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swami78 t1_j1xsoic wrote

Reply to comment by WilliamMorris420 in What is the ‘widest’ ancestral generation? by vesuvisian

Many years ago I was contacted by a German researcher who told me I am a descendant of 40 odd skeletons found in the Lichenstein Hole (a family tomb in a sealed cave) dating from 2500 years ago. They found another descendant less than 5kms from that cave. They were thought to have been Visigoths or Frisians.

I have read that some 60% of English people can find Edward the Confessor in their lineage - and even slightly more French can find Charlemagne in theirs. We're all related anyway - Mitochondrial Eve.

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WilliamMorris420 t1_j1xuwpj wrote

What you find is that as you go back, that you have so many great, great, great.... grandparents. So Edward was born 1020 years ago, which is roughly 40 generations. In that time you "should" have had 1 trillion ancestors. Which is about 10 times more people who have ever lived. Because the same people keep turning up on different branches of your family tree. Especially when you get to about the tenth generation.

Essentially we have so many ancestors that as long you have children and they have children. Your line will continue indefinetly and you'll have millions of descendants.

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sagramore t1_j1yjfdh wrote

Isn't what you've described here exactly what OP's original question states and asks about?

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swami78 t1_j21f2bs wrote

I was hoping someone would do the math! Thanks.

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