Direct Ancestors

What is a Direct Ancestor?

The primary focus of my genealogical research right now is my direct ancestors.

Direct ancestors are parent and grand-parent relationships.

Spouses, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. would not be considered direct-line ancestors.  They would be considered collateral-line ancestors, or indirect ancestors.

Many heritage societies require you to prove a direct line of descent in order to obtain membership.

This isn’t to say that collateral ancestors aren’t important.  They can often provide valuable clues to direct ancestors.

Researching collateral-line ancestors can prove beneficial for several different purposes, especially if any of them are also into genealogical research or family history.

I happened to luck out with a 3rd cousin on my paternal great grandfather’s line that has done a ton of research already and reached out to me to collaborate on the lineage we share.

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My Direct Ancestors

The following lists all of the direct ancestors I’ve found so far. If it is one of my Top Surnames, the name is followed by the percentage of people in my tree with that surname so far. And the number of people with that matching surname is listed in parenthesis.

My Direct Ancestors

My Direct Ancestors

Obviously I’ve only made a dent into my family’s history thus far.  I have 33 total people on my tree at the moment and 10 unique surnames.

As I continue my research, I will be adding pages with new family members and details that will be linked to from here.

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