How long ago was 10 generations?
I’ve created a quick-glance reference chart of generations with the numbers of ancestors and rough time frames and year ranges at each generation, for my own use when traversing family trees. Note that the ranges get larger as we go back further – most families will fall near the center of each range on average. For the first table, I’ve set 1960 as the base reference date (just because!). A version for someone born in 1980 follows below.
The next-to-last column that is labeled “#” has the number of direct biological ancestors at that number of generations ago, without considering pedigree collapse, which is almost certain if you go back 20 generations! So, the actual number for almost everyone is considerably fewer individual ancestors.
How do we refer to our ancestors in a way that is clear?
Great-great-great-great-grandfather just doesn’t work. Donna Cox Baker has a great article titled “Multi-great style or the great-great-great tongue-twister” that helped me decide how to style my writing about ancestors.
Whether or not I am good at following it, I include below what I have decided on as “standard” labels in agreement with the above article.
For someone born about 1960…
| Years ago | Dates | Ancestors | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gen# | from | to | from | to | # | Label | |
| 1 | 20 | 40 | 1920 | – | 1940 | 2 | parents |
| 2 | 40 | 80 | 1880 | – | 1920 | 4 | grandparents |
| 3 | 60 | 120 | 1840 | – | 1900 | 8 | great-grandparents |
| 4 | 80 | 160 | 1800 | – | 1880 | 16 | 2nd-great-grandparents |
| 5 | 100 | 200 | 1760 | – | 1860 | 32 | 3rd-great-grandparents |
| 6 | 120 | 240 | 1720 | – | 1840 | 64 | 4th-great-grandparents |
| 7 | 140 | 280 | 1680 | – | 1820 | 128 | 5th-great-grandparents |
| 8 | 160 | 320 | 1640 | – | 1800 | 256 | 6th-great-grandparents |
| 9 | 180 | 360 | 1600 | – | 1780 | 512 | 7th-great-grandparents |
| 10 | 200 | 400 | 1560 | – | 1760 | 1024 | 8th-great-grandparents |
| 11 | 220 | 440 | 1520 | – | 1740 | 2048 | 9th-great-grandparents |
| 12 | 240 | 480 | 1480 | – | 1720 | 4096 | 10th-great-grandparents |
| 13 | 260 | 520 | 1440 | – | 1700 | 8192 | 11th-great-grandparents |
| 14 | 280 | 560 | 1400 | – | 1680 | 16384 | 12th-great-grandparents |
| 15 | 300 | 600 | 1360 | – | 1660 | 32768 | 13th-great-grandparents |
| 16 | 320 | 640 | 1320 | – | 1640 | 65536 | 14th-great-grandparents |
| 17 | 340 | 680 | 1280 | – | 1620 | 131072 | 15th-great-grandparents |
| 18 | 360 | 720 | 1240 | – | 1600 | 262144 | 16th-great-grandparents |
| 19 | 380 | 760 | 1200 | – | 1580 | 524288 | 17th-great-grandparents |
| 20 | 400 | 800 | 1160 | – | 1560 | 1048576 | 18th-great-grandparents |
For someone born about 1980…
| Years ago | Dates | Ancestors | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gen# | from | to | from | to | # | Label | |
| 1 | 20 | 40 | 1940 | – | 1960 | 2 | parents |
| 2 | 40 | 80 | 1900 | – | 1940 | 4 | grandparents |
| 3 | 60 | 120 | 1860 | – | 1920 | 8 | great-grandparents |
| 4 | 80 | 160 | 1820 | – | 1900 | 16 | 2nd-great-grandparents |
| 5 | 100 | 200 | 1780 | – | 1880 | 32 | 3rd-great-grandparents |
| 6 | 120 | 240 | 1740 | – | 1860 | 64 | 4th-great-grandparents |
| 7 | 140 | 280 | 1700 | – | 1840 | 128 | 5th-great-grandparents |
| 8 | 160 | 320 | 1660 | – | 1820 | 256 | 6th-great-grandparents |
| 9 | 180 | 360 | 1620 | – | 1800 | 512 | 7th-great-grandparents |
| 10 | 200 | 400 | 1580 | – | 1780 | 1024 | 8th-great-grandparents |
| 11 | 220 | 440 | 1530 | – | 1760 | 2048 | 9th-great-grandparents |
| 12 | 240 | 480 | 1500 | – | 1740 | 4096 | 10th-great-grandparents |
| 13 | 260 | 520 | 1460 | – | 1720 | 8192 | 11th-great-grandparents |
| 14 | 280 | 560 | 1420 | – | 1700 | 16384 | 12th-great-grandparents |
| 15 | 300 | 600 | 1380 | – | 1680 | 32768 | 13th-great-grandparents |
| 16 | 320 | 640 | 1340 | – | 1660 | 65536 | 14th-great-grandparents |
| 17 | 340 | 680 | 1300 | – | 1640 | 131072 | 15th-great-grandparents |
| 18 | 360 | 720 | 1260 | – | 1620 | 262144 | 16th-great-grandparents |
| 19 | 380 | 760 | 1220 | – | 1600 | 524288 | 17th-great-grandparents |
| 20 | 400 | 800 | 1180 | – | 1580 | 1048576 | 18th-great-grandparents |