Genealogy Chat

Good point Kate! I included all the ones with a full name on my count, but I agree, many people I know next to nothing about and so they don't feel like real ancestors! I have two lines that go a really long way back....one lot I have enough flesh on the bones to make them obese! The other lot are all called the same name, lived in the same place and apart from the one wife Parthena Barefoot, I can't remember who any of them are! Merry

Okay, then, I make it 91 whose full names I know, and a few more where I know their first name but not maiden name. I would have more if I could get anywhere with the German / American ones, but my father and his wife have a load of old German documents at their house under a pile of stuff, and I'm not going to pay to get copies of certificates from Germany when I know they have them there! So if they ever dig them out from under the pile and let me have copies, the number should go up. But I don't really feel that I have 'identified' some of those whose full names I have if I don't have much other information about them, to be honest. (For example, Esther Williams's father is William Williams, a carpenter, on her marriage certificate, but that is all I know about him - have I identified him, or not?) Kate.

Kate, On my tree program you can do something called a collapsed ancestors chart. Then I counted the collapsed people! Merry

LOL Heather......some people's trees are just more difficult than others! Hubby's grandfather was born in Ireland in 1895.....but actually he was beamed down by aliens form Mars! - No birth cert, no record at the school he said he went to.......no father's name on his marriage cert, though we know he had a dad. Dad was the reason he left Ireland - they hated one anothers guts! Ah well, happy hunting! Merry (just wait until the evening crowd....I bet Olde Crone has 1000 ancestors on her direct line!)

Husband has 80. I've got 91. I OUGHT to have 92, but my great-grandmother was illegitimate. No father named on birth cert or in baptism record and the bastardy records for her parish haven't survived. So I have an unknown gt gt grandfather. nell

Is there any easy way of counting them? If not, I will be back in a long while... (that doesn't necessarily mean there are a lot, it's just how do I pick them out?) Kate.

I keep my most up-to-date info on Excel. That also means it may not be fully-researched by me, personally, so there must be acknowledgements to my uncles and cousins, and to GR folks who've helped out - plus Milo WADLIN whose brilliant site on the WAD(D)LETON/WED(D)LETON/WADLIN(G) name gave me a chunk of my husband's tree (like I said -I have still to do my own work on some!). If I've got the right formulae working properly on Excel, then I have: 291 complete names OR 335, including partial names (first or surname) There are about 14 names (some of which are complete names) in there which I regard as very speculative - plausible but definitely not backed up by any paperwork yet... sort of work-in-progress names, a likely starting point, and 4 which arise from illegitimate parentage, and may be no more than pipedream (again a atarting point for research). The earliest names I have are Gx12-g-parents to our sons - again, that's down to others' research (uncles', mainly, plus IGI PR transcriptions), which I shall back up for myself in time. Even allowing my home to fall into catastrophic untidiness, I haven't had the time, in the couple of years I've been going, to do all that work for myself, but I have found out some interesting things, plus names, which others in the family had not found, so I feel quite pleased with those. Christine

It Isn't fair! I'm generationally deprived, lol. I come from a long line of youngest children and second marriages and my husband has an extra generation going back to 1800. 76 for my husband and 62 for me. Heather

Ooh, Ian, is that cheating??!!!! lol If I said for my children, then they have 161 LOL.... My hubby's tree has been difficult as he is ½ Spanish, ¼ Irish and on the English ¼ he has lots of cousin marriages and a illegitimate great-grandfather!! Merry

I'm a mere novice then...only 65!! Must try harder!!! Incidentally, is there a way of counting them on FTM? I've just done it manually (if you see what I mean!) Chris

My children have a total of 157 known direct line ancesters going back 10 generations in several lines...

Glad you mentioned the cousins thing, Anne - I have not found any on my tree yet, but hubby's tree is thick with them! Merry

I have 120 including me. The least in a line I have only goes back to great great grandparents. The best is to 9x great grandparents, although to be fair I haven't done all the work on that line!! It is a rare name which has been researched over many years. I can never have a 'full compliment' of ancestors because one set of my great grandparents were cousins so that line is duplicated. Anne

Oops, I can't count!! Including me I have 115. come on everyone! Merry

If I do an ancestor tree of my children - then they have 158 direct ancestors shown. - 44 on my side of the tree and 114 on my husband´s side of the tree

Hi Merry With me i counted 81 well done Julie

Following on from the ''how large is your tree?'' thread, I wondered what is the most number of direct line ancestors people have traced? ie I have two parents, four grandparents, eight g-grandparents, 16 gg-gpts, only 25 of the possible 32 ggg-gpts and another 44 direct people on earlier generations. That's a total of 99 people. If I add in myself, that's a convenient 100 people! - I'm sure many of you will have more than me.......so lets hear them! Happy Hunting - Merry x