Year 2021 was a Great Year for Genealogy Here: How Many Ancestors Do You Know? Count Your Genealogy Numbers

My Genealogy Numbers Form

The last count of my genealogy numbers was in 2017. Things have been busy here. And though it seems contrary it has been even busier during these pandemic years keeping family safe. I am hoping to carve out some time to do more genealogy for my family. When I have had the time it has gone to necessary work for the organizations to which I belong. As many are doing I am trying to find a balance to fulfill all my interests and have-tos.

I am updating the link to My Genealogy Numbers Form from 2014 here. The form itself is the same but due to Blogger updates many older links do not work anymore. And updating the links themselves would likely update the older posts I think messing up this blog's history. As I have said before this form can be shared with others but the proper way to share it is to share the URL address to this blog or to the specific blog post containing the form. Please do not just physically share the Genealogy Number Form file (doc file) via email or your own website or distribute it via printed copies because I have not given anyone that permission. I'm simply saying tell them about it by sharing the URL address or linking to this blog/website. And that way each person can download the file for their own personal use, and I can get an idea of how many people are using the form. If you need an image of your own results, take a screen capture. That is what I did those that appear here.

Okay back to the form. Now this is not a who has the most "cards" or people in our genealogy program scenario. But rather a look at how many direct ancestors do you know in each generation where you know a first and last name OR at least a first name AND that you have some documentation to go with that linking generation to generation.

This is the fifth year I have counted "My Genealogy Numbers." You can find my 2014 numbers, 2015 numbers and 2016 numbers and 2017 numbers at their respective posts.

The reality is that very, very few -- if any of us -- will have all 100% results all the way back through the generations. Natural disasters, people, and a simple lack of recording information have a way of keeping us from the answers we seek. But still we try.

So did I learn anything or find any new direct ancestors since last year? Yes!

While my 2017 genealogy numbers were the same as my 2016 numbers, I did add a few ancestors in 2018 -- four 6th great grandparents, two 7th great grandparents and two 8th great grandparents. For 2019 the numbers stayed the same as 2018. Though I created forms for these in-between years I am not posting them here. It was more for personal reference that I defined what year I discovered what (or who) in my lineage tree.

In 2020 I had to remove a branch of my tree. It was not very big, just two generations, but it was far back and one I was fond of having. I finally found the marriage of a set of 4th great grandparents. It indicated that we had the wrong person identified as 4th great grandpa. Long ago I had checked the work of grandpa's cousins but there wasn't any information to disprove or prove he was the right guy. He had made sense but this newly found marriage clearly indicated the real guy. Luckily I only had to disconnect Dad's side because the parents of the wrong guy were also the parents of one of Mom's lines so I really didn't lose that line like most people would. It just meant Dad and Mom are not 5th cousins anymore. But the connection is likely further back -- same surname, same small area of villages. Hopefully the records hold out because I am getting back to the very early church records. So even though I lost a 4th great grandfather and two 5th great grandparents, I actually gained besides the right 4th great grandfather, four 5th great grandparents (the marriage record also gave the information needed to find her parents too), and two 6th great grandparents.

2021 started off good. In trying to connect one of those 2020 found 5th great grandmothers to the only other person of the same surname in the parish I finally made the connection in another parish. She and he were siblings not father/daughter. It was disappointing to "lose" my first possible von ... ancestor but instead of a new brick wall (where the heck where they married) I found the siblings' parents and more -- adding two 6th great grandparents and two 7th great grandfathers too. And the discovery that the new line was a line of Mühlers (the occupation not the surname) both wind and water millers. Unfortunately of the three mills involved so far, none have survived time but I know where they once stood.

Then in April 2021 I learned some fantastic news. The website for the partnership of the various Evangelische Kirche archives in Germany (called Archion.de) was finally uploading parishes from Kreis Prenzlau in Brandenburg and some parishes from Dad's side were included. This was an area where though the archive in Berlin had microfiche of the church books they were only viewable in Germany. Of course, I still need additional parishes to be digitized to continue my search of this line but I added one 3rd great grandfather, two 4th great grandparents, four 5th great grandparents, and five 6th great grandparents. For third great grandma -- I was right! We had four or five variations on her surname and my educated guess was right -- Collier. Now just be kind and give me access to your marriage record, the earliest kids' baptisms, and your lineage from your parents back. I'll do the work, I just need access.

I also learned in Spring that parishes from my grandmother's area of Vorpommern were being digitized and were expected to be uploaded to the Archion.de website in 2022. In September 2021 I had to start a Archion voucher (gift certificate) before it expired in December. So I worked on a line for a cousin which was collateral to me. As I was finishing tracing generations back on that cousin's line, I learned via email that those Vorpommern parishes (which included grandma's baptismal parish and a couple nearby parishes) were being uploaded in just weeks -- much earlier than originally thought. This too is an area that was not microfilmed and not all the parishes had copies in the regional archive. So access was only by writing postal letters or getting permission to visit the church and view the records (and affording to do so.)

I knew three of the parishes uploaded were ones I needed for grandma. Two I had visited -- too many ancestors and too little time -- and one I had not visited. I ended up following trails to two other of the uploaded parishes and trails to a few other churches further away not digitized yet. (My ancestors are getting closer to the Baltic Sea and Sweden! I don't want patronymic names -- it just does not sound like fun research. Unfortunately, I am getting into the time Sweden and Denmark controlled this area and the likelihood increases someone long, long ago came from Sweden or Denmark.) Of course, there are several churches nearby grandma's baptismal church where she has ancestors too that are not yet digitized either. And I am hoping and praying those parishes will allow their church books to be digitized and uploaded. 

With this first upload of Pommern parish church books, I also realized that one of the parishes uploaded had some of Mom's one line pass through for a time so I utilized those records too. Unfortunately this line was collateral not direct so no new adds there to my direct line. I am waiting for those parishes where Mom's direct line were to be digitized too.

What did I add to 2021's genealogy numbers for grandma? Four 3rd great grandparents (resulting in a completed generation), six 4th great grandparents, twelve 5th great grandparents, sixteen 6th great grandparents, nine 7th great grandparents and one 8th great grandparent. One of my favorite photos of grandma hangs on the wall behind me. So she was with me during this recent genealogy binge into her ancestry.

I am so happy. I can not wait for more Vorpommern and Brandenburg parishes to be digitized and uploaded to the Archion.de website. Did you hear that genealogy angels/fairies? I have two new vouchers and they are good to activate for up to two years.

My Genealogy Numbers for 2021

Though much progress has been made on My Genealogy Numbers, further progress will likely require  a research trip to a specific document-rich location, or more original records to be digitized and uploaded to a website out there somewhere on the internet. Hopefully an adventuring archivist out there discovers long-forgotten records squirreled away in his/her archives and realizes their value to today's genealogists and historians and takes the effort to get these "newly found" records digitized and placed online so new discoveries and knowledge can be made by many. Or maybe a genealogy company can make some new agreements with some archives to make long-stored records accessible through digitization such as early census records and residential records researched by a well-known author of genealogy books, particularly those in the former Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Vorpommern and Brandenburg areas. (Just a thought.)

So how did I do this year with my Genealogy Numbers?

I'd say this was a positive event year to put it mildly. As a recap from last time "My Overall Identified Ancestors Total and Overall Percentage" stands at 295 and .90% going back to my fifteenth generation or 12th great grandparents level. Most others have been comparing their numbers at the 10th generation level and in that case my numbers are -- 255 ancestors out of 1023 total for a 24.93% standing.

I made the form I use is in Microsoft Word and it will automatically calculate the percentages with a right-click of the mouse. Now I did not come up with this fun exercise, I simply made a form that will do the math for me and save me time. And decided it would be nice to share.

As in prior years, I still would like the genealogy angels/fairies if they are reading this to help with a few lines so I can fill out the sparse areas of my tree. 

• I still would like cousins testing their DNA like descendants of Vincent families of early 1800s Hastings and Prince Edward Counties in Ontario, Canada, Or whichever Vincent/Vinson family is the correct one! Joseph needs some parents and siblings and some ancestors -- he is now my shortest line. A photo of his two daughters hangs on the wall behind me. Come on girls, find me your daddy!
• Also nice would be Rider families of mid-1700s and later Dutchess County, New York, and perhaps some better clues showing where John came from prior to his being in Massachusetts and Rhode Island -- he needs some provable parents not guesses.
• DNA matches for Samuel Rider's unnamed wife's family as well as other descendants of Samuel and her would be really, really helpful to figure out who she and her parents were -- perhaps giving me a possible DAR line? -- but at least names so I can trace them back in time.
• And for my beloved Dunham family, more answers/records to move the correct line of Deacon John Dunham back further in England. And, maybe for researchers to stop believing and holding on to the false lineage presented so long ago.

Hazzard descendants are still rolling in nicely in regards to DNA so thank you genealogy angels/fairies. I still don't know when Anna died or what her husband's name was but I know a few of the kids now and their descendants. And, thank you genealogy angels/fairies for those German lines that I now know though I still have brick walls and questions galore there so more help there too please.

Good results with your research everyone in the coming year!


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