RootsChat.Com

I was looking through my notes from a few years ago and found this. I thought it might be worth sharing (apologies if there's already a posting somewhere along these lines - I couldn't find one!)...

Every person has two, exactly two, parents.
So each ancestral generation has twice as many lineal ancestors as the previous generation.
Therefore every person on earth has 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, 16 great-great-grandparents, etc.

Hmmm... this sounds very much like the "grains of rice on a chessboard" problem...

To make the maths easy think very simplistically and assume that each generation lasts exactly 30 years (i.e. both parents are 30 years old when their child is born).
So a child born in 2000 has 2 parents born in 1970 (back one generation), 4 grandparents all born in 1940 (back two generations), 8 great-grandparents all born in 1910 (back three generations), etc...

By 10 generations, 1700CE, you have over a thousand (1,024) great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents (great*8-grandparents)
By 14 generations, 1580CE, you have over 10 thousand (16,384) great*12-grandparents
By 17 generations, 1490CE, you have over 100 thousand (131,072) great*15-grandparents
By 20 generations, 1400CE, you have over a million (1,048,576) great*18-grandparents
By 24 generations, 1280CE, you have over 10 million (16,777,216) great*22-grandparents
By 27 generations, 1190CE, you have over 100 million (134,217,728) great*25-grandparents
By 30 generations, 1100CE, you have over a billion (1,073,741,824) great*28-grandparents

This prompts a couple of observations:

Firstly, when somebody claims that they've traced their ancestry back to 1700, then which of the 1,024 great*8-grandparents are they referring to?

Secondly, according to the US Census Bureau (http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/worldhis.html) the world population had been rising gradually from something between 170 million and 400 million at 1AD, and first reached a billion (1,000,000,000) some time between 1750 and 1850.
By my reckoning, this means that the number of individuals in the 28th or 29th generation back exceeded the entire population of planet earth!

This is impossible! But the answer is obvious after a little thought. We're assuming that each ancestor in a particular generation is a discrete, distinct, unique individual. This is not necessarily true. While it might be unusual to see marriages between first cousins, it becomes less unlikely with further degrees of separation.

Pete

I'm trying to verify a story that an Edmond Brown was briefly proprietor of the Hibernian Hotel in Mallow around 1895-1897. We know that he and his wife, Ellen, moved to Mallow from Cahir Co. Tipperary around 1895. By 1897 he's the steward at the Mallow Club. By 1920 he's at the Mallow Commercial Club. I've managed to find several names related to these places online, but only one that might be him:

From a transcription of the 1914 Guy's Postal Directory for Mallow at http://www.failteromhat.com/guy/mallow.htm
- Patrick Walsh: proprietor Hibernian Hotel
- E O S Allen: Hon Sec Mallow Club
- H Dicker: steward Mallow Club
- W Fitzpatrick: secretary Commercial Club
- John Murphy: steward Commercial Club
 
References to individual entries in the 1926 Guy's Postal Directory for Mallow, found at the Mallow Archaeological & Historical Society's name index pages http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlmahs/midxa.htm, etc (midxb.htm for surnames beginning B, through to midxy.htm for surnames beginning Y):
- Patrick Walsh: proprietor Hibernian Hotel
- R McClean: steward Mallow Club
- W Fitzpatrick: secretary Commercial Club
- Edward Browne: steward Commercial Club (I'm fairly certain that this is actually our Edmond Browne)

What are the links, if any, between these three places?
Where exactly in Mallow were they (I think the Hibernian Hotel was on Bank Place)?
Does anybody know of, or have access to, Guy's Postal Directories for other years?
Any other places I might be able to find more information?

Pete

In the 1891 Wales census I have an address in Llanfoist St, in the hamlet of Clydach, civil parish of Ystradyfodwg, Rhondda. I initially assumed that this was Cwm Clydach (Clydach Vale)

I also know (from the census, a marriage certificate, and a birth certificate) that in 1901 there was a Llanfoist Street in Ton (aka Ton Pentre), also in the civil parish of Ystradyfodwg, Rhondda.

Several of the family from Llanfoist St, Clydach in the 1891 census are living in Llanfoist St, Ton (different house number though) in the 1901 census, which makes think that MAYBE Clydach is NOT Cwm Clydach?

Could it be that the 1891 Hamlet of Clydach was actually near Ton, and swallowed up by it around the turn of the century?

This suspicion was furthered when I discovered that modern on-line maps (e.g. Google, Multimap) of the Rhondda show the only Llanfoist Street in the area to be near Ton Pentre railway station.

The mention of Tyr Yr Eglwys in the second paragraph of this article http://webapps.rhondda-cynon-taf.gov.uk/heritagetrail/rhondda/tonpentre/ton_pentre.htm further intrigued me about this possibility, as the 1871 census has the family's address as "By Church, Clydach, Ystradyfodwg", and the 1881 census has "Church St, Ystradyfodwg".

So, two questions:

1) Is there (or was there ever) a Llanfoist Street in Cwm Clydach?

2) If not, then could "Clydach, Ystradyfodwg" have referred to an area of what is now Ton Pentre?

Pete