Larimer County Genealogical Society

How Many Ancestors Do You Have?

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…