How far back is it possible to trace one's family history?

[Flat Earth Kyle]

Yaddoe, I don't know if you read my post, but, again, you can trace a family back about 2-5 generations before doubt will inevitably creep into your research. You just cannot determine much more than that without as you suggested digging up all of your relatives. When I do my research which does extend beyond 2-5 generations I am reading all sorts of land deeds, wills, family stories, and traveling to other states to view materials such as books and tombstones. Sure, we put down names when we find enough evidence, but no amount of evidence can prove this. You cannot know. The further back in history you go, the more doubt there is. Sources become less and less reliable. Even when we do find sources we must realize they are limited in there accuracy. I think that it is great that you do genealogical research, but remember that you can never know. While we may find interest in digging up the stories of our forefathers, we are not them. There should be no pride in descending from a royal line or even a mythical line. You are what you do not what they did. People find all sorts of ways to connect themselves with Noah, Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, Vlad the impaler, and just about every other name in history. When you do find another person's research that asserts such please exercise much caution in adding it to your research. These claims are often borne out of some need or desire to make them seem greater than who they are. In truth, it doesn't. Whether you can trace back 2 or one hundred generations it doesn't matter. And, anyone who claims more than 5 generations cannot be sure, not even the Queen of England.

I know I can be sure of the last 7 for me. I have it fully documented with pictures to go with every name.
Generation 8 I start losing pictures.
Generation 10 I start losing names.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I thought Uther was Arthur's father....

Yeah, you're right. Looks like I mis-remembered.

 

[Satyamavejayanti]

Is it possible to trace one's family history to Noah and then down to Adam and Eve?

Wait a second, No offence but did Adam and Eves children have sex with themselves????

Are you claiming that you are a product of incest, im not trying to be rude, i know many good Christians who are Children of incestuous relationships. im serious.

 

[Curious George]

I know I can be sure of the last 7 for me. I have it fully documented with pictures to go with every name.
Generation 8 I start losing pictures.
Generation 10 I start losing names.

And I my friend have very well documented sourced and wonderful lines of genealogy that date pretty far back. That doesn't mean that they are true. I could have wills, deeds, newspaper articles, census records, other various public records but none of these tell the whole story. I feel confident enough to put the names down, but there are too many chances that some link in them was misinterpreted or misunderstood. All it would take would be for your grandmother to have had one adulterous encounter of which she never breathed a word and boom 25% of your research is not true. Or, somewhere 7 generations previous your ancestor happened to have the same name as a more well documented person. From this documentation researchers before you and others copied down and even in some cases published false information. There is just now way to know. Even memories fade. While we may be pretty sure of 2-5 generations we cannot be sure that any of those generations were correct in what they thought they knew. Bottom line- you are yourself and the definition of that self does not lie within who your ancestors were.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

And I my friend have very well documented sourced and wonderful lines of genealogy that date pretty far back. That doesn't mean that they are true. I could have wills, deeds, newspaper articles, census records, other various public records but none of these tell the whole story. I feel confident enough to put the names down, but there are too many chances that some link in them was misinterpreted or misunderstood. All it would take would be for your grandmother to have had one adulterous encounter of which she never breathed a word and boom 25% of your research is not true.

I was over at my Mom's this evening, and as it happens, we got talking about genealogy. She's done a fair bit of research into our family tree. She's currently a bit puzzled by one of my ancestors: she's listed as "widowed" in a census that occurred several years before the date her husband died, according to the sources my Mom has. Which is correct? They're both based on government records, so one would think they'd be equally credible... but they can't both be true.

There's stuff like this all through everyone's family tree when you dig into it.

Or, somewhere 7 generations previous your ancestor happened to have the same name as a more well documented person.

Thinking of my own family tree again, on my Dad's side, I'm descended from a long line of Belfast Orangemen, and for a rather long time, being good Oranngemen, they had a tradition of naming the first-born son "William" and the second-born son "Wesley". This makes it difficult to tell which one is being referred to in any particular document.

 

[Koldo]

Wihtlaeg of Asgard
(Odin) Wodin
Frithuwald “Bor” of Asgard
Freothalaf

Problems in just these lines:

1) Odin is a mythological character with a lot of stories surrounding him.
2) Asgard is a mythological place, which is another world.
3) There are multiple versions as to who is Wihtlaeg's father.
4) You consider Odin and Woden to be the same person.

 

[McBell]

I was over at my Mom's this evening, and as it happens, we got talking about genealogy. She's done a fair bit of research into our family tree. She's currently a bit puzzled by one of my ancestors: she's listed as "widowed" in a census that occurred several years before the date her husband died, according to the sources my Mom has. Which is correct? They're both based on government records, so one would think they'd be equally credible... but they can't both be true.

There's stuff like this all through everyone's family tree when you dig into it.


Thinking of my own family tree again, on my Dad's side, I'm descended from a long line of Belfast Orangemen, and for a rather long time, being good Oranngemen, they had a tradition of naming the first-born son "William" and the second-born son "Wesley". This makes it difficult to tell which one is being referred to in any particular document.

Another interesting thing to keep in mind is that for the longest time "official" records were altered on a whim without any documentation of the alteration.

My family is a prime example, there are those listed as the birth parents in the "official records" that dna tests have proven cannot be true.

 

[Flat Earth Kyle]

Problems in just these lines:

1) Odin is a mythological character with a lot of stories surrounding him.
2) Asgard is a mythological place, which is another world.
3) There are multiple versions as to who is Wihtlaeg's father.
4) You consider Odin and Woden to be the same person.

Again I feel it may be an instance where someone stood up and said I am a God, worship me, like the Egyptians did. It also states Asgard was an island. So I see it is very possible that the mythology was based upon actual people and then it changed and became more fantasy like after they died.

 

[Koldo]

Again I feel it may be an instance where someone stood up and said I am a God, worship me, like the Egyptians did. It also states Asgard was an island. So I see it is very possible that the mythology was based upon actual people and then it changed and became more fantasy like after they died.

That could be the case. But what historical record do you have of the actual Odin? or the actual Asgard? What about the multiple versions on who is Wihtlaeg's father? And why didn't you comment on why you consider Odin to be Woden?

 

[Reptillian]

I can trace my family tree back to about the 1600's with a couple of isolated ancestors in the 1300's and 1100's.

 

[Flat Earth Kyle]

That could be the case. But what historical record do you have of the actual Odin? or the actual Asgard? What about the multiple versions on who is Wihtlaeg's father? And why didn't you comment on why you consider Odin to be Woden?

Odin/ Wodin. The file has them as the same person and I assumed that it was a different language type of thing like Peter in English and Pedro in Spanish, or James in English and Santiago in Spanish. I have just run into so many of those sometimes I overlook things. From what you are stating there is a controversy on the subject that they were 2 different people and not the same person?

 

[Scott C.]

I know I can be sure of the last 7 for me. I have it fully documented with pictures to go with every name.
Generation 8 I start losing pictures.
Generation 10 I start losing names.

My genealogy shows that I have interesting ancestors, such as Priscilla Mullin who came over on the Mayflower. I did none of this research and have to rely on relatives for it's accuracy. I don't know how to possibly be certain that it's accurate without validating the research, which seems almost as time consuming as the original research.

I assume if you know your connections back to Adam and Eve, that you link somewhere to a Biblical personage and the Bible provides the lineage from that person back to Adam and Eve.

One needs to believe in the Biblical personages and genealogy to see this as valid, which I do.

 

[Scott C.]

Wait a second, No offence but did Adam and Eves children have sex with themselves????

Are you claiming that you are a product of incest, im not trying to be rude, i know many good Christians who are Children of incestuous relationships. im serious.

I assume that Adam and Eve's children had sex with one another. God can change the rules based on special circumstances.

 

[Scott C.]

Yaddoe, I don't know if you read my post, but, again, you can trace a family back about 2-5 generations before doubt will inevitably creep into your research. You just cannot determine much more than that without as you suggested digging up all of your relatives. When I do my research which does extend beyond 2-5 generations I am reading all sorts of land deeds, wills, family stories, and traveling to other states to view materials such as books and tombstones. Sure, we put down names when we find enough evidence, but no amount of evidence can prove this. You cannot know. The further back in history you go, the more doubt there is. Sources become less and less reliable. Even when we do find sources we must realize they are limited in there accuracy. I think that it is great that you do genealogical research, but remember that you can never know. While we may find interest in digging up the stories of our forefathers, we are not them. There should be no pride in descending from a royal line or even a mythical line. You are what you do not what they did. People find all sorts of ways to connect themselves with Noah, Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, Vlad the impaler, and just about every other name in history. When you do find another person's research that asserts such please exercise much caution in adding it to your research. These claims are often borne out of some need or desire to make them seem greater than who they are. In truth, it doesn't. Whether you can trace back 2 or one hundred generations it doesn't matter. And, anyone who claims more than 5 generations cannot be sure, not even the Queen of England.

We can all accurately claim to be first generation descendants of God in heaven before we came to earth. No earthly royal lineage can match that! But, I do agree it's interesting to do genealogy.