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Saturday, January 4, 2014

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - What's Your Ancestor Score?

Hey ahnentafelists (new genea-word!) - it's Saturday Night - time for more Genealogy Fun!!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (and I hope more of you do than participated in the last several SNGF challenges), is to:

1)  Determine how complete your genealogy research is.  For background, read Crista Cowan's post Family History All Done? What’s Your Number? and Kris Stewart's What Is Your Genealogy "Score?"  For comparison purposes, keep the list to 10 or 11 generations with you as the first person.  

2)  Create a table similar to Crista's second table, and fill it in however you can (you could create an Ahnentafel (Ancestor Name) list and count the number in each generation, or use some other method).  Tell us how you calculated the numbers.

3)  Show us your table, and calculate your "Ancestral Score" - what is your percentage of known names to possible names (1,023 for 10 generations).

4)  For extra credit (or more SNGF), do more generations and add them to your chart.

5)  Post your table, and your "Ancestor Score," on your own blog, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook Status post or Google+ Stream post.

Here's mine:

1)  I did this by creating an Ahnentafel Report in RootsMagic 6 (Reports > Lists > Ahnentafel Report) for 15 generations, then saved it as a PDF, opened it, and counted, by hand, the persons on the list in each generation.  The numbers included duplicate persons (due to marrying cousins) and persons I had either a first or last name for.

2)  My chart (if you want a blank chart in Microsoft Word format, please email me!).

3)  My "Ancestor Score" for 10 generations is:

*  Number of known ancestral names = 541
*  Number of possible ancestral names = 1,023
*  10 generation Ancestral Name Number = 541/1,023 = 52.83%

4)  Extra credit:  For 15 generations, I have 2,238 known Ancestral Names, out of 32,767 possible, for an Ancestor Score of 6.83% for 15 generations.

It really helps, in my case, to have a New England ancestry for about 50% of my 4th great-grandparents.  All of those New England ancestors have English ancestors and those are the lines back to the 15th generation.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/01/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-whats-your.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver
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29 comments:

  1. UnknownSaturday, January 4, 2014 at 1:52:00 PM PST

    21.31% is my genealogy score
    http://mylinktothepast.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-is-your-genealogy-score.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Diana RitchieSaturday, January 4, 2014 at 2:17:00 PM PST

    My score is 14.2% Here is my post over at Random Relatives

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yvonne DemoskoffSaturday, January 4, 2014 at 2:34:00 PM PST

    I've found 83% of my ancestors, Randy. (Being of French-Canadian ancestry really helps!) See my table at http://yvonnesgenealogyblog.blogspot.ca/2014/01/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-whats-your.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. GeneGinnySaturday, January 4, 2014 at 5:14:00 PM PST

    16% for 10 generations. Guess I need to stop pursuing stories and start adding names. http://geneginny.blogspot.com/2014/01/sngf-my-ancestor-score.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Elizabeth HandlerSaturday, January 4, 2014 at 5:45:00 PM PST

    42.6% is my genealogy score. Not much more than when I last did this. See From Maine to Kentucky.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AmandaSaturday, January 4, 2014 at 7:13:00 PM PST

    15% for me. My post is here.

    ReplyDelete
  7. testSaturday, January 4, 2014 at 8:30:00 PM PST

    I can only make it back to 8 generations and have a score of 28 percent. I've posted my results over at: http://www.ourjourneywest.com/2014/01/whats-your-ancestor-score.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. LizSaturday, January 4, 2014 at 9:10:00 PM PST

    I'm finally baaaack! Here's mine:

    http://gatapleytree.blogspot.com/2014/01/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-whats-your.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. The Down East GenealogistSaturday, January 4, 2014 at 9:44:00 PM PST

    My score is 16.5% for 10 generations. Have I got a lot to do... My post is on my new blog Pine Trees and Pedigrees, at http://pinetreesandpedigrees.blogspot.com/2014/01/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-my.html.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Pam Seavey SchaffnerSaturday, January 4, 2014 at 9:55:00 PM PST

    84% for me. Helps to be from New England. Will write a post about it tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  11. XfaithSaturday, January 4, 2014 at 10:47:00 PM PST

    Hey Randy, a nice primer to get back in the game...

    Sitting at 13% for my score.

    http://familyhistorytracing.blogspot.com/2014/01/sngf-whats-your-ancestor-score.html

    Dave

    ReplyDelete
  12. Shannon ThomasSunday, January 5, 2014 at 2:40:00 AM PST

    12.9% for me...you can see my post at http://shannonmthomas.blogspot.com/2014/01/satuday-night-genealogy-fun-whats-your.html

    ReplyDelete
  13. Shannon ThomasSunday, January 5, 2014 at 2:41:00 AM PST

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Pam Seavey SchaffnerSunday, January 5, 2014 at 6:45:00 AM PST

    84% for me. Here's my post.http://diggingdowneast.blogspot.com/2014/01/down-east-stock-yields-high-family-tree.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. JackySunday, January 5, 2014 at 7:42:00 AM PST

    My genealogy score is 17.20. http://genealogyvt.blogspot.com/2014/01/my-2014-genealogy-score.html

    ReplyDelete
  16. Jen SmartSunday, January 5, 2014 at 10:40:00 AM PST

    It's been over a year since I posted anything to my blog - hopefully I don't go as long before posting again... I'm only at 11% so there's a lot of work available! My post is here.

    ReplyDelete
  17. GlynnSunday, January 5, 2014 at 10:48:00 AM PST

    I haven't worked out a score because, for me, family history is not about how many names you have on your tree, it is about finding out about the history of your family. As it happens, I have a lot of my ancestors' names because I started out in 1977 and every one of my direct forebears so far discovered, were from within fifty miles of where I live today.

    My 9X great grandparents were married in 1620, in the Church I looked at out of my bedroom window when I was growing up and my parents still live in that same house.

    My passion is all about finding out about the lives of my ancestors, not just ticking off a list.

    If you want to visit the places in England, connected to your own ancestry, check out my website or drop me an email.

    Glynn
    http://www.norfolk-tours.co.uk
    glynn@norfolk-tours.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  18. Heather Wilkinson RojoSunday, January 5, 2014 at 1:58:00 PM PST

    I have 50% of my 10th generation. Not too bad considering that my grandmother came through Ellis Island and I have only a few generations of her ancestry. I have most of my New England ancestry, but numbers dropped off in the 8th generation due to a Hessian ancestor and a stowaway from the Netherlands. I'd love to redo this counting just to see what percentage of my New England Great Migration ancestry I have found. I've got to figure out how to do that.

    ReplyDelete
  19. JoanSunday, January 5, 2014 at 5:22:00 PM PST

    Joan says: My score is 31.86%. 326 of 1023, 109 of those being the 10th generation! To GeneGinny-pursuing stories is so much fun! To Glynn-so fascinating to see the church where your 9x greatgrandparents married!

    ReplyDelete
  20. SallySearchesSunday, January 5, 2014 at 5:50:00 PM PST

    Thanks for the fun idea. Here's mine:

    http://sallysearches.blogspot.com/2014/01/ancestor-score.html

    ReplyDelete
  21. Patti HobbsSunday, January 5, 2014 at 8:48:00 PM PST

    wow, I'm impressed at those who have percentages in the 80s. I'm not posting mine anywhere, but I figured it out just for fun. I've only got 19.6%.

    ReplyDelete
  22. BrianMonday, January 6, 2014 at 8:10:00 AM PST

    26.2% for me at 10 generations. Didn't do the further generations which are very sparse.

    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsF7_9Yeu69mdF81ZkQyX0pZbTZacnhsYjRiT0ZwVVE&usp=sharing


    ReplyDelete
  23. goneresearchingMonday, January 6, 2014 at 4:11:00 PM PST

    Hey, Randy.

    As I was figuring out my numbers I created a form in Word with a table that will do the math for you with a few right-clicks on the mouse. I've made the form available on my blog

    http://goneresearching.blogspot.com/

    At the 10th generation, I am at 17.99% but if I add a probable line I would be at 18.96% if I can find the proof I need.

    Hopefully, this will be the year.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Ginger SmithMonday, January 6, 2014 at 4:26:00 PM PST

    Thanks for the fun exercise. I would like to check this again in a few months. I think my DNA testing has helped this along. I got a 27% and these are ancestors I have confirmed. I posted to Genealogy By Ginger

    ReplyDelete
  25. UnknownSaturday, January 11, 2014 at 11:15:00 PM PST

    My score is 18.18% for 10 generations. This exercise really helped me see where I need to do more work in my research. http://genealogybugsherie.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-whats-your.html

    ReplyDelete
  26. meMonday, January 13, 2014 at 7:26:00 AM PST

    Here's my Score 27.86. You can see my table at http://genealogybyeric.blogspot.com/2014/01/whats-your-number.html

    ReplyDelete
  27. AJSwtlkMonday, February 17, 2014 at 6:04:00 PM PST

    47.61

    http://thomasgardnerofsalem.blogspot.com/2014/02/whats-your-number.html

    ReplyDelete
  28. AJSwtlkWednesday, February 19, 2014 at 11:59:00 AM PST

    The range of numbers is interesting.

    I went back and split out the trees for the two grandparents from New England.

    As expected, the numbers rose.

    http://thomasgardnerofsalem.blogspot.com/2014/02/numbers-again.html

    ReplyDelete
  29. AnonymousSunday, January 4, 2015 at 4:16:00 PM PST

    http://lifecitation.wordpress.com/2015/01/04/saturday-night-genealogy-funwhats-your-ancestor-score/

    It only took me a year to do this!!

    ReplyDelete