Year 2022 Stalled: How Many Ancestors Do You Know? Count Your Genealogy Numbers

My Genealogy Numbers Form

Last year I revisited my genealogy numbers after a lapse in blogging. Though this past year (2022) did involve genealogy it was nothing like 2021. In fact, I did not add one direct ancestor to my tree. But I did do genealogy here and there when it was possible.

My updated 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 sixth year I have counted "My Genealogy Numbers." You can find my 2014 numbers, 2015 numbers, 2016 numbers, 2017 numbers and 2021 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? No, but maybe ...

As I said my 2022 genealogy numbers are the same as my 2021 numbers. The maybe comes in what I've done in the last three months of 2022. I took a chance.

Back in 2021 Archion.de website added digitized records for parishes in what was Kreis Prenzlau in Brandenburg province, some of this area now falls under the former Vorpommern province area. I found my family not in the parish I expected (their given last residence) but in an associated parish. I have a copy of a copy of a copy … etc., of a baptismal/birth statement signed by a pastor of two churches. The interesting thing of that well photocopied statement is that the parents' names are conveniently not on it. There are a couple descenders (well the bottom of them) on the top edge of the paper that was photocopied over and over making me think the paper was originally taller and perhaps it was folded in half and this is the bottom portion. So perhaps the surviving portion rather than an intentional sharing not sharing of the full document. We are not sure who ended up with the original or if it was lost to time.

Having access to those parish records, I found most of the family and confirmed 3rd great grandma's surname as Collier. But I couldn't find the baptisms of the first three children nor the marriage record of my 3rd great grandparents. I was able to trace 3rd great grandpa's line back but not his wife's line. Once I squeezed every record I could out of that parish, I spread out and searched nearby parishes for the missing working out further and further from this center point -- the parish with my family's records. 

I kept in mind a birth location mentioned in the eldest child's marriage record just two weeks after she arrived in the United States. Fahrenwalde. Her groom was from Lützlow a village somewhat nearby her siblings' last residence. Duplicate transcripts of the Lützlow church books available through the Family History Library had been checked years ago and she and her family were not in that parish. Though the duplicate church records were a limited time frame they did cover the time frame I needed. So while checking parishes surrounding Wallmow and Schmölln for the missing marriage and baptisms I kept an eye out for other leads. Family lore was this 3rd great grandma was French Huguenot so I also looked at the available French Reformed Churches located in my growing circle of search.

In the Französiche-reformierte Gemeinde Bergholz parish (whose records are in French) I spotted a few Collier families from Fahrenwalde. But I did not spot my 3rd great grandma. This intrigued me so much that months later I decided to research these Colliers. Even though I had no evidence of a tie yet, my gut said they are related some how. So I searched and entered putting them in a tree. Based on holes (missing people) I came to the conclusion the answers are indeed in Fahrenwalde specifically the Evangelische Kirche Fahrenwalde. I suspected one particular family. At first it seemed grandma might be one of the daughters but birth dates did not match. Further research and tracing these kids forward I suspect 3rd great grandma is another daughter or a daughter of one of the older sons. In the process of tracing the siblings of this particular family to other parishes, I actually found another child for my 3rd great grandparents and one of the missing baptisms. Looking at baptismal sponsors for the children of these particular siblings, I found my 3rd great grandparents were occasionally involved as sponsors. Usually family is among these sponsors. Not always but quite often. But unfortunately no more specific clues could be drawn out as to if 3rd great grandma is one of the siblings or a niece.

Having run out of records in my circular search perimeter, I looked at our DNA matches. Though a search of the Collier surname didn't yield much of use, some of the other surnames did turn up in the matches. That particular family is related but I am still not sure how. In studying the likely father/grandfather of 3rd great grandma trying to take his lineage back further, I came to a theory about which guy of the same name and about the right age time frame was his father. And actually my theory expanded, that his father was likely married three times -- twice to two Huguenot descendant girls who died shortly after giving birth and then to a girl of German descent BUT ... the answers likely lie back in Fahrenwalde in the Evangelische Kirche there. Sigh. Even more patience needed. Those church records are not digitized and online yet, so though the earlier research is done I still can not make a connection or two.

While doing this research I also educated myself about the Huguenots -- their history and where/when they emigrated and the records they may have left and where to find them. Back however many years ago, when which ever groups were indexing these Huguenots they only indexed the Französiche-reformierte Gemeinde churches in this area. So if someone of Huguenot descent married a person of German descent and attended Evangelische Kirche they didn't follow those individuals and index those Evangelische churches too just the Französiche-reformierte churches.

With time left on my short-term subscription, I did play around further tracking some of these Huguenot Colliers whose origins were mentioned in the records back to Mannheim and Friesenheim along with a stop in Magdeburg. But I'm not back to France yet. I really need to fill in that black hole of missing information in Fahrenwalde. I had been grumpy that it seemed like all the records being added lately to Archion were from one Archive. I realized just before the turn of the year that it was the Magdeburg area being added and I might need those records in the future.

I'm less grumpy now. But still not so patiently waiting for more Vorpommern and Brandenburg parishes to be digitized and uploaded to the Archion.de website. And for some Mecklenburg parishes too. From where ever they digitized the Mecklenburg church record microfilms on Ancestry, they did not have them all. It seems no matter which research I try to pick up this month, something is always missing digitally. So to see some things I have to visit the nearest FamilySearch Center where I know the microfilms were at though I might be able to see some of them online when inside the FSC. Did you hear that genealogy angels/fairies? I have two vouchers to use this year along with one new one good for two years. I REALLY want some more church records at Archion.

My Genealogy Numbers for 2021 and again for 2022.

Further progress on my genealogy numbers 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?

Recapping my numbers which are the same as last year, "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 know my wants/wishes list is growing but I just want to remind  you of where I am stuck and in want of help. 

• My newest line I need help with is my Collier line. Please genealogy angels/fairies, please, let the Fahrenwalde parish in former Kreis Prenzlau be digitized an put on the Archion website. I really need that parish to answer those questions. And while you are at it more parishes from the former Vorpommern area and additional parishes from various areas of Mecklenburg.
• 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's lineage!
• 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 the undocumented 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 us a possible DAR line? -- but at least names so I can connect them and 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 exactly when Anna died or what her husband's name was but I know a few of their 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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