How far back in time have you managed to trace your family tree?

[Tsuin]

My paternal uncle did an Ancestry DNA test about 10 years, he traced our lineage back to a Mexican gun-salesman that sold guns to the Union during the American Civil War.

[MCMXCV]

I’ve been actively researching my family tree for about a year and a half now, all since digitalised church records have become available online for my archdiocese. Prior to that, I knew the names of all of my 8 great-grandparents, including birth and death years of 6 of them. I also knew the names of 7 of my second great-grandparents and the dates of 4. This information was retrieved from graves and some documents my relatives possess. I’m not including their siblings and other relatives in this summary; only my direct ancestors.

My tree has now expanded from initial knowledge of 3 to 4 generations back to at least 5 and up to 12 being the extreme case.

The outlier in the family tree is my paternal grandmother’s quarter, for which — as of now — I only have concrete records for 5 generations back from my person (1830s–50s being estimated years of birth). Illegitimate children — making finding the mother much more difficult if I ignore the impossibility of finding the father, unless DNA testing shows some luck — and not yet available church records are the main reason for it; for at least one branch within that quarter, I know I’ll be able to continue researching when additional records are added.

The other three quarters of my family tree are mostly traced for at least two generations further. I know the names, birth dates and places and marriage information for most of my 48 fourth great-grandparents (born 1760s–1820s), and at least the names for an overwhelming majority of my 96 fifth great-grandparents (known born 1740s–1800s). Based on current knowledge, they all originate from the northwestern half of the Slovene Hills (Slovenske gorice / Windischen Bühel), a hilly region between the rivers Drava and Mura in northeastern Slovenia.



Ethnicity-wise, I suspect they are predominantly Slovenes, but determining for certain is difficult; relying on surnames for that doesn’t seem reliable in my opinion. They all hail from the countryside, which has always been populated by a Slovene-speaking population, not German. The only exception is the area around Apače /Abstall, where there was a German-speaking population until the end of WWII. Some of my ancestors were born at the outskirts of that valley and were baptised and got married in the church of that “German” village.

All my known ancestors are of the Roman Catholic faith. It makes me wonder if the Ashkenazi Jewish DNA estimate comes from one of the unknown fathers in the family tree; the percentage and how many generations removed it is would match up nicely.

To add an interesting fact for the end: the highest Ahnentafel numbers in my family tree are 4958 and 4959. They belong to my tenth great-grandparents (surnames Kermek and Tirbula), who married on 23 November 1665 in St Benedict in the Slovene Hills.

[Beowulf]

As much to the years 1100s around that in a minor part of my tree.