you should stop .... even though there is nothing else to find.
I am only interested in going back to all great great grandparents. There are only 7 great grandparents - one is unknown because of illegitimacy.
I found all birth, marriage, death info and all census entries for each. Nothing further to find methinks. All ordinary hard working families. Time to stop.
If I'd stopped at 2x great grandparents I would have missed most of the interesting ones. My various ordinary working-class 2x GGs had: a 1st cousin who was a high-up cleric and composer whose numerous acquaintances included a duke and a famous architect; same family had titled godparents 3 generations earlier; a father who made 2 appearances before Quarter Sessions in 2 years in his youth; a bankrupt uncle, or maybe more than 1, which might explain how they became working-class; a trade-unionist father at a time when union activities could land a man in prison - he featured in 2 court cases and a report of a meeting to which a certain Karl Marx sent words of encouragement; fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers who were eligible to vote, long before the majority of their contemporaries could, even though some were working men (1780s poll-book entry for one survived); ancestors who left wills, some with inventories.
I see my ancestors as a microcosm of 400 years of British & Irish history. Events have impacted their lives from the Reformation to World War Two. Some have helped shape events. Some have been on opposing sides in conflicts, leading to repercussions for later generations.
I do, however have some not very interesting ancestors with names to match (Davies and Jones). I haven't investigated beyond 3x great-grandparents around 1800.
