Where did my ancestors originate?

Question

My ancestors were from Wales on my mothers side, and Cheshire on my Fathers side. The Cheshire side dates back to the conquest, and the Wales side, before that. So what I am wondering is where is the likely place that my ancestors would have been located around the time Christianity began.

Answer 1

Based on my limited knowledge of the migration patterns of Great Britain, your ancestors may have already been in Wales or in England. Germanic tribes and Scandinavian raiders of all sorts migrated to the British Isles. As new tribes/groups came over, the older groups moved further west and north or lived with the new groups. Your family could also be of Roman origin as the Romans were occupying England around the time Christianity began.

Take a look at your earliest ancestor's names for clues about their origins. Try searching on the internet for the names and see if you can find their origins. For example, a last name of Valois points to Norman ancestry where as Lancaster might point to a name originating during the Roman occupation (caster is a latin derivative). Good luck and happy hunting.

Answer 2

Hey Dreamweaver,

In 2000 years, you have about 4 generations per 100 years. That means you have 80 generations to get back to the time of Christ.

There are 2 to the eightieth power possible ancestors that contributed to who you are (plus or minus a few). This number is larger than the population of the earth accumulated, because usually cousins cause our Family Tree to collapse, but you get the idea - you have an enormous number of branches in your family tree. While your question is a great Genealogy question, the answer really is that your ancestors would be from far more locations than anyone can pin down.

If you do a Surname DNA Project, that would pin down just the ancestors on the Surname branch. You can participate in both a maternal and paternal DNA project. Each participant in DNA give only one link. Everyone seems to think that because your surname is one thing, that is what you are - but it is not true - you are the sum of the various combination of genes from all your ancestors, and they were from all over Europe, the Middle East and perhaps Africa too.