Generations

Perhaps I’m “singing to the choir” here, or perhaps not, but as an amateur genealogist, (not archaeologist, though there are similarities, since both specialties are into dead things) I have been fascinated to reflect on the multitude of direct ancestors who have proceeded us in this world.

My wife and I were reflecting on this issue today. We’ve been “taken up” with this theme ever since we discovered we are 5^th cousins, as we share common 4x great grandparents; (Jabez and Rebecca Dowling).

But to get to my point.

We have two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents, sixteen 2x great grandparents, 32 3x great grandparents, 64 4x great grandparents, 128 5x great grandparents, 256 6x great grandparents, 512 7x great grandparents, 1,024 8x great grandparents, 2,048 9x great grandparents, and (drum roll) 4,096 10x great grandparents; (for a grand total of 8,054 grandparents throughout the course of only 11 generations and approximately half a millennium.) I would need a calculator to roughly compute the myriad of grandparents who have contributed their DNA to any one of us in the past 2,000 years since Jesus left His footprints here. Amazing stuff.

With the passage of each more distant generation the number of our great grandparents have doubled, and of course each and every one of them owned a different surname, (last name,) with the exception of any duplicates.

But to diverge for a moment, modern technology has allowed me, and millions of others like me, to meet present day relatives whom we might never have otherwise had the opportunity to know. I have interacted with 10^th cousins on social media, and have done lunch with 4^th and 5^th cousins. Interesting, how we share distant great grandparents from the wee beginnings of American civilization, and how our once direct lines have, (there’s that word again) diverged.

And my genealogical research has made me aware that my ancestry is not confined to what some might classify as “commoners,” but “lo and behold” famous personages such as, Richard Warren, a Mayflower passenger, Sir Winston Churchill, President Franklin Roosevelt, and Princes William and Harry are among my distant relatives. (Not that I expect to be invited to have lunch at Buckingham Palace, mind you).

I have wondered if any of my ancestors whispered a prayer for me when I was yet unborn, (as I have for you.) I have wondered who they were, what thoughts passed through the gray matter with which we are all blessed, what ambitions, perceptions and motivations they possessed, who they loved, where they traveled, and who among them will greet me when I cross that final threshold.

And if you happen to be reading this manuscript in half a thousand years, my dear descendant, we are prone to think of our father and mother as being the ultimate genesis of who we are as individuals, but consider how multiplied thousands of random and unacquainted individuals, (whom you can rightly refer to as “Grandfather” or “Grandmother”) contributed, and combined their own physical particularities, and mental capabilities to literally make you the person you are today.

 

By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "Writings"