14th great grandfather......

[Jaxyfone]

Not sure how many generations without checking, and again, needs verifying, but I'm back to 1460. A right lot of rogues they seem to have been over the centuries, too. At least two generations were involved in cattle rustling and were mentioned by a local landowner when defending himself in the Star Chamber court.

On the other hand, there are also hard-working wheelwrights in there, a marriage to a rather famous detective and another marriage to a family who claim to be able to trace their lineage back to Edward IV, so I guess I'm probably a 'collateral descendant' of Richard III - but then who isn't? 

[jbml]

Great x14 is pretty impressive.

I have quite a few Great x13 ... but have only very recently broken through into great x14 and all of them are necessarily tentative. Only one of my great x13s is a rock solid line with no tentative links in the chain. Quite a few more like that at great x12.

I'm now going through a consolidation phase ... trying to firm up as much as I can on the intermediate generations. There are plenty of ancestors for whom I can find out more, which will hopefully given me a better base for the next push to find more remote ancestors.

[Redroger]

If I can get over a brickwall in the 1770s I am back to 1300. Wonderful I am sure the lady concerned who had an interesting lifestyle was my 3xggm but can't prove it.My lot at STar Chamber twice. Printed and transcribed one set of documents about sheep rustling. Fits the general family profile!!

[Skoosh]

Bear in mind that if any one of the 14 great grannies in this impressive line back, was a bit of a girl and fell by the wayside just one time,   (hormones being what they are), the lineage is somewhat suspect!

Skoosh.

[Redroger]

That in a nutshell Skoosh is the nub of the problem. At least the Y chromosome checks out from1776 onwards,

[Skoosh]

So kept it in the family then? 

Skoosh.

[Kelly80]

When my husbands great grandfather retired, he toured the country going through parish records and tracing his family history back.  Thanks to him, and the fact that there was some 'nobility' in his family line, my husband has part of his family history back to about 1280.

I believe that gets him back to his 19th great grandfather.  He even has a family crest ... I'm very jealous.

I however have no nobility on my family, so I'll be lucky to trace anything back past 1800 on some branches.

[jbml]

I however have no nobility on my family, so I'll be lucky to trace anything back past 1800 on some branches.

I'm the same, Kelly.

Look at it this way ... you're still in the ascendant, whilst his family's on the skids LOL

As well as the ubiquitous Labourers (Agricultural, General and unqualified) I'm descended from butchers and bakers and basketmakers, shepherds, coachmen, hawkers, licensed victuallers, omnibus drivers, a scavenger (who became a public convenience attendant in later life), a bankrupt dealer in hooves, horns and manure, loads and loads and LOADS of bootmakers and shoemakers, drapers, railway clerks, a City of London policeman. a vellum binder, the occasional farmer and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

And I love 'em all!!! So what if they're not noble and haven't a Grant of Arms between them? They're my ancestors. That's all that matters to me.

[Redroger]

My tree is virtually entirely working class I am very pleased to say.Obviously my ancestors did a very thorough job!!