GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS

         128 GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS

      256 GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENT

   512 GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS

1024 GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS

 (http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/misc/ancestors.shtml)

Now, keep in mind that 1024 is the number of direct line ancestors.  We aren’t including the aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.  That figure is simply mind-boggling and the thought of ‘being done’ with family research is unimaginable.

So, if we have so many direct line ancestors, why are they so hard to find???  There are many reasons of course, beginning with records being hard or impossible to locate.  But also consider this…it was not unheard of in olden times to marry your cousin.  I know, I know – today there is a stigma to marrying within the family – there are even laws against it.  But it still happens in some of the more rural parts of the U.S. and certainly happened in days gone past worldwide.  Villages were small, travel was difficult (either by foot or by horse or cart).  People didn’t journey a whole lot from town to town, so the eligible bachelors in your local burg, be they kin or not, were pretty much what the girls had to choose from.

This can make finding your ancestors a little confusing, when you realize the daughter of Uncle William is actually married to the son of his brother Fred, who happens to be your 4xgreat grandfather.   In other words, don’t automatically consider that you have made a mistake if you find something similar.  Realize there was a lot of intermarrying within families.  It was a tool for survival for both the family line – keeping it alive – and the town or village they lived in.  A small town will surely die if there is not new blood to farm, or work in the factories or in the shops.  

So how widespread was this?  Going back to the article from Olive Tree Genealogy,  

• “One very interesting probability model created by a demographer for genealogists, is that a child born in 1947 in England tracing back to 1492 would have 60,000 ancestors. Going back further to 1215, this child would find that 80% of the entire population of England at that time would be on his/her family tree!”

The moral of this blog is two-fold:  to realize that you should never consider your tree as complete, and that as long as you wish to, you should keep plugging along – finding those who helped make you who you are – even if they fit in several slots in your family tree.  Also, be prepared for surprises along the way.  Times have changed and so have the ways things are looked at.  As for your inevitable brick walls...records are being release every day for research.  If you looked for someone in your line years, or even months ago and didn't find them, be sure to check again.  You never know when they'll pop up.

If you are never going to finish with your research, what is the purpose of even starting?  It's kind of like 'The Song That Never Ends'.  I research for the thrill of the hunt.  I get giddy when I find a new fact about my kin and kith.  To see where they lived (and yes my files are full of maps and photos of places throughout the world), what they did as a living, who their neighbors were, who witnessed their baptisms or their marriages is exciting.  These are the people whose blood is running through my veins, who helped me be the strong, bull-headed, stubborn person I am today (much to everyone else's dismay).  Everyone has their own reason for researching their tree, you need to decide if you have a reason strong enough to begin this perpetual journey into history (and herstory).

Hmmm… 808 family members down (not all direct lineage), how many more to go??? Only the future will tell.