Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings offers us the following challenge:
Your mission this week, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) Pick one of your sets of great-grandparents – if possible, the one with the most descendants.
2) Create a descendants list for those great-grandparents either by hand or in your software program.
3) Tell us how many descendants, living or dead, are in each generation from those great-grandparents.
4) How many are still living? Of those, how many have you met and exchanged family information with? Are there any that you should make contact with ASAP? Please don’t use last names of living people for this – respect their privacy.
5) Write about it in your own blog post, in comments to this post, or in comments or a Note on Facebook.
For this exercise I chose my Great-Grandfather August Curtis Bough (1866-1939) This is one of the smaller branches of the family tree. I did not count spouses/partners.
I created a descendant List report in Roots-Magic 7. Then I counted the descendants of each generation.
His descendants, I am aware of, number by generation:
- Children= 13, (all deceased; 4 had no children)
- Grandchildren =23, (2 living; 21 deceased)
- Great Grand =28, (27 living; 2 decease)
- Great Great Grand = 21 all living
- 3X Great Grand = 25 all living
- 4X Great-Grand = 1
- 5X Great Grand = 0
The total that I am aware of is 110 persons., I have met 59 of the 76 still alive. I have met 11 out of 36 that are now deceased. So that leaves at least 17 that I haven’t met, most are younger than myself. Recently at the Bough gathering I met several 3X Great-Grans of August C. Bough.
Perhaps through research/DNA testing I will be able to find more descendants of:
Martin Luther Bough (1887 – 1968)
Emalda Bough-Wortman (1898-1984)
Vivian M. Bough (1893-1917)
While the challenge was fun, it was a somber moment. I could not help, but think about the family stories, cultural connections, shared by those deceased descendants that I knew and loved.
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By shelley dewese
As I continue to search out my history, I am discovering how much I did not know. The more information disclosed about my ancestry, the more I learn and understand how I am the person that has evolved today.
My family's research efforts have taken me on an enlightening journey back through the past in the U. S. Virgin Islands (formerly Danish West Indies) and Coastal Georgia. As with most people of Afro-Caribbean descent, my ancestry stems from peoples brought together by colonialism and conquest; it stems from people thrown together, albeit forcibly, by the throes of enslavement. As a result, my DNA tells me that my people originate in Africa, Europe, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Lesser Antilles, and Leeward Caribbean Islands.
Two collections made my dream to research my ancestors in the Danish West Indies a reality. I have conducted extensive research using the St. Croix Population Database 1734-1917, a St. Croix African Roots Project product, and a research and document transcription effort sponsored by the Virgin Islands Social History Associates (VISHA). The other catalyst has been accessing the extensive photo, manuscript, and microfilm collections at the Library and Archives of the St. Croix Landmarks Society at Estate Whim in St. Croix.
My heartfelt thanks go to all my cousins, extended "cousin-family," friends, and research colleagues from the St. Croix-based Virgin Islands Ancestry Discovery Group, for their input and collaboration. I also want to thank the UJima Genealogy Group in Coastal Georgia and GlynnGen.com; webmaster Amy Hendrick has introduced me to Southern History and its people.
This site allows you to transform yourself to a time during the Danish period (1734-1917) when life was both complex and straightforward. If you have any questions, comments, or need assistance searching for a Danish West Indies ancestor, I invite you to drop me an email. Its.sheldew@gmail.com
I especially appreciate the followers' encouragement.
View all of shelley dewese's posts.
My Genealogical Journey: 
Nice post. I agree this exercise made me remember those who are no longer with me.
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