It’s time for my Ancestor Score!
This is my seventh year doing the Ancestor Score on Valentine’s Day. I first read about this way of keeping tabs on the progress in my genealogy research on Barbara Schmidt’s blog Connecting the Worlds in 2014.
My Ancestor Score
In the first eight generations, there were no changes. I’m still missing my 3rd great-grandparents Mr. and Mrs. DEMPSEY. In generations 9 through 13, new ancestors were found, mostly on my maternal side. In all, I have 81 new ancestors.
Stats for the previous years are included for comparison in the table above and below (for my children).
My Children’s Ancestor Score
My children’s ancestor score reflects the increase in my score as well as new ancestors from their father’s side. Nearly all of their new ancestors were found while I worked on and wrote about their 6th great-grandparents. This research included looking into these ancestors’ parents, grandparents, and, in some cases, even great-grandparents.
Pedigree Collapse
In both of the Ancestor Score charts, I’ve counted at least one ancestral couple several times. Martin FEILEN was counted in the 1656 Feuerstätten-Liste (fireplaces list) for Luxembourg. He and his wife Catharina were my children’s 9th great-grandparents (through son Mathias) on their paternal side. They were also their 9th great-grandparents (through son Mathias and through daughter Kunigunde) and their 10th great-grandparents (through their daughter Kunigunde) on my side! They were each counted four times.
[There are a few more cases of pedigree collapse in the family tree. I haven’t considered reducing the number of possible ancestors in each generation to reflect duplicates.]
Please leave a link in the comments below if you’ve recently calculated your Ancestor Score. I’d love to take a look.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Wishing you a year full of love and meaningful friendships.
The posts from preceding years can be found here:
- My Ancestor Score as of Valentine’s Day 2014
- My Ancestor Score as of Valentine’s Day 2015
- My Ancestor Score as of Valentine’s Day 2016
- My Ancestor Score as of Valentine’s Day 2017
- My Ancestor Score as of Valentine’s Day 2018
- My Ancestor Score as of Valentine’s Day 2019
© 2020, copyright Cathy Meder-Dempsey. All rights reserved.
Share this:
Opening Doors in Brick Walls 
I am always amazed by how far back you can go. My “Ancestor Score” hasn’t changed in years and likely never will as I am quite certain that I have gotten as far back as I can on all my direct ancestors. Once I get to about 1800, Jews did not have surnames, and it’s thus virtually impossible to identify who was whose child. Also, there are almost no Jewish records left to be found before the 19th century. So instead I keep looking collaterally—to all the siblings and descendants of my direct ancestors.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Collateral lines are where you’ll find the gems! Just look at the number of cousins who’ve found you and your blog, Amy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Cathy…always look forward to your Valentine’s Day Scores which is my reminder to update mine! I’ve been following your example now since 2016 and making some progress. The Score Card “refocuses” me for each year and gets me back on track!! Happy 2020 and once again, thanks for your great “Opening Doors in Brick Walls”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some people do it at the beginning of the year. Too much going on for me. I like associating my ancestors with Valentine’s Day. We wouldn’t be here without them. Thank you, Sharen.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations for being so organized! I get hopelessly lost when I get past about 6th great grandparents. Although I have lines that go back as far as 12, I also have two main lines that stop dead at great-great grandfather. (My mother’s father’s line and my father’s father’s line.) That really cuts the numbers down.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m been saving in Excel. I set up the new columns for 2021 after I finished this post. All I have to do is generate an Ahnentafel report and count the ancestors. I know what it’s like with the missing 3rd greats!
LikeLike
I love that you’ve included your previous years’ scores. I only list the current year in my table. Something for me to think about next year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Linda. I’ve seen one where a column is added for the time period of the ancestors’ generation. I think that would also be interesting to see.
LikeLike