Robert The Bruce

[Wm Jas]

What are folks referring to when they mention “direct descendent”?

Your genealogy is a record of those folks to whom you are related. I am related to my cousin but not descended from him.

Your pedigree is a list of people from whom you are descended. The conventional way to express the list is to begin with yourself as #1.

#2 is your father. #3 is your mother.

Double your father’s number and you get #4, your paternal grandfather. Add 1 to get #5, your paternal grandmother.

Do the same for your mother. #6 is your maternal grandmother and #7 is your maternal grandmother.

And so on.

I am very lucky to be able to list with confidence all 31 of my first 5 generation parents/grandparents. My first hole comes in the 6th generation with number 34, the father of my gr-gr-grandmother, who arrived in New Brunswick at age 19 from Dublin to marry my gr-gr-gf, who was 42. They had nine children.

Isn’t everyone who finds Robert the Bruce in their pedigree his direct descendent?

Aren’t we “direct descendents” from everyone in our pedigree?

In my pedigree Robert the Bruce is the 19TH generation, which represents my 16-great-grandparents #262,144 to #524,287.

King Robert I is #262,498.

[Negotiate Now]

How does anyone know they are descended from Robert the Bruce when there were no birth certificates then and for many years after he died?