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If you go back 12 generations you have 2^12 = 4 096 ancestors. Seems rather unlikely that every single one of them is Irish. If you go back 20 generations you'd
by ma2rten 15y ago
If you go back 12 generations you have 2^12 = 4 096 ancestors. Seems rather unlikely that every single one of them is Irish. If you go back 20 generations you'd have 2^20 = 1 048 576 ancestors, which is probably larger then the population of Ireland by that time.
- ddlatham 15y agoWhile it's true there's likely an immigrant in the bunch, it's also very unlikely that all 4096 or 1048576 ancestors are distinct. The tree is bound to overlap.
- ma2rten 15y agoGood point!
- robert-boehnke 15y agoThis is also known as the Ancestors Paradox
- Nogwater 15y agoExcept that if you go back that far, not all of the ancestors are likely to be distinct.
- konop1 15y agoThe farther back you go the less likely it is that they would be immigrants. Back in the day when people had to walk or ride to where they wanted to go...