Last year, I somehow overlooked my Ancestor Count update until later into 2020 instead of my completing my usual January update.

For my 2021 update, I have to admit that in previous years, I completed my ancestor count manually. I have so many ancestral lines that extend so far back in time that I created new paper charts (handwritten) beginning with great- and 2X great grandparents.

That meant beginning counts at different places on the charts when adding in newly discovered ancestors. With new research into early English probate records being published in scholarly journals, my number counts changed quite a bit.

However, my multiple paper charts also made it easy to get off kilter when switching from one paper chart to another to continue the count.

This year, I finally gave up and used the Ahnentafel report in RootsMagic. I have to say it was much easier counting people in one list rather than on a half dozen different charts.

Dave’s Stufflebean Ancestor Count shows a 20-person increase from the 2020 totals. I am pleased with that increase because his family loved living on the frontier and in burned counties across the South!

Dave actually asked about his numbers compared to mine when updating the Excel file and commented that my big jump in numbers was all due to my New England lines – he’s right!

Stufflebean Ancestor Count

I mentioned that it was easy to get off kilter when manually counting and I found two generations with an actual slightly lower total this year – my 9X and 10X great grandparents are now correctly counted.

The difference was small – 8 fewer people in the 9X group and 9 fewer people in the 10X group.

I am very excited, though, in the huge leap in total number of ancestors identified, from 891 to 1065!

I hope your Ancestor Count has increased over the past year, too.