Putting my ancestry into temporal perspective.

[dennilfloss]

I'm a paleontologist and even then, I was concerned mostly with the Ordovician Period, meaning the early Paleozoic era, from 488 to 443 million years ago, so even the age of dinosaurs feels like bloody yesterday to me, never mind events on a scale of hundreds of years. Still, my love of things & events past had me wanting to investigate my ancestry recently to see how far back I could go with the records known currently.

I'm therefore gonna register on some genealogical site and make my family tree sometime 'soon'. In the meantime, I just googled and found that some of it has already been done by my distant relatives on my dad's side (haven't checked mom's side yet).

Here is my oldest female relative (my great***grandma) on my dad's side:

Geneviève Patinot http://www.lein-lavoie.com/Joomla/phpgedview/individual.php?pid=I12016&ged=NEWEXPORT.GED

And her hubby (my great***grandpa): François Fillion http://www.lein-lavoie.com/Joomla/phpgedview/individual.php?pid=I12015&ged=NEWEXPORT.GED

Both born ~1450-1455 in Maine et Loire (France). The records don't seem to go further back at the moment.

I can list the whole line directly from them to me. 18 generations. That's ~560 years back, which suddenly struck me as quite a bit of time on the human scale. To think... It was still the late Middle Ages, just before the Renaissance in France (French Renaissance only began around 1494). In 1450, England & France were still at war in The Hundred Years War (1337-1475, last battle in 1453).

1450 is just 19 years after Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake. It's 3 years before the fall of Constantinople and the last remains of the Roman Empire to the Ottoman Turks (1453). It's 2 years before the birth of Leonardo Da Vinci. The Medici were ruling Florence since 1434 and would until 1537. Lorenzo The Magnificent was born only one year earlier (1449). The dynastic War Of The Roses started only in 1455.

I might be able to go further if I bifurcate a bit later along that line but, for some reason, being able to go back ~560 years in a straight line to trace my origin feels darn good actually. A lot of pride towards those to whom I owe my life feels my heart tonight.

It's a connection to one's past and to THE past. For me it borders on the spiritual and I've felt this since I was a child. It's the main reason I chose to become a paleontologist. Anybody else has done his/her ancestry and felt that sense of wonder and pride and belonging?

 

[sixone]

Absolutely. My dad traced our family back to the Mayflower, and to the early Kings of England.

What gets me is how hard and how fragile their lives were. No technology, no medical treatments to speak of. And certainly no rights for women.

 

[mnewsham]

moms side of my family was done back to 1400's or so. not sure about my fathers side.

 

[brianmanahan]

robert the bruce is my 23rd great grandaddy

beat that!

 

[brianmanahan]

and it is kind of amazing that the world has change so drastically. in 2 generations, let alone 23.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I was adopted at birth, which comes with the advantage/drawback of not having/being burdened with a link to my ancestry. I've never devoted a thought to it. It is interesting that people can trace back their lineage that far, but it also strikes me as being utterly irrelevant.

 

[dennilfloss]

Aethelred sure had a lot of offspring . Seems to me he was always 'at the ready'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Æthelred_the_Unready#Marriages_and_issue

For those who might wonder, I'm not talking about pride in what they did, whether they were rich, noble, famous, etc... It's a more profound pride. Hard for me to put in words. It's... organic. It's the pride of... existence. Very empathic. I have always kinda 'felt' my ancestors in me. Much of what I am, I owe to them. The connection to the past is very strong for me. That's why I've always been interested in history, in archiving, preserving the past. I have touched ancient statues and it has brought tears to my eyes sometimes.

And this pride (for lack of a better term) is not saying I'm special. No such judgemental value is present here. I am just saying that I am and if it weren't for my ancestors & the circumstances that they experienced, I wouldn't be. And I am grateful to them.

Like I said, it is an organic feeling, not something of reason & logic. A bit like faith isn't about reason & logic. It's on that kind of level. And it is both grand and small.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

My maternal grandmother claims that she (and myself as a result) descended from this badass, and in elementary school I was totally obsessed with it and my awesome Nordic Aryan heritage. Today I think she BS'd me.

 

[dennilfloss]

robert the bruce is my 23rd great grandaddy

beat that!

It's not a competition.

 

[RavenSEAL]

This is how far back I've been able to get:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonso_de_Ojeda

 

[sixone]

Aethelred sure had a lot of offspring . Seems to me he was always 'at the ready'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Æthelred_the_Unready#Marriages_and_issue

For those who might wonder, I'm not talking about pride in what they did, whether they were rich, noble, famous, etc... It's a more profound pride. Hard for me to put in words. It's... organic. It's the pride of... existence. Very empathic. I have always kinda 'felt' my ancestors in me. Much of what I am, I owe to them. The connection to the past is very strong for me. That's why I've always been interested in history, in archiving, preserving the past. I have touched ancient statues and it has brought tears to my eyes sometimes.

And this pride (for lack of a better term) is not saying I'm special. No such judgemental value is present here. I am just saying that I am and if it weren't for my ancestors & the circumstances that they experienced, I wouldn't be. And I am grateful to them.

Like I said, it is an organic feeling, not something of reason & logic. A bit like faith isn't about reason & logic. It's on that kind of level. And it is both grand and small.

Most men are. Some things never change.

But that's the thing - they were kings, or they did other great things. And here I sit, so far from where they were, both geographically and technologically. I have a much better life than old Ethelred every dreamed of - but I have no claim to "greatness". I don't have serfs at my beck and call. But if he were suddenly resurrected in my living room, imagine how he would feel. Would he trade his crown to be here, now?

 

[Uppsala9496]

It is interesting to be able to trace your lineage.
In 14 years my daughter will be able to become a member of the following:
http://www.dar.org/natsociety/become_member.cfm

My grandmother on my mom's side took the time back in the 80's to do a lot of exhaustive research to trace her lineage back to the Mayflower. Not sure how much further back she went.
She turned 90 a few months ago, and to just talk about the differences in comforts from the 1920's-30's to now is amazing. After the war, she worked here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonne_National_Lab
I grew up right across the street from the lab. Parents still live there.
My mom, who grew up in the house, remembers the nike missile batteries they had all around the facility.

My dad's side......no clue.
We do have a summer cottage as a result of some speakeasy money from Capone (his g'pa was a cop in Chicago).

 

[brianmanahan]

It's not a competition.

my 23rd great grandaddy can beat up your 23rd great grandaddy

 

[Dr. Zaus]

It's not a competition.

Only to the losers.

 

[sdifox]

Emperor of Ming Dynasty, how's that?

 

[Zebo]

Don't care but it goes way back, you'd have to ask the women in the family.

 

[meister]

OP---

I think I can relate to that sense of connection you mention. And I'm not really talking about 'family'.

A few years ago was going through a museum somewhere and came across a display of a mastodon being taken down (well attempting) by a group of Neolithic hunters.

One of the hunters had fallen and was in danger in the attack. All of a sudden I felt a kinship with his humanity I've never had or even contemplated before. Rather a strange feeling and awareness. Strange.

 

[mmntech]

A quick online search seems to suggest that information about my dad's paternal line goes back to at least the 1750s. On his maternal side, it's possible that my earliest known ancestor was John Maxwell, son of a Normal lord who died in 1241. Was once a very powerful clan originating in Fife, Scotland. There's been no hard research into the link though. They remained a very dominating family right up until recently. It's part of why my grandpa chose to emigrated to Canada, to escape his wife's overbearing family.

That line is almost dead now. None of my grandma's brothers had children, as they had married late in life. Only two left now.

 

[OlafSicky]

I'm related to Conneor MacLeod of the clan MacLeod from the shores of Loch Shiel

 

[HydroSqueegee]

My uncle is into tracing the family line. Last i heard it takes us all the way back to Northcumberland, England sometime back in the 1500's if i remember correctly.

 

[kage69]

robert the bruce is my 23rd great grandaddy

beat that!

Ok! Turns out a relative of mine gave your 23rd great grandaddy shelter and protection after he was on the losing side at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh




You're welcome!


edit: no wait, that's not right actually. Either the book I have at home is wrong or I've got my Bruces mixed up, not sure yet...

 

[sourceninja]

We can trace our family back to a drunk who died from being kicked by a mule. His wife remarried and changed her kids last names. Before that it gets a bit sketchy.

 

[kage69]

"Clan MacFarlane (Scots Gaelic: Clann Mhic Pharthalain) is a Highland Scottish clan. The clan claims a descent from the old line of the Earls of Lennox.[1] For some time there had been some controversy as to the descent of these earls, with both Gaelic and Anglo-Saxon origins given. Though today it is accepted that Clan MacFarlane is of Gaelic descent.[2] The clan takes its name from a Malcolm MacFarlane, who lived in the fourteenth century.[3] Clan MacFarlane took part in several conflicts including brutal fighting for Scottish Independence alongside Robert The Bruce.[3] The clan was also noted for its daring night time raiding on English army divisions, and as such, it is said that the full moon became known throughout the highlands as "MacFarlane's Lantern".For many years Clan MacFarlane was one of the most respected and feared clans in the highlands until the clan was denounced by the English government. The ancestral lands of the clan were Arrochar, located at the head of Loch Long and further northwest of Loch Lomond. The lands of Arrochar were first granted to an ancestor of the clan in the thirteenth century,[1] and were held by the chiefs until they were sold off for debts, in 1767. The last descendant of the chiefs, in the direct male line, died in 1886. Since the modern clan is without a chief it can be considered an Armigerous clan."


Got the battle wrong, it was the battle of Methven. Nice to hear Malcolm's men they gave the English the SAS treatment. And those damn sasanachs burned our castle, och!

 

[Jaskalas]

Most men are. Some things never change.

But that's the thing - they were kings, or they did other great things. And here I sit, so far from where they were, both geographically and technologically. I have a much better life than old Ethelred every dreamed of - but I have no claim to "greatness". I don't have serfs at my beck and call. But if he were suddenly resurrected in my living room, imagine how he would feel. Would he trade his crown to be here, now?

Why would he?...

I suppose the biggest selling point is no longer having to live or die by the sword. Not sure they could appreciate it given the sacrifices made.

 

[busydude]

I don't even know where my Grand Fathers were born.

This seems relevant to this thread.