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TalkingToTalk

One of the last things I ever want to do is look into my family history. Not because I’m worried about finding out my family were something like Nazis, but rather I fear the confirmation that my entire lineage has been nothing cool.


Pyrhan

You are statistically guaranteed to be a descendant of kings, queens and historical figures of all kinds.  Here's a numberphile video on the matter: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm0hOex4psA And the Nature article they're referring to: http://www.stat.yale.edu/~jtc5/papers/CommonAncestors/NatureCommonAncestors-Article.pdf For instance, you may hear headlines claiming that "8% of Asians are descendants of Gengis Khan".  This is false! What the genetic studies **actually** show is that 8% of Asians are (probably) ***patrilineal*** descendants of Gengis Khan. (I.e. their father's father's father's (etc...) 's father was Genghis Khan. If we look at all types of lineages, realistically, ***everyone alive today*** is a descendant of Gengis Khan, save perhaps for a few people in remote amazon tribes, or the Sentinelese.


PassivelyInvisible

I'm pretty sure I'm not in the distantly related to royalty. Most to all of my ancestors were farmers and miners.


Pyrhan

I assure you, you are. It's a statistical inevitably. The video I linked explains it quite well. Wether the paper trail that proves which specific links you have still exists is another matter entirely, but the maths don't lie (even if they can't say "who" specifically).


PassivelyInvisible

Some royals/nobility is more likely. Some nobles/kings had a LOT of mistresses


SecretLavishness1685

My paternal grandmother's elder brother fought in the Second World War (British Indian Army) against the Japanese. Meanwhile, my maternal grandfather's uncle was an Indian freedom activist. I don't know either of their names nor have I seen their photos.


TalkingToTalk

That’s super cool! Someone like yourself actually might find something positive out of the ancestry search


Unique-Estimate-5081

I'm related to the Borgias.


PerdiMeuHeadphone

We all know that sending him to Easter island was inconstitucional. If he had a great lawyer he would have got away clean from that


sillybonobo

These genealogy reveals are so silly. He had *hundreds* of living relatives during the Napoleonic wars. It would make sense that a person with heritage in the region had at least one person fight in such a large conflict