At the first of the year, I loved a post by Julie Tarr on Julie’s Genealogy and History Hub featuring her “found” direct ancestors numbers and percentages because she had a simple table that clearly showed progress made in the ancestor hunt.

I decided to create one for myself and also for Dave, since I’m the family genealogist. Overall, I am very happy with my percentages because after 35 years, I am still adding direct ancestor names to the charts.

Sadly, unless lost church registers turn up in Slovakia, my 4th great grandparents’ names will forever be lost to time. They were poor villagers who owned no real property. Grave markers were simple wooden crosses, long weathered and gone with time. Local parish registers begin in 1828 so I have identified everyone possible at this point. On the other hand, my colonial American, English and Scandinavian research doors are still wide open.

Here are my ancestor numbers:

6 Generations = 100%

Dave’s lines so far are colonial American and German so there are lots of possibilities for discoveries here, too. I know that some of his roots cross back into the British Isles, but, with the families settling in every burned county in the South, I haven’t yet been able to make the connections to jump the pond.

Here are my husband’s numbers:

5 Generations = 100%

I’m already looking forward to January 2016 to compare my numbers. How do yours look?