Focusing Research through an Ancestor Count

Genealogy blogs offer a way to learn from other genealogists, provide a method to share finds with the family and hopefully find a cousin or two.  Linda Stufflebean’s blog, Empty Branches on the Family Tree with its Friday Finds (https://emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com/2019/01/fridays-family-history-finds-84/) offers all the above and with the new year her post, Ancestor Count for 2019 (https://emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com/2019/01/ancestor-count-for-2019/) inspired me to do a similar analysis.  

If total numbers are the only goal, this table could be depressing. However, as I was generating and reviewing the kinship list it offered another opportunity to take notes relative to saying whether an ancestor was “identified” and gave me an opportunity to look at research I would like to do in the coming year.

Generation	Relationship	# in Generation	# Identified	% Identified
1	Self	1	1	100
2	Parents	2	2	100
3	Grandparents	4	4	100
4	Great Grandparents	8	8	100
5	2x Great Grandparents	16	16	100
6	3x Great Grandparents	32	26	81.3
7	4x Great Grandparents	64	26	40.6
8	5x Great Grandparents	128	16	12.5
9	6x Great Grandparents	256	15	5.86
10	7x Great Grandparents	512	10	1.95
11	8x Great Grandparents	1024	11	1.07
12	9x Great Grandparents	2048	9	0.44
13	10x Great Grandparents	4096	5	0.12
14	11x Great Grandparents	8192	8	0.098
15	12x Great Grandparents	16384	5	0.031
16	13x Great Grandparents	32768	3	0.0092
17	14x Great Grandparents	65536	3	0.0046
18	15x Great Grandparents	131072	3	0.0023
19	16x Great Grandparents	262144	2	0.0008
20	17x Great Grandparents	524288	2	0.0004
21	18x Great Grandparents	1048576	2	0.0002
22	19x Great Grandparents	2097152	2	0.0001
Totals		4194303	179	0.0043

An example, was including the parents for Sarah Mack (maybe it’s Entz) based on the evidence I have gathered and my initial analysis (https://thetimesoftheirlives.blogspot.com/2017/09/finding-sarahs-name-wild-card-clues_3.html).  Including them provided an opportunity to identify what research might be needed to further prove or disprove the initial analysis.

Of course including the 12x great and beyond, was fun only in that it shows potential, but recognizing the limitations of sources for example relying on only the Annals of the Four Kingdoms of Ireland might be a stretch, but including a potential chieftain in the clan gets some family interested in genealogy.   

This exercise also shows potential challenges or opportunities to develop skills beyond European ancestors.  Compiling the little known family from my wife’s ancestors, showed that I have a lot to learn on Chinese genealogy, and I will no longer complain about trying to read Italian documents. 

Generation	Relationship	# in Generation	# Identified	% Identified
1	Self	1	1	100
2	Parents	2	2	100
3	Grandparents	4	4	100
4	Great Grandparents	8	5	62.5
5	2x Great Grandparents	16	0	0
6	3x Great Grandparents	32	0	0
Totals		63	12	19.05

Looking back on the prior years' research was a good start to begin to lay out several research plans to identify the next generation or continue to compile data on the prior years finds.  Thank you to Linda for the inspiring me to do an ancestor count.