How far back have you got?

[Finley 1]

 

You see the simplest answer is always the best.....    I have loads of NPE's then...



its the conflaburation's imparted into this old head    cannot take it...







xin

[Sloe Gin]

771 and Ecgberht of Wessex

Linus Roache was brilliant as him in Vikings.   

As for how far back have I got - no further than early 1600s on any line.

[coombs]

In the what is now UK

771 and Ecgberht of Wessex

In Europe

582 Arnulf of Metz

We gave up adding people at these points.

But if you remember seeing Who Do You Think You Are when they opened up the Family Tree of the Kings of England and the tree went all the way back to God, well we are part of that tree from King Edward III.

Once you find a Gateway the flood gates open.

Gateway ancestors can be hard to find though, it is a case of persevering. Although some people prefer the hard working mud pluggers as opposed to gentry and royals.

Although landed gentry can be considered gateway ancestors, surely the term is not limited to royalty.

[Finley 1]

Yes can comprehend all satisfactions in the discoveries of rich or poor - titled or not.

Bless them all for being part of what made me..........  (I wonder how they feel

What I am so so grateful for at the moment that I have not found anything horrific... eeeek.. just one or two slightly naughty -- and one or two very naughty wife and children neglections etc..
but thankfully nothing too  awful   so thats xxxxxx

I had one go to Prison for Marching against Coal miners Strike in Fife

xin

[guest189040]

In the what is now UK

771 and Ecgberht of Wessex

In Europe

582 Arnulf of Metz

We gave up adding people at these points.

But if you remember seeing Who Do You Think You Are when they opened up the Family Tree of the Kings of England and the tree went all the way back to God, well we are part of that tree from King Edward III.

Once you find a Gateway the flood gates open.

Gateway ancestors can be hard to find though, it is a case of persevering. Although some people prefer the hard working mud pluggers as opposed to gentry and royals.

Although landed gentry can be considered gateway ancestors, surely the term is not limited to royalty.

My own Gateway was a farmers wife, it was just her surname that rang a bell.

My Wife’s Gateway ancestor was a silk weaver from a small village outside Blackburn.

You never know who could open up the tree.

For the most part, farm labourers and weaving related skills do seem the norm for the vast majority ancestors that are in our trees.

[iluleah]

I found an online tree showing lineage back to the Norse Gods, but I haven't proved this line yet. 

Heralds' Visitation lineages suggest one of my lines goes back to the 11th century, but in my opinion these amount to "what the family believed" and may not be accurate.

My earliest proven ancestor (confirmed by BMDs, PRs, and wills) left a will dated 1493.

I would totally agree with your comment.  My maternal ancestial line remained in the same village for centuries, so the villages local records were very useful ( including the parish record books) as there was/is a manor house and many worked for the manor and lived in rental properties owned by the manor and the family in the manor were RC so the Manor also held parish records/diary for those. I was given permission by todays Manor owners to visit and research their records and there are many instances that do not give the same details as the Heralds Visitation records..... so my thoughts changed about the Heralds Visitations records the Heralds seemed to want to join the titled families in the area when there was no evidence at all and in fact record evidence against it...so the  unresearched/unproved 'internet family trees' of the past

[coombs]

You may think you have hit the jackpot with those visitations which mention an ancestor and it goes back several generations and they travelled all over the country, but then get a huge disappointment when you research further and find evidence to the contrary, hence why you should always be prepared beforehand for the fact that a lot of those visitations are based on guesswork and family memory which can be hazy, and even fraudulent entries given by our sly wily ancestors.

[DianaCanada]

My 3x great-grandmother was Mary Harmer of Heathfield, Sussex.  Thanks to the work of the Harmer Family Association, this takes me back to Miles de Haremere of Etchingham, Sussex who lived at the end of the 12th century.

[pharmaT]

I have one line back to a Simon Longcraft whose will went to probate in 1569.  According to the age given on his son's burial record Simon's son was born about 1545.  On the other hand I have a line ending with Catherine Parkes born c1858