Have you researched ALL your ancestors? Obviously, you cannot research all of them for the past few millions of years. However, have you found all of them in the past 10 generations? 20 generations? 50 generations?

Do you even know how many ancestors that would be?

Here is a chart to displays how many ancestors you have in past generations, assuming there are no duplicates (and there are ALWAYS duplicates):

Number of ancestors in that generation   Total ancestors (this generation plus all later generations) 2   2 4   6 8   14 16   30 32   62 64   126 128   254 256   510 512   1,022 1,024   2,046 2,048   4,094 4,096   8,190 8,192   16,382 16,384   32,766 32,768   65,534 65,536   131,070 131,072   262,142 262,144   524,286 524,288   1,048,574 1,048,576   2,097,150 2,097,152   4,194,302 4,194,304   8,388,606 8,388,608   16,777,214 16,777,216   33,554,430 33,554,432   67,108,862 67,108,864   134,217,726 134,217,728   268,435,454 268,435,456   536,870,910 536,870,912   1,073,741,822 1,073,741,824   2,147,483,646 2,147,483,648   4,294,967,294 4,294,967,296   8,589,934,590 8,589,934,592   17,179,869,182 17,179,869,184   34,359,738,366 34,359,738,368   68,719,476,734 68,719,476,736   137,438,953,470 137,438,953,472   274,877,906,942 274,877,906,944   549,755,813,886 549,755,813,888   1,099,511,627,774 1,099,511,627,776   2,199,023,255,550
Yes, that’s more than TWO TRILLION ANCESTORS if we assume there were no duplicates (one person appearing in more than one place in your family tree). That’s more than all the people who ever lived on the face of the earth so obviously there are many duplicates in your family tree and in everyone else’s family tree. Also, we all are distant cousins of each other but that’s another topic for another time…