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How Many Ancestors Do You Have?

Have you ever wondered how many direct ancetors you have? Well, let’s see. You have one mother and one father, they each have a mother and a father, and your grandparents each have one mother and one father. That brings our total ancestors to 14 (2+4+8=14). Well, that is not very many, or is it? With each generation, the number of ancestors you have will double and by the time you go back 10 or even 16 generations, this number becomes rather large. Keep in mind, these numbers reflect only direct line ancestors. Once you add in the siblings in each generation, the number of possible relatives becomes astronomical.

What is a direct ancestor? Also known as progenitor, a direct ancestor is an originator of an individuals direct line of descent. For example, your parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc., are your direct ancestors. Your aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., are not in your direct line of descent, therefore, they are not your direct ancestors.

Each generation on the chart below is based on a 30-year average between generations to show the number of ancestors you may have going back to the year 1500.

Generation

Ancestors per Generation

Total Ancestors

Year

0

You

1

0

1980

1

Parents

2

2

1950

2

Grandparents

4

6

1920

3

Great Grandparents

8

14

1890

4

2nd Great Grandparents

16

30

1860

5

3rd Great Grandparents

32

62

1830

6

4th Great Grandparents

64

126

1800

7

5th Great Grandparents

128

254

1770

8

6th Great Grandparents

256

510

1740

9

7th Great Grandparents

512

1,022

1710

10

8th Great Grandparents

1,024

2,046

1680

11

9th Great Grandparents

2,048

4,094

1650

12

10th Great Grandparents

4,096

8,190

1620

13

11th Great Grandparents

8,192

16,382

1590

14

12th Great Grandparents

16,384

32,766

1560

15

13th Great Grandparents

32,768

65,534

1530

16

14th Great Grandparents

65,536

131,070

1500


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June 10th, 2007 | Begin Your Family Tree
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