How Many Ancestors Do I Have?
This handy chart illustrates the number of ancestors we have per generation in our family tree. And how it “grows” exponentially with each generation. That’s why it takes a very long time to research a family tree.
Genealogists and family historians often get asked “how long does it take to do a family tree?”. That question is extremely difficult to answer, because it depends on many factors like geography, availability of records, genealogy skills, and most importantly, time and money. As in how much time and money are you willing to spend on researching your family? The simplest answer is “a very long time” because of the sheer number of ancestors in a family tree. The below chart illustrates the number of ancestors we have and how quickly that family tree “grows” exponentially. A 10-generation tree (if you are generation #1) has direct 4,095 ancestors—not including siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and their spouses. Note that the chart does not take endogamy (the repetition of ancestors) into account, which is extremely common in French-speaking Canada.
