In order to be born, you needed: 2 parents 4 grandparents 8 great-grandparents 16 second great-grandparents 32 third great-grandparents 64 fourth great-grandparents 128 fifth great-grandparents 256 sixth great-grandparents 512 seventh great-grandparents 1,024 eighth great-grandparents 2,048 ninth great-grandparents For you to be born today from 12 previous generations, you needed a total sum of 4,094 ancestors over the last 400 years. Think for a moment – How many struggles? How many battles? How many difficulties? How much sadness? How much happiness? How many love stories? How many expressions of hope for the future? – did your ancestors have to undergo for you to exist in this present moment… — Lyrical Zen
If you come from a rural area , then probably a lot less due to inbreeding. The same if you come from a royal family
A bit harsh as Albert Einstein, H G Wells, Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Darwin all married first cousins. I could include Jerry Lee Lewis, but Shucks and Yee Ha!
My Castle Camps people all intermarried and my Dad always said that, considering the gene pool, we did pretty well!
"Pedigree collapse" is the phrase of the day! For an introduction see Wikipedia Code: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedigree_collapse
My paternal grandparents were first cousins and country folk until they moved to Chelmsford, when I relayed that info to a maternal aunt she replied "no wonder we are all barmy".
One of my major bugbears is one of my 4x Gt Grandfathers. Now I’m panicking about the other 63 !! Not sure how many I’ve got so far And what about the other 127 5X ones !! Once you’ve seen this, you can’t unsee it …………..