As one might guess, I have long been interested in family history. And what my ancestors have done and what context they lived their lives in. For example, I love reading Marie de France; did any of my ancestors ever read one of her lais , or am I the first? Had any of my direct ancestors even heard of her? I hope at least one ancestor read Marie’s work and enjoyed it. I imagine if anyone came across it, it would have been when Jessie Weston’s translation came out, and that was not too many generations ago. As I was thinking about the generations of people that came before me, I decided to try and see how many ancestors I have. I didn’t want to count them, so I looked for the answer, and there’s a handy graphic for all of us to consult. All you need to do is count the rings to identify the generation: the sixth generation contains your 4th Great-Grandparents. By the sixth generation, you have 64 ancestors, which then doubles in the seventh generation to 128 individuals. As you beg...