My father's genealogy can be traced continuously to the mid 1500s in South Devon. I have an isolated record in an adjoining parish from the mid 1400s.
What I did not realise is if you go back 22 generations our ancestors number more than the entire population of the entire British Isles!
This means we are probably related to everyone alive today if we go back far enough. So, we are probably all related to the English royal family. Some of our ancestors may have moved here from abroad and almost certainly some of our distant ancestors married people who were distantly related.
This is quite humbling.
Last I heard, Charlemagne's descendants are estimated to number some 222 million people.
ReplyDeleteI suspect I share my 14th great grandfather, James IV of Scotland, with more than a few others. My grandmother would have been so pleased with that connection. I'm slightly amused.