Do you know how many ancestors you have? Of course not. Let’s simplify the question: How many ancestors do you have in the past one thousand years? Many people do not know the answer to that question. Care to guess? (The answer is given below but please don’t peek just yet.)

The number of ancestors is simple to calculate as it is a simple mathematical progression: every person has two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, sixteen great-great-grandparents and so on. The number doubles with each generation. As you go back in years, the numbers soon become very large.

For this example, I have assumed that a new generation appears on an average of every twenty-five years:

Number of Ancestors

Generation Number	# of Years Before Your Birth	Number of ancestors in that generation	Total ancestors (this generation plus all later generations)
1	-25	2	2
2	-50	4	6
3	-75	8	14
4	-100	16	30
5	-125	32	62
6	-150	64	126
7	-175	128	254
8	-200	256	510
9	-225	512	1,022
10	-250	1,024	2,046
11	-275	2,048	4,094
12	-300	4,096	8,190
13	-325	8,192	16,382
14	-350	16,384	32,766
15	-375	32,768	65,534
16	-400	65,536	131,070
17	-425	131,072	262,142
18	-450	262,144	524,286
19	-475	524,288	1,048,574
20	-500	1,048,576	2,097,150
21	-525	2,097,152	4,194,302
22	-550	4,194,304	8,388,606
23	-575	8,388,608	16,777,214
24	-600	16,777,216	33,554,430
25	-625	33,554,432	67,108,862
26	-650	67,108,864	134,217,726
27	-675	134,217,728	268,435,454
28	-700	268,435,456	536,870,910
29	-725	536,870,912	1,073,741,822
30	-750	1,073,741,824	2,147,483,646
31	-775	2,147,483,648	4,294,967,294
32	-800	4,294,967,296	8,589,934,590
33	-825	8,589,934,592	17,179,869,182
34	-850	17,179,869,184	34,359,738,366
35	-875	34,359,738,368	68,719,476,734
36	-900	68,719,476,736	137,438,953,470
37	-925	137,438,953,472	274,877,906,942
38	-950	274,877,906,944	549,755,813,886
39	-975	549,755,813,888	1,099,511,627,774
40	-1000	1,099,511,627,776	2,199,023,255,550

Answer to the earlier question: If we assume that there is a new generation every twenty-five years, an ancestor born 1,000 years before you would be 40 generations removed from you. You would have 2,199,023,255,550 (that’s 2 trillion, 199 billion, 23 million, 255 thousand, 550) unique ancestors born in the previous 40 generations, assuming no overlap (that is, none of your ancestors were cousins to other ancestors).

1,000 years doesn’t even take you back to the years in which Charlemagne lived! (April 2, 742 AD to January 28, 814 AD)

Now, how many ancestors have you had in the past 10,000 years? 100,000 years? I’ll leave it to you to figure out the mathematics involved. However, the answers obviously are huge numbers!

There is but one problem: all of these numbers are far more than the total number of people who ever lived on the face of the earth.

The reality is that all families can find lots of cousins somewhere in the limbs of the family tree, resulting in the same ancestor(s) showing up in multiple places in the pedigree charts. Ask anyone who has done French-Canadian genealogy or has researched any families that lived for generations in one small village almost anyplace on earth.

Obviously, you and everyone else have cousin marriages in your ancestry, resulting in individual ancestors showing up in multiple places in your family tree.

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

Immerse yourself in family history research this weekend with thousands of new records to explore. Here's a rundown of what's new on Findmypast.

British Army Embarkation Lists, 1871-1889

This detailed collection documents British Army soldiers who were drafted to India in the late 19th century.

There are over 100,000 transcripts in this collection taken from original embarkation returns held in the British Library’s India Office Collection. They can reveal your army ancestors' names, ages, service numbers, ranks, regiments, the date they left for India and the ship they travelled on.

St Kitts & Nevis Baptisms 1716-1881

Delve into thousands of new baptism records from the Caribbean islands of St Kitts & Nevis.

An old map of St Kitts (St Christopher) & Nevis, circa. 1775.

Spanning from 1716-1881, the records reveal essential family tree information including names, parents’ names and addresses.

Newspapers

It’s a bumper week of releases with 13 new papers and updates to six others. Brand new additions include:

• • Aberystwyth Observer covering 1869, 1874-1884, 1887-1895 and 1899-1910
  • Censor or Satirical Times covering 1846
  • Dissenter covering 1812
  • Douglas Jerrold’s Weekly Newspaper covering 1846-1851
  • Emigrant and the Colonial Advocate covering 1848-1849
  • English Mail covering 1860
  • Evening Star (London) covering 1843
  • Fleetwood Express covering 1889, 1896-1917 and 1919-1920
  • Jewish Record covering 1868-1871
  • London Free Press covering 1827
  • London Mercury 1836 covering 1836-1837
  • Monthly Times covering 1842 and 1844-1849
  • National Standard covering 1858 and 1860

Findmypast have also published pages from additional years in the following newspapers:

• • Haslingden Gazette from 1915
  • Morning Herald (London) from 1855-1860
  • Northern Guardian (Hartlepool) from 1901-1902
  • Swansea Journal and South Wales Liberal from 1899-1900
  • The News (London) from 1808
  • Weekly Chronicle (London) from 1836-1840 and 1851

Sure, it is easy to create digital photographs with today’s smartphones and digital cameras. But how do you keep them forever so that future generations may view them?

Actually, the process is simple and is well described in an article by Jack Schofield in The Guardian web site at http://bit.ly/2EGtWJL.

Schofield writes:

“People lose their most important photos every day when hard drives fail, when smartphones and laptops are stolen, when online services shut down, and when natural disasters strike. Fires, floods and earthquakes can also destroy digital records.

“To be really safe, you should have more than one copy of each photo, stored in more than one way in more than one place.”

You can read the full article at: http://bit.ly/2EGtWJL.

How is this for a well-documented family tree?

The newly documented genealogy could help scientists identify Leonardo's long-lost DNA.

Although Leonardo da Vinci never married or fathered any children of his own, he had at least 22 half-brothers that proliferated the family’s genes centuries after the famed renaissance artist and inventor passed away. According to the results of a decade-long investigation by researchers in Italy, the da Vinci family tree includes at least 21 generations spanning across 690 years. At least 14 da Vinci male descendants are still alive today, according to the researchers, which could greatly aid the search for Leonardo’s DNA.

Leonardo’s family roots

The Renaissance polymath, known for paintings like “The Last Supper” and “Mona Lisa,” was born in the Tuscan town of Anchiano in 1452, about 18 miles west of Florence.

Born out of wedlock to respected Florentine notary Ser Piero and a young peasant woman named Caterina, da Vinci was raised by his father and his stepmother. At the age of five, he moved to his father’s estate in nearby Vinci (the town from which his surname derives), where he lived with his uncle and grandparents.

For over a decade, Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato, both art historians and experts in Leonardo’s life, have been piecing together the puzzle pieces that form the da Vinci family tree. Using historical documents, the two Italian researchers performed genealogical detective work that documented Leonardo’s family across many generations.

You can read the details in an article by Tibi Puiu in the ZME Science web site at: https://www.zmescience.com/science/da-vinci-family-06072021/.

This year, respondents will be given multiple days to complete the census, which collects key demographic, social and economic data from everyone in the country. There are just two optional questions included in the census: the respondent’s religion, and their willingness to participate in the Census Time Capsule.

A capsule containing respondents’ complete census data from each event is stored at the National Archives for 99 years, after which it is released publicly.

Demographer Mark McCrindle says storing the information will benefit our descendants a century down the track.

“How grateful we are when we may be on an ‘ancestry.com’-type situation [and] someone’s got the marriage certificate or some birth data details.

“We’re glad that forebears have it and I’m sure that future [descendants] will be glad to dig into a bit of detail about who those ancient ancestors of theirs were.”

You can read more at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Australian_census.

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

FamilySearch today announced that RootsTech Connect 2022 will take place on March 3–5, 2022, as a fully virtual family history event. After welcoming over one million visitors from over 240 countries to its 2021 online event, RootsTech Connect 2021 was the largest in the history of RootsTech, and spectacular proof of humanity’s interest globally in discovering our roots and connecting to each other. Building on its success, RootsTech Connect 2022 will remain completely virtual and free. Registration will open in September 2021.

“We were humbled with the response to an all-virtual RootsTech, and so grateful to all of our sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and attendees who participated,” said Steve Rockwood, FamilySearch International CEO. “We heard from thousands of people from all over the globe that the 2021 online experience allowed them to participate for the first time and enjoy the power of learning and connecting virtually. And it created an expansive online archive for learning that is now available for free all year long. It’s an incredible resource, and we are excited about what we’re planning for 2022.”

RootsTech Events Online and In-person

The in-person events anticipated for London this fall and Salt Lake City in 2022 will not take place. For future events (2023 and beyond), RootsTech plans on offering a hybrid online and in-person model with content that is expanded and accessed throughout the year. Rockwood said the in-person events are part of the RootsTech experience and will be reevaluated each year as RootsTech continues to seek the best opportunities to expand connections with audiences worldwide.

“After RootsTech Connect 2021, we realized that we could bring the joy of family history to millions of people, no matter where they are, through an online, virtual RootsTech experience. As we continue to chart new territory with RootsTech, we plan to make the virtual event a regular part of the experience and look forward to all the new opportunities that will open to people everywhere,” said Rockwood.

Continuing with the virtual model for RootsTech Connect 2022 will allow people across the globe to participate for free. Classes will have a mix of on-demand, livestream, and interactive sessions where people can socialize, ask questions, and learn from experts and enthusiasts. There will be engaging demonstrations and experiences for all ages and multicultural celebrations that will connect attendees to their family story and to each other.

As anticipation builds for RootsTech 2022, many are still taking advantage of all that RootsTech 2021 has to offer. With over 1,500 free, on-demand sessions available at RootsTech.org, the website offers a tremendous amount of family history learning and inspiration.

Registration for RootsTech 2022 will open in September 2021. Visit RootsTech, and click on Subscribe for Updates to receive the RootsTech newsletter and to follow RootsTech on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

RootsTech Announces a Virtual Event in 2022 (Video)

The devastating wildfire that quickly swept through the BC interior village of Lytton on Wednesday also wiped out the Lytton Chinese History Museum, just over four years after it opened.

The museum took to their social media late Friday evening, stating that the museum building had “totally burned” down in the fire. Its vast physical collection of artifacts documenting early Chinese Canadians in BC has been destroyed. All that remains of the museum are the building’s rock walls.

Exterior of the destroyed Lytton Chinese History Museum

“We have been in contact with the Executive Director of the Lytton Chinese History Museum and can sadly confirm that the museum and its collections have been destroyed,” states a bulletin by BC Museum Association (BCMA).

For a wider reach beyond its physical location, a digital archive of over 1,600 items and photos was made available through the museum’s website. This is now all that remains of the museum’s work.

You can learn more in an article by Kenneth Chan published in the Daily Hive web site at: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/lytton-chinese-history-museum-wildfire.

When one of Australia’s most experienced public servants, David Tune, conducted an extensive review of the National Archives’ funding requirements he stressed that a piecemeal approach to saving the nation’s records would never be enough.

Structural reform was essential. That is important to keep in mind, because while the federal government’s recently announced provision of $67.7 million to preserve the most at-risk items of Australia’s history is certainly welcome, much more is needed.

In the months since the Herald revealed many precious items in the Archives’ collection were in danger of disintegrating due to a lack of funding and resources, historians have expressed outrage, dismay and frustration.

After the National Archives garnered only $700,000 extra in the May budget, tens of thousands of dollars were donated by the community. The suggestion by the Minister assisting the Attorney-General Amanda Stoker the government had “nothing to be embarrassed about” was tone-deaf.

The Morrison government received the Tune review in January 2020, but it did not release the report publicly until March this year. While the government has not yet published its response, it has been under considerable public pressure to fund the most obviously urgent aspect of Mr Tune’s recommendations.

You can read more in an article published in The Sydney Morning Herald at https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/national-archives-funding-welcomed-but-more-needed-20210704-p586r7.html. 

The following is an announcement from Nebraska's Library Commission:

Join us to hear how History Nebraska is ‘Taking History Online’ on next week’s NCompass Live webinar on Wednesday, July 7  at 10am CT.

As a strategic goal of our agency, History Nebraska is undertaking significant efforts to provide access to historical collections for Nebraskans, regardless of where they live. One such initiative is to digitize our newspaper collections through a partnership with Newspapers.com. We have also been scanning microfilmed probate records from county courthouses, select manuscript collections, and some county and community histories. For years, we have been digitizing our vast photograph collections, as well as our audio/visual collections. Tune in to learn how and when we plan to make these available to the public.

Presenters: Jill Dolberg, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, and Lindsey Hillgartner, Digital Archivist, History Nebraska.

Upcoming NCompass Live shows:

• • July 14 –Finding Partners & Preparing Staff: Teaching Technology in the Library Series (Part 3)
  • July 21 – Accessing Census Data
  • July 28 –Marketing & Follow-Up: Teaching Technology in the Library Series (Part 4)
  • August 4 – Small Libraries Will Save the World! Implementing Sustainability at the Library
  • August 11 – The Kreutz Bennett Donor-Advised Fund: Grants to Nebraska’s Small-Town Public Libraries

For more information, to register for NCompass Live, or to listen to recordings of past events, go to the NCompass Live webpage.

NCompass Live is broadcast live every Wednesday from 10am – 11am Central Time. Convert to your time zone on the Official U.S. Time website. The show is presented online using the GoToWebinar online meeting service. Before you attend a session, please see the NLC Online Sessions webpage for detailed information about GoToWebinar, including system requirements, firewall permissions, and equipment requirements for computer speakers and microphones.

The Theory of Family Relativity™ feature on MyHeritage incorporates genealogical information from all the company's historical records and family tree profiles to offer theories on how your DNA Matches might be related to you. While the theories presented are often accurate, sometimes, they are incorrect. Before now, there was no way to confirm or reject a theory. Now there is! This new functionality will allow MyHeritage users to systematically review their theories and mark the ones they’ve already looked at so they can focus on new ones.

By the way, we also recently introduced a new filter to the DNA Match pages: Genetic Groups. You can now filter your DNA Match list according to the Genetic Groups your matches belong to.

Full details, including step-by-step instructions, may be found in the MyHeritage Blog at: https://blog.myheritage.com/2021/07/new-theory-of-family-relativity-confirm-or-reject-theories/.