3/6/25

Your Family Mountain

 You don’t have a family tree; you have a family mountain! An Ancestral Arithmetic Activity Start adding up your ancestors from past generations (2 parents + 4 grandparents + 8 great-grandparents +16 great-great-grandparents, and so on). By the time you get to your 20th great-grandparents, you are well into the millions. Keep going to your 30th great-grandparents, and the number will astound you!

Family tree? Think again. And your heritage is likely far more diverse that you imagine. March 8th is Genealogy Day, so here’s a little math exercise for you ahead of the day.

After doing the math, think of all the cousins you have. (I just might be a distant cousin.)
 
I know that I have millions and millions of distant genetic cousins because of my DNA markers and all the genealogical research others have done on some my more notable ancestors. (Especially some ancestors who were clueless seasick sectarian passengers on a crappy off-course cargo ship in 1620.) Then add in my Native American ancestors who had lived in the “New World” for thousands of years, plus all my other ancestors from Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France, Scandinavia, Russia, Spain, Turkey, and Brazil. And then there are my Neanderthal ancestors to count.
 
What’s your genetic heritage? And did you know that genealogy can help in preventing hereditary cancer?