My 2020 Ancestor Tally

Each year, I pause my genealogy to crunch numbers. I take a big picture view of my research and tally the new direct ancestors that I've added to my family tree in the past 12 months.

It's an opportunity to take stock of my progress from a purely quantitative perspective. I recognize this is of limited meaningful value. After all, readers of this blog know that I'm knee eyeballs deep in qualitative research of my Kirk family line. And I wouldn't change that emphasis just to collect names.

Genealogy's numbers game doesn't hold great appeal for me. Nonetheless, numeric benchmarks are easy indicators of progress, so let's take a look at how my family tree has flourished during the past year.

Ancestor Tally-ho

This exercise highlights only the ten preceding generations (myself through my seventh great-grandparents), which is 1,023 people. Although my research is wide ranging and adds ancestors at more distant generations, capping it at this level keeps this project manageable (just barely).

Me - 1

Parents - 2

Grandparents - 4

Great-grandparents - 8

2nd Great-grandparents - 16

3rd Great-grandparents - 32

4th Great-grandparents - 64

5th Great-grandparents - 128

6th Great-grandparents - 256

7th Great-grandparents - 512

TOTAL: 1,023

During the past year, I added seven individuals to my tree.

This includes one new sixth great-grandparent - Elizabeth Cotton (Roe) Judd. She was a gift from Janice Webster, administrator of Facebook's Genealogy Bloggers group, who helped me crack open my Judd family line and add 13 direct new ancestors - most of whom are in generations beyond this exercise's purview (see Adding Generations of Judds to the Family Tree).

At the next generation, I now know the names of 48 of my seventh great-grandparents - six new people over last year (yes, including more Judds).

Although they aren't newly discovered, it's important to note that two sets of these 48 grandparents (four people) are the parents to four(!) of my 6th great-grandparents (can anyone say pedigree collapse?).

William and Judith (Downing) Rogers were parents to two of my sixth great-grandparents:

1. Susan Rogers who married Joseph Gould
2. Samuel Rogers who married Mary Davis

Elihu and Sarah Polly (Brown) Andrus were also parents to two of my sixth great-grandparents:

1. Elihu Andrus Jr. who married Elizabeth Shepard
2. Abijah Andrus who married Betsy Calkins

Two of my seventh great-grandparents - who I am counting - aren't even full names, but there's sufficient data to provide some specificity about their identity. They're no longer a complete unknown and although they remain partially shadowed, I'm counting them.

My tally. My rules.

Obstinate Low Hanging Fruit

In the generations closer to me, there remain several stubborn brick walls that refuse to yield answers.

For example, I know the names of all but two of my fourth great-grandparents. Who were the parents of my third great-grandmother Margaret (Fahey) Flynn? Beats me!

Per the 1880 US Federal Census, I know that she was born in Ireland in about 1842 and resided in Des Moines, Iowa. But then she died sometime after that enumeration and before the April 12, 1881 death of her husband John Flynn (his death record indicated that he was widowed). If I could finally crack this mystery, I will have identified ALL of my fourth great-grandparents.

At the next generation, I still only know 86 of my 128 fifth great-grandparents.

Curiously, Ancestry now offers Potential parent recommendations for 16 ancestors at this level. At a glance, I'm sure some of them are incorrect (based on inaccurate family trees that have made mistaken assumptions and proliferate online). Yet, while I remain skeptical about all hints, there are clearly some leads that I need to investigate. These Potential ancestor clues are probably a good place to start.

So I have my marching orders for the year ahead.

How did your ancestor tally fare in the past year?

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Ancestor Count 2019
Ancestor Count 2018
Ancestor Count 2017