tough ancestors

[blackstrap]

I was thinking about my parents and their parents and so on and happened upon this . The lives of our ancestors were mostly a hard scrabble in an unforgiving world. Gratitude and praise to them all.

 

[The Nehor]

By ten generations back you are going to start getting some duplicate names.

[Calm]

27 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

By ten generations back you are going to start getting some duplicate names.

I tried to find out the average estimate of actual ancestors at ten generations (around 300 years) but no luck yet.  Of course it would depend greatly on where one lived…Iceland which is both small and relatively low immigration until 1994 vs India the largest most densely populated area of earth, for example…though caste and religion probably narrowed marriage choices significantly for Indians the last 300 years.

[InCognitus]

One of the talks I listened to today while I was on my walk was from Elder Jeffrey Holland in the October 2002 General Conference (he looks so young in the video):  Called to Serve

I was reminded of this thread when I heard him say:

"As many of you know, Elder and Sister Dallin Oaks and Elder and Sister Holland have been called to serve in the Philippines and Chile Areas of the Church, respectively....  It is a joy to meet and serve with Latter-day Saints anywhere, near or far, at home or abroad, and we thank you for your prayers and your interest in the work.  Such service by the Twelve is, of course, not new, and I must say our generation has less challenge in going out than did our predecessors. Best of all, I have Sister Holland at my side, rather than leaving her at home to fend for herself and our children. Furthermore, I did not have to do manual labor along the way in order to earn the fare to Santiago. We flew to our destination for a few hours in a modern jet airliner rather than sailing for weeks, even months, in the steerage of a ship. I did not leave suffering with chills and fever, cholera, or consumption, although I did have a cold and one leg of our flight was delayed an hour. I have hoped these hardships would qualify me to one day face Peter and Paul, Brigham and Wilford."