The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-03-07
ANCESTRY.
(Boston Post. }

N@~SSSNA
One Of the developments OF the in
creased interest in genealogy which has
sprung up in this country within COM
paratively few years past is seen in the
formation of so-called patriotic ORDERS
or associations in which membership Is
held by virtue of descent from men who
had part, either close or remote, in the
creation of this republic. Societies of
'Sons" and Daughters and "Dames"
are numerous and increasing in number;
and, indeed, there is no reason why they
saould not go on multiplying indefinitely,
since those who are ineligible by the tests
suitable to their qualifications. 1t is a
very long waiting list from which such
associations have to draw.
Our country Is still young. Three CEN
turtles ago it was wilderness without a
permanent settlement. Less than CEN
fury and quarter ago its independence
was declared. But in the nine genera.
tions from the landing at Plymouth land
in the four generations which have passed
since the colonists rose in revolution,
there has been created in the natural
order of things, an ancestry for almost
anyone who cares to look for it.. 1t is a
mathematical fact that every person now
living is the direct descendant Of 512 per-
sons living in 1920. Among these hl2
ancestors, q search, if it were possible to
make it, or among those of the genera
tions following after, would reveal de-
scent unsupported by many of us. Aside
from the direct descent from parent to
child, there is the collateral connection in
the various degree of cousinship. bind
ING the population together in such way
| l., b1,ro in, Noxy E,r, &c
not difficult to establish some tie of COM
mon ancestry between individuals and
families today most widely separated.
1t is when we pursue the inquiry beyond
the limits of our own country and our
own nation that the tremendous possibili
ties Of ancestry become apparent. A few
day ago there was published a list of So
eiety women in New York who claimed to
trace their descent from European kings
and queens. Undoubtedly they are SO
descended, although it is beyond the
bounds of probability that their family
trees'' showing royalty at the roots are
in any case accurate. The fact is that,
if we 60 back far enough, we may each
and every one OF us Hnd q King Tor our
ancestor.
For instance, we may find in the New
England Yankee of today a descendant
of William the Conqueror. Indeed, the
weight of probability is that every one of
that race is SO descended. AS Mr.. John
D. Champlin puts it in an article on this
subject, a PERSONS ancestry increases
with each generation in geometrical pro-
erosion; that is, each person has two
parents, four grandparents, eight great
Grandparents, and SO on, doubling with
each generation, until in the tenth gener-
alton his ancestors amount to 1,024 per-
sons. from each of whom the person in
question is equally descended. AS more
u S~L+ ba
Conqueror landed in England, it is safe
to assume the existence of 25 generations
between him and any given person of the
present day There are more than that
in the royal line of England, the Duke of
York, son of the Prince of Wales being
the twenty eighth in descent from Will
liam I, and his infant son the twenty
ninth,
Now, by this same rule of geometrical
progression the ancestors of any person of
the present day would amount in the
twenty fifth generation, to 33, 300, ora per
sons, or more than eight times the entire
population of England at the time of the
conquest. Allowing very liberal dis
count for intormarriages among those of
the same blood, this renders it more than
probable that every person of English an
cestry now living is descended, through
one or another of the many millions Of
his forefashers, from every person in Eng
land at that period, and, consequently,
from royalty itself.
This would seem to be the reduotlo
ad absurdum of all claims to distinction
through descent-to all Discrimination
because of "blood.'' 1t is indeed,
mathematical demonstration OF the essen
tial brotherhood of the race, and as sucn
it carries it's lesson. But the human m1nd
is so constituted that pride of ancestry IS
in itself, when rightly entertained, an IN
spiraoion to tight conduct and to patrlot-