I haven't played
Randy Seaver's SNGF in months but since I took a peak at these numbers yesterday (after seeing posts by
Julie Cahill Tarr and
Judy Russell), it seemed like a good idea to take a closer look.
Here's my chart:
Generation
|
Number
|
Found
|
Parents
|
2
|
2
|
Grandparents
|
4
|
4
|
Great-grandparents
|
8
|
8
|
2nd great-grandparents
|
16
|
15
|
3rd great-grandparents
|
32
|
27
|
4th great-grandparents
|
64
|
34
|
5th great-grandparents
|
128
|
33
|
6th great-grandparents
|
256
|
19
|
7th great-grandparents
|
512
|
20
|
TOTALS
|
1022
|
162
|
That works out to 15.9% found or 860 ancestors missing.
That one missing 2nd great-grandparent has bugged me for a long time. I have a name but I didn't count him because there is no proof that he is the father of my great-grandfather - just a family story that I've poked enough holes in to wonder if there is any truth to it. The good news is there's a Y-DNA test being processed as we speak that could provide some answers (or bring up more questions). Sixty of those other missing ancestors are because of this one.
The 860 missing ancestors multiply from 63 spots in my tree that are either blank or only a first name for a female. Of those 63 lines, four stop in Pennsylvania, four in New Jersey and one in Rhode Island. The trail for the remaining 54 runs cold in the south. A few of these people are brick walls but, the truth is, most of these "ends of lines" exist because I haven't done any significant work on them.
Another truth is that I would like to make some progress on those 3rd and 4th great-grandparents but I'm unlikely to ever get to many of those missing 5th, 6th or 7th greats. I've spent more time the past few years on filling in the details about the lives of the people already identified than trying to take their lines back another generation. And there is still plenty of work to do in that effort.
