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How often do maternal-paternal lines share ancestors?

How often do maternal-paternal lines share ancestors?

Posted: 23 Feb 2013 8:13PM GMT
Classification: Query
If I have constructed my tree correctly (and I believe this part is accurate), I have discovered that my mother and father share a common set of great+ grandparents. On my father's maternal side, this couple is 13th generation. On my mother's maternal side, this same couple is 14th generation. The son of these two continued my mother's line, and his sister continued my father's line.

I am new to researching ancestors, so I'm wondering if more experienced members have encountered this phenomenon before.

So, any guesses on how often this sort of thing occurs?

Re: How often do maternal-paternal lines share ancestors?

Posted: 23 Feb 2013 8:59PM GMT
Classification: Query
Was the start of your genealogy journey in Dec 2012, per your profile?

There is never an easy or gentle manner to advise newbies who claim 12 generations of "research" in a couple/few months, that they've wasted a good deal of time.

You should still be in the 20th Century, learning the basics, ie; finding, obtaining and evaluating evidence and documentation.

Paternal and maternal lines that grow exponentially with each generation and can intersect in earlier generations. Depending on the geographical area and population, it could be quite common.

Re: How often do maternal-paternal lines share ancestors?

Posted: 24 Feb 2013 2:07AM GMT
Classification: Query
Welcome to the world of genealogy. One of the very first things to learn about is documentation, and second to never assume another tree is accurate. As you will learn as you progress, there are many, many inaccurate trees both here and on other sites.
There are many experienced researchers here that will gladly help you along the way, so ask questions if you need to.
I looked at your tree, and it looks like you got a number of ancestors from other trees. If you can prove all these by documentation (census, marriage license, birth or death certificates, obituaries, etc.) that's great. But if you can't, I would suggest you delete those ancestors as there is at least a 50% chance they are wrong. It's very tempting to gain all these ancestors by just assuming others are right, but it is very wrong.
Start with your known ancestors... parents, grandparents, and fill in what you know (and can prove) about them. At that point build back to the next generation by using the records here on ancestry as well as informaton from other sites as familysearch.org.
The leaf hints that will show on your entries are just that... hints. It is up to you to prove they are your folks.
Other ancestry trees, in my opinion, are good for one thing, and that is "possibles". If I get stuck on someone, I will look at someone's tree to see what they believe is right. Then I research to see if I can prove that relationship... if I can't prove it, I won't add it.

You want to have an accurate tree, and one you can be proud of, but it takes a lot of work to do so -- true ancestors are not just a click away as is sometimes inferred on some tv advertisements. I'd be more than willing to give any help possible, just email me at lindad612@hotmail.com, and I'll gladly help. I've been researching my families for 30 years, and enjoy helping new researchers.

Linda

Re: How often do maternal-paternal lines share ancestors?

Posted: 4 Mar 2013 10:47PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 4 Mar 2013 10:48PM GMT
Interesting thread and the replies express a truth many of us need to be reminded about.

Getting back to your original topic, cebconsulting -
the answer is ALL maternal-paternal lines share ancestors.

Read about the phenomenon of PEDIGREE COLLAPSE here,
LINK:
http://greytrek.com/Pedigree%20Collapse/Incest.htm

Everybody has to have the same set of ancestors (same couple) on more than one family line, at many points in their family history. Your pedigree should reach a maximum "girth" and then dwindle - it is a diamond shape, not a fan.

The general rule of thumb (which would vary from individual to individual) is that the number of grandparents doubles every 25 years. Go back 1200+ years to 800 AD using this guideline, and you should have 281.5 trillion grandparents - but there weren't that many people on the planet at that time.

Take a look at this chart "How Many Ancestors Do You Have" to check out the situation in the 13th and 14th generation:
http://familyforest.com/resources/51/ancestors-at-a-glance

At 13 generations back, you theoretically have 8,192 ancestors. At 14 generations, that doubles to a theoretical 16,384 ancestors. The number of ACTUAL individuals who are your ancestors will depend on where and how your ancestors lived, as was already pointed out. One chunk of mine were peasant farmers in Europe (true for most of us), bound by law to stay in the area where they lived. This broad band of the lowest social class did not travel much. Of course people married 2nd and 3rd and 4th cousins, creating pedigree collapse. Same was true at the top of the social ladder, and I have some of that too. European royals have far fewer actual ancestors than the math would suggest, because cousins married.

At the simplest level, consider a brother and sister marrying. Their child would have two actual grandparents instead of a theoretical four. That's pedigree collapse.

There's a lot written on this topic - I didn't search for the most authoritative sources, just posted the first "hits" I got on Google. :D

Re: How often do maternal-paternal lines share ancestors?

Posted: 4 Feb 2015 4:39AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 4 Feb 2015 4:44AM GMT
Ms. Linda, I am basically working in the dark. I had whom I believe was my niece do a DNA test. I was very new to ancestry and being overly excited to get a close hit contacted her via ancestry. She had not logged in so didn't get my message. I found who I believed to be her on FB and contacted her. Being that the message went to her "other" box, no answer. I googled her and easily found where she worked. I called, explained who I was and she very nervously answered "I don't have an ancestry account and have never been DNA tested. I don't believe a word of it since you have to register, confirm, etc. Later through ancestry she said she did remember having an account, but never tested. I did get enough info to rebuild her tree. I have since tried to contact several family members and have been ignored or blocked at every pass causing me to believe they knew about me and don't want me to have access.

I have put myself where I believe I belong on that tree through DNA hints and ancestry has formed BETA circles with DNA matches to me and ancestors. Should I believe at this point that these are correct findings or is it coincidence? I had some search angels tell me that BETA circles really don't mean anything, yet the people in them match my DNA. What is your opinion?

Re: How often do maternal-paternal lines share ancestors?

Posted: 4 Feb 2015 9:50AM GMT
Classification: Query
I have not gone the DNA route, so I will admit I am not the right person to answer your question. Lets hope someone experienced with DNA research will hop in here and answer your question.

Re: How often do maternal-paternal lines share ancestors?

Posted: 4 Feb 2015 9:54PM GMT
Classification: Query
I assume you are talking autosomal DNA? If so 13 generations back and 14 generations back you are not likely to have inherited any DNA that far back. Numerous intermarriages over the generations of related individuals within a closed community can result in DNA matches to you appearing closer than they actually are. Other than that it wouldn't be significant as far back as you found the connection.

Joan

Re: How often do maternal-paternal lines share ancestors?

Posted: 5 Feb 2015 1:13AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 5 Feb 2015 1:42PM GMT
Puzzled. I don't see anyone referring to a DNA match or possible match at 13 or 14 generations back...

redheadzrule, can you clarify? You thought maybe your sibling had a daughter but you weren't sure? You didn't know this niece personally. You believed you had found out who this niece is - for non-DNA reasons - but you weren't 100% sure. Then you took a DNA test. Is this correct so far?
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