3,129 Relatives Later…I’m Still Just Getting Started

I took a moment this weekend to reflect on my tree as it currently stands. I pondered the growth of a genealogical tree compared to real life trees. Plantd has a wonderful (quick to read and easy to understand) post on the life-cycle of real trees (not to say our genealogical trees aren't real - they very much are!) We all start our tree as a seedling. It sprouts and then goes through a period of rapid growth. Our trees may quickly develop into a sapling (young adult trees). They grow taller and stronger, supporting a growing canopy of branches and leaves. The roots grow deeper to support the tree as it inevitably grows in size. 

Over decades, our trees continue to grow stronger and larger. Eventually, they become mature trees. At this point, with a solid trunk, many branches and good set of roots - vertical growth may slow and branches and leaves tend to fill out in areas where they already exist. There is still growth, it just seems to happen more slowly. At this stage the tree becomes an integral part of the ecosystem (in our case, perhaps the basis to help other researchers). Luckily, unlike many real trees, our trees don't have to fall or decay to become the basis for new growth. We can continue to grow our trees for....well...forever if we choose! 

Indeed, even in nature, there are trees living incredible life spans. The giant redwoods (sequoias) are thought to be able to live an astonishing 3.500 years! And while written texts go back as far as 5,500 years, none of us are likely to find written traces of our ancestors anywhere near so old. The oldest traceable family tree is of the Lurie family, dating back to 1037 BC (a stunning 3,063 years!) In more recent discoveries, DNA has unlocked more information on human history. Human DNA 45,000 years old has been found in Germany. And, DNA from Neanderthals has been dated to over 430,000 years ago! Thus far, my family seems very ordinary. As we stretch back in time, ordinary becomes less and less documented, and harder and harder to find. The oldest person in my tree is my 6th great-grandfather, John Martinus Homsher (1689-1747). 337 ago years seems like forever, but it's just s drop in the bucket.

I've intentionally grown my tree slowly. Despite being in my second decade of research, my tree is still young. This is in large part because, like many new family historians, I made mistakes...and LOTS of them! I started and scrapped multiple trees before I found my footing and felt confident in my research. My most recent tree (the one I swore to myself I would "do the right way this time" and never have to start over) was created in early 2021. So it's really only 5 years old. As of this post, I have 3129 people in my tree. Of those, only 38 need some form of documentation. Because I don't place a huge emphases on DNA matches, I've only placed 53 of them thus far (combined from both my and my ex-husband's plethora of DNA matches). I tend to prefer to find where they fit organically (when possible), rather than spending hours trying to dissect and document just to add one DNA match. Eventually, if I keep at it, many will find their way to their proper leaf.

Since my original purpose was to leave a more solid family history for my son than I had, I occasionally look at my tree from the perspective of him as the home person. I've located all his direct ancestors up to and including all of his 3rd great grandparents (both maternal and paternal.) And, out of 64 of his 4th great grandparents, I'm only missing 17. I must admit, he's not nearly as interested in genealogy as I am. He does occasionally enjoy hearing an interesting tidbit or two, but he doesn't share my passion for research. No matter, because I'll continue my search for decades to come! I don't think I'll ever tire of finding new discoveries...or having 20 browser tabs open in the relentless pursuit of one ancestor...or the satisfied feeling of finding where one more DNA relative fits in my tree. 

Image by Dee Guss from Pixabay