Time to tally up your family tree for the first half of 2014

For me, July is when I tally up my family tree count for the first 6 months research and see how many brick walls I might have knocked down compared to my January 2014 results. The goal of this exercise is to calculate the percentage of ancestors you know of up to your 7th Great Grandparents.

I've added a little guide to calculating your family tree in less than an hour if you have a tree on Ancestry.com.

View the family tree pedigree view for one of your parents

The last generation is your 3rd Great-Grandparents.


As you click the arrow after each 3rd GGP, their branch opens to show up to the 7th generation.

Count how many 4th, 5th, 6th, & 7th GGPs you have and added them to the box indicated on this chart

how many ancestors possible for 4th - 7th generation using this chart:
4th column - 2
5th column - 4
6th Column - 8
7th Column - 16

Complete one of these for each parent.

Add it to the chart and calculate your percentage

After the tally, I usually find that I have neglected several branches for one reason or another. My genie senses tingle and I recall all the new collections added and/or updated on Family Search that I've seen and have yet to review for these ignored ancestors. The hunt is back on and I'm carrying a sledgehammer :)