tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post3791439479649978645..comments2024-03-07T23:20:49.790-07:00Comments on Genealogy's Star: Missing Ancestors or the Ancestor ParadoxJames Tannerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989059644120454647noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-54048184325591145082011-03-29T07:45:51.821-07:002011-03-29T07:45:51.821-07:00This is a great post and great comments.
Lemone...This is a great post and great comments. <br /><br />Lemonegg, I am a Dion and have found the French Canadian research to be some of the most challenging and thrilling of all my lines. My grandfather's family were Dion/Guyon and, you are correct, we are all related to Celine Dion. i have always told people she is a cousin since all French Canadians came from such a limited set of original ancestors.Michaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-83345834249492600302011-03-26T19:15:42.973-07:002011-03-26T19:15:42.973-07:00I find the Ancestor Paradox interesting & have...I find the Ancestor Paradox interesting & have heard about it before. I do not have to go too far back in my tree to find that it is true. My 4th great grandparents, Jeremiah Smith (1773 - 1843) & Joanna Dillon (1778 - 1821) are on my tree twice. They are my double 4th great grandparents. Two of their children married into the family branches. Therefore the number of my ancestors is not as high as it should be from that generation and going back from them.<br /><br />I'm sure if we could trace back dozens of generations it would be more & more commonplace. People did not move locations. They paired up with people who were close at hand.<br /><br />I enjoyed your post. ColleenColleen G. Brown Pasqualehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16402783115333431440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-50149277178711323702011-03-26T17:40:58.039-07:002011-03-26T17:40:58.039-07:00Anyone who has done French Canadian genealogy unde...Anyone who has done French Canadian genealogy understands what is happening. There are fewers than two thousand couples, who sired 7 million French Canadians. <br />My wife's mother's ancestors are a case in point. I have traced her grandparents completely through the fourth great grandparents. I have traced about half the lines some generations further, and have traced 50 lines back to the first immigrant. (This is not bragging. The quality of information in French parish registers is incredible, and they're almost all on Ancestry.)<br />Of the first immigrants, only one came in the 18th century (and he was banished from France.) All the rest arrived in the 17th Century. 7 million French Canadians descend from 3500 original immigrants. <br />What happens is that all the lines start to share ancestors. It's not a question of cousins. The first overlapping line is at the third great grand parents. Most of the immigrants were ten to twelve generations removed from my mother in law. There are 2048 ninth great grandparents. The probability is that some ancestors will repeat. <br />And they're all some kind of cousin to Celine Dion. My wife is connected to the Guyon/Dion on both her mother's and father's side.Lemoneggnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-35990637992563385492011-03-26T15:19:57.854-07:002011-03-26T15:19:57.854-07:00The first fallacy is quite simple - by the time yo...The first fallacy is quite simple - by the time you have gone back 20 generations you will discover that not all 1,04,576 ancestors were simultaneously alive. This could only be the case if each new generation was born precisely after the same number of years as all of its predecessors. Hence to talk of there being 'too many' ancestors after a certain number of generations is simply incorrect.<br />Secondly, allowing for all cousin relationships to be recorded (imagine how difficult that would be to accurately ascertain!) would still leave us with 1,048,576 spaces in our tree but many individuals would appear multiple times, and not always at the same 'level' due to the factor alluded to above.<br />Combining these two effects will significantly reduce the number of discrete individuals from whom one is descended AND who were alive at any given point in time and so the ancestor paradox simply disappears...<br />PS - I am writing this in 'real time' so it's quite probably wrong!<br />Peterdirecleithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com