I never thought I'd get to 100!

[Trees]

Well done.
I've been at this for a few more years than you 21 to be exact and have now found and proved 494 direct ancestors for my son including one 14x Gt Grand father and mother they married in 1510. Still some elusive ones to uncover though. Much more important is uncovering the stories that give a picture of them and their lives padding out the flesh is a fascinating hunt but of course you first need to know who they were and where they lived and when.
Hope the next few years add to your understanding of the folk that made you I'm still enjoying the chase.
Trees

[loo]

Just to clarify, I meant all the ancestors that are genetically mine - although I have read that there was enough illegitimacy that it's very likely the genetic thread was broken every so often, so that none of us are actually connected to the early ones that we think we are connected to.  But that's being pessimistic!
I do have some flesh on me bones, but hoping for more if I can ever get to England to look things up. 

Thanks for all your good wishes, and congrats to everyone on their accomplishments!  I have been working very hard on this, and trying to get as much as possible as quickly as possible because I want to be able to share it with my parents.  It's a bit of a race against time!  Dad will be 90 this summer.

[Trees]

Hey this is a time for rejoicing not pessimism you are doing a great job.Your post made me start counting, of course we all Find illegitimates along the tree but hopefully not to the extent that the links can no longer be proven. On our longest lines we are lucky that the families stayed in one or two tiny villages which had brilliant church records sadly this isn't always the case so for example one line is well and truly stuck in 1813  
Sometimes you can get round the illegitimates too, My greatest delight was finding the parents of my grand father who grew up in an Edwardian Cottage Homes  Earlier the parish chest can often give the "father's" name on bastardy records, they are great to find . So thats all waiting for us all to persue and ensures that none of us will ever tire of this great hobby, nor stop rejoicing at the wonderful milestones we achieve.
Trees

[1000xlch]

I was so amazed when using FTM7 and reached 100 and it said would you like to upload to the web now!  Since then 9 years have gone by and I now have 13000+ ancestors as I collect every twig and branch in order to go back even further as direct lines usually run out by 1800!  Got back to 1600 so far. 

[RonnieG]

 I think it helps that they moved around, so that they are easier to identify in the new place as there are not so many of them there.

Well done Loo,

I will have to go off and count mine now but I know already it won't be that many.

I have one line going back to about 1650 for the opposite reason to you. They "arrived" in one parish and never moved! (Bless their little cotton socks - if they had any). They also chose a parish that kept good records.

Onwards and upwards!

RonnieG

[jeune-romantique]

Well I have 35 Direct ancestors, as in those that are mentioned in a pedigree (so Father, Grandmothers, 7xGreat Grandmothers etc.). If I include Siblings, Aunties and 5xGreat Grand Uncles the number is increased to around, hmm, well I'm not exactly sure...but if I include everyone in my tree who is blood related (cousins) then the number is around 1300 people. If I include by Marriage the number increases to around 1800 people.

Of course they are all estimates.

[Lydart]

Well I'm not one to boast ... so I will ... I've got back to my 9X great grandfather in 1530 !!  All thanks to a one-name study person who was very helpful !

[Trees]

Well done everyone. I'm glad you added they are estimates Jeune-r I thought for a moment you'd invented a new twist to counting sheep for us insomniacs    Isn't a little bit of help useful Lydart. I found a funny one this morning:
Thomas FISHER m Joan HINTON 1656 they had daughter Alice and a son Thomas who in turn married and had families but Alice's son married one of Thomas's daughters ie both bride and groom were grand children of Thomas FISHER and Joan nee HINTON  now quite a few of my lines have been halved thanks to illegitimacy but now a whole line has disappeared two less names to go searching for a trouble halved can't be a bad thing 
Trees

[Windsor87]

Given my Royal links, I could probably go as far back as 1000 years plus.
I just don't because there is no fun in that. The little people are far more interesting.