ancestorsurfing

Ancestor Surfing for Members of the Estes and Cary Families

Following clues from pp. 83-86 of the Cary-Estes Genealogy book and using Wikipedia , I was able to trace the family ancestry back as far as 50 generations (to about 550 AD). The crucial piece of the puzzle is Charles Fleming, believed to be the son of John Fleming who owned 493 acres in New Kent County, Virginia, and died in 1686. As the book notes, it is believed that John was son of the probable immigrant to America, Sir Thomas Fleming, the second son of Lord John Fleming and his wife Lilias Graham. The line from Lord John Fleming leads back to James I (Stewart or Stuart) King of Scotland (1394-1437). With political marriages among the royal families of Europe (as part of political alliances), that piece of information leads to ancestors who were kings of England and France, Holy Roman Emperors, Emperors of the Byzantine Empire, princes of Kiev/Muscovy, and Viking chieftains. The ancestors include William the Conqueror and Charlemagne, King John (of Robin Hood and Magna Carta fame), King Alfred the Great, King Duncan I of Scotland (who was murdered by Macbeth), half a dozen saints, as well as the House of Este in Italy (by a very different route than family tradition -- by way of the Cary family, rather than the Estes family). Another ancestor is King Clovis of France, who the novel The Da Vinci Code claimed was a descendant of Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ :-) For many generations, both the father and mother are not only known, but also have entries in Wikipedia, which links to their parents.

Keep in mind that, except in cases of people who are related to one another marrying each other, the number of your ancestors doubles with each generation. That would mean that you could have as many as a quadrillion ancestors in 550 AD. But there were only about two hundred million people alive at that time. You might conclude that just about everybody alive today is descended from just about everybody who was alive back then. But just a few hundred years ago, most people lived in rural areas, with little travel and little contact with people in other towns, much less other countries. It was common for a family to stay in the same small geographic area for many generations (except when driven away by catastrophe, such as war, plague, and famine). That meant lots of inter-marriage, with everybody in a town being cousins to one another. (From a biological viewpoint, war, plague, and famine may have been "necessary" to change/expand the gene pool and increase the likelihood that mankind would survive). In any case, very few people can trace their ancestry back four or five generations, much less 50.

I have followed a few of the lines of descent as far back as I could trace. But literally thousands of other lines are possible. You can surf through those others by using the Wikipedia links in the following documents. At the very least, this should give you a new and personal appreciation for history.

(Making a break-through like that in tracing my ancestry on the Web reminded me of the experience of Paul Atreus ("Muad-Dib") in the novel "Dune." Thanks to the effects of the "spice" and of his special genes, he suddenly senses the presence both individually and collectively of all his ancestors back for thousands of years.)

My starting point for numbering generations is Adela (my first grandchild). If you are a relative of mine, check your generation number (I'm in generation 3). Then, as far as we can determine with available information, you are a direct descendant of (have the genes of) everyone in these lists with a higher generation number than yours.

Adela to Adela, 31 generations -- line back to Adela of Champagne (1140-1206), Queen of France, wife of Louis VII, King of France
Yo Kings of France, 41 generations -- line back to about 800, including most of the rulers of the Capet dynasty, such as Louis IX (Saint Louis, for whom the city was named) of the Crusades
Yo Viking Kings and Kings of England (House of Plantagenet), 49 generations -- line back to the heroes of the Norse Sagas, including all the kings of England for hundreds of years, back to William the Conqueror
To Kings of Scotland (Houses of Alpin and Dunkeld), 50 generations -- line back to the 6th century, including Duncan I, who was murdered by Macbeth
To Charlemagne and Beyond, 51 generations
To Byzantine Emperors, 36 generations
To the House of Este, 38 generations
To Alfred the Great and beyond, including King Clovis of France (the link to the Da Vinci Code), 56 generations

Other lines I hope to find, explore, and add here:

Princes of Kiev
Kings of Scotland (House of Stewart or Stuart)
Kings of Wales (hopefully leading to some legendary connection with King Arthur)
Any line that can lead back to ancient Rome

Please let me know what you discover in your own ancestor surfing; or if you find typos or other errors here, so I can correct them.

Cary-Estes Genealogy by May Folk Weeb and Patrick Mann Estes

Cary-Estes-Moore Genealogy by Helen Estes Seltzer

This site is published by B&R Samizdat Express, 33 Gould St., West Roxbury, MA 02132. 617-469-2269 seltzer@samizdat.com

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