How far back have you got with near certainty?

[Davedrave]

The furthest back I’ve got on the female side of my family is 1736 (a 6x great GP) and on the male side is 1647 (also a 6x great GP, though I know that the same family was almost certainly in the same place in 1622 - church warden record.) In numerous branches of the family I can see people considerably earlier than the secure records, who are very likely related but I can’t make watertight connections to them. I can see quite a few trees online which look plausible but for which final proof is lacking to my satisfaction. How typical is my experience?

[BillyF]

This can be very frustrating !

 I`ve got what I think is a direct line back to 1615 in Scotland. Unfortunately there seems to be a generation missing which is most likely due to the Minister not keeping the records. After the "missing" years I`ve proved all of it.

There`s still family in that place, so 400 years in one place.

On my English side, my gt grandftaher told my mother that "his" family had lived 200 years in a Lincolnshire village. Going back to my 4x gt grandfather, the earliest record I found is his marriage in 1790.

I could go on forever ! ( and do, sometimes !!)

[ajm314159]

To a marriage at St Botolph Bishopsgate in 1646: almost exactly the same year, davedrave.  That John Malton and that Sarah Beale must have been born around 1620 but I can find no proof.

They are 8th ggp, though.

[fiddlerslass]

Furthest back I have got is on my father's side, to 6xgtgrandfather Paul Berger born somewhere in Moravia in 1692. He died in Chrudim, now in  Czechia, in 1736.
 Funnily enough, my English ancestry has proved more challenging, due to Aysgarth NRY parish  records being patchy before 1710. I've got back to Alice Dodsworth b. Abt 1707'and Thomas Butterfield born about 1700. There are earlier Dodsworth and Butterfield families there, but no baptisms to prove parentage. Thomas is probably the son of either Richard or Peter Butterfield. Other lines on mum's side grind to a halt at a similar date with Crawhall and Ions at Stanhope DUR.

[KGarrad]

On my paternal side, I go back to John Garar (sic) baptised in 1550.
Every subsequent generation has been Garrad.

On my mother's side, I have 2 threads back to mid-1500's.

All documented

[Davedrave]

On my paternal side, I go back to John Garar (sic) baptised in 1550.
Every subsequent generation has been Garrad.

On my mother's side, I have 2 threads back to mid-1500's.

All documented

That’s impressive. Can you be certain that everyone is in a direct line of descent and none are cousins? I have people in the neighbouring hamlet to my 1647 (1622) records who were farmers of the same name, documented in 1569 and who may link to another farmer of the same surname who left a will in 1508 in the same parish, but I can’t prove a link, unfortunately.

[KGarrad]

On my paternal side, I go back to John Garar (sic) baptised in 1550.
Every subsequent generation has been Garrad.

On my mother's side, I have 2 threads back to mid-1500's.

All documented

That’s impressive. Can you be certain that everyone is in a direct line of descent and none are cousins? I have people in the neighbouring hamlet to my 1647 (1622) records who were farmers of the same name, documented in 1569 and who may link to another farmer of the same surname who left a will in 1508 in the same parish, but I can’t prove a link, unfortunately.

On the Garrad line, it is documented on the Bures-online website - http://www.bures-online.co.uk/garrad/garrad.htm
Corroborated by the author Anne Carter, with whom I exchanged many emails. She was nee Garrad!
I also visited Bures St Mary and Bures Hamlet, where there is the Garrad Reading Room.

I descend from the Abraham Garrad - Mary Baker marriage.
My 2xG Grandfather, also an Abraham, was one of their 10 children.

My mother was a Sims. Likewise fellow researchers did most of the early research. But I tried to corroborate the research using PR's.

I should point out that a lot of my research was done pre-internet

[dowdstree]

Documented back to mid 1600's (Scotland). This one I found amusing -

My 6 x Great Grandparents were Thomas Wilson and Meg Mill both born in 1695. St Monans, Fife, Scotland. They married on 15th October 1719.

In 1726 and 4 children later Granny Meg was reprimanded by the kirk - Documented as follows -

Minutes for non observance of Sabbath - 1726,
Meg Mill, Spouse of Thomas Wilson, had been found carrying water on the Lord's Day before Public Worship.

Poor lassie was she suppossed to take her bairns to the Kirk with dirty faces 

Dorrie

[Drayke]

Furthest I have traced back on my paternal side is mid - late 1400's on one or two lines that were yeoman farmers or gents and left good documentation such as wills and land records. Majority of lines I have had the time to trace however are back to early 1500's all documented. Was fortunate that many parish registers went back to 1530's.

On my maternal side it varies quite a bit. If you are looking at furthest lines, with documentation being parish registers, wills, land/manorial records, inquisition post mortem's, pipe rolls, etc, then it would be mid 1200's. If you include visitations, pedigree rolls, landed gentry records, etc. then further back again.