# Genealogy question: who holds the record? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogy-question-who-holds-the-record/642972 "2012-12-04T17:31:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogy-question-who-holds-the-record/642972/1 "2012-12-04T17:31:16Z")
If there is one, anyway. What is the furthest anyone from the present era has been able to trace his lineage? How many generations? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogy-question-who-holds-the-record/642972/2 "2012-12-04T17:43:11Z")
English royalty can trace their lineage back to William the Conqueror in 1066. I think you’ll have a hard time beating that. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogy-question-who-holds-the-record/642972/3 "2012-12-04T17:55:59Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > English royalty can trace their lineage back to William the Conqueror in 1066. I think you’ll have a hard time beating that. The [Emperors of Japan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Emperors_of_Japan) trace back to 660 BC, though the first few centuries may be legendary. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogy-question-who-holds-the-record/642972/4 "2012-12-04T19:19:53Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > English royalty can trace their lineage back to William the Conqueror in 1066. I think you’ll have a hard time beating that. Doesn’t that same lineage go back through Charlemagne, Charles Martel, Old King Cole, and then proceed through mythical figures all the way back to Adam? ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogy-question-who-holds-the-record/642972/5 "2012-12-04T19:40:28Z")
> [@CoastalMaineiac](#): > > If there is one, anyway. What is the furthest anyone from the present era has been able to trace his lineage? How many generations? Many Europeans can trace their descent _reliably_ from Charlemagne, whose gt-gt grandfather was certainly [Saint Arnulf, b. ca 582](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnulf_of_Metz). This gives some fully documented chains of length 50 or so. Taiwan’s Sacrificial Official to Confucius claims a 78-generation all-male descent from Confucius; moreover a 30-generation all-male descent from the first King of the Shang Dynasty to Confucius is exhibited! :eek: I have no idea how reliable those exhibits are (but I would bet against them 😉 ). Many Irish families trace an all-male descent all the way back to [Niall Noígíallach](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niall_of_the_Nine_Hostages) a semi-legendary figure of the 4th century. While the details have probably been blurred, DNA evidence implies that some of the kinship claims must be more-or-less correct. The present King of Jordan claims an all-male descent of about 38 steps from Ali ibn Abu Talib, Caliph and son-in-law of the _Prophet, Praise be Unto Him_. I’ve no idea whether this chain has much validity. There are longish historical chains among the ancient Kings of Persia, Armenia, etc., so a “Holy Grail” goal of genealogy is to link these to the present and construct a giant chain, e.g. by using Kings of Cyprus or Byzantine Emperors for the connection. AFAIK, none of these chains is widely accepted. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogy-question-who-holds-the-record/642972/6 "2012-12-04T19:46:21Z")
[What people can trace their ancestry back the farthest?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=609532) [What’s the farthest back anyone has traced their geneology?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=296458) [Has anyone ever been able to trace their ancestry to ancient Greece?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?f=3) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogy-question-who-holds-the-record/642972/7 "2012-12-06T19:28:19Z")
Math teacher Adrian Targett has been identified via DNA as a direct descendant of “Cheddar Man”, a 9000-year-old skeleton found in a cave. [1997 story](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-family-link-that-reaches-back-300-generations-to-a-cheddar-cave-1271542.html). Beat that! ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogy-question-who-holds-the-record/642972/8 "2012-12-06T19:55:47Z")
Well, there’s Pooh Bah, who could trace his ancestry back to the primordial ooze. Of course, that was over a century ago, and I don’t know if he has any currently-living descendants, or if that very long line died with him. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogy-question-who-holds-the-record/642972/9 "2012-12-06T20:04:55Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Math teacher Adrian Targett has been identified via DNA as a direct descendant of “Cheddar Man”, a 9000-year-old skeleton found in a cave. [1997 story](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-family-link-that-reaches-back-300-generations-to-a-cheddar-cave-1271542.html). Beat that! Don’t believe anything you read in a paper about Science. He is believed to [share a maternal ancestor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheddar_man) with Cheddar Man. Not the same thing. This is hardly more useful than knowing were are all descended from [Mitochondrial Eve](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve). ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogy-question-who-holds-the-record/642972/10 "2012-12-06T21:27:05Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Math teacher Adrian Targett has been identified via DNA as a direct descendant of “Cheddar Man”, a 9000-year-old skeleton found in a cave. [1997 story](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-family-link-that-reaches-back-300-generations-to-a-cheddar-cave-1271542.html). Beat that! Piffle! A mere Johnny-come-lately. When I got into genealogy many years ago I found some family sheets at the Mormon library that traced my family back to Adam and Eve. Though while thinking about it as I typed it strikes me that since there is equally creditable proof that the Garden of Eden came about in 6006 BC the Cheddar Man may still be the winner. But at worst I’m in second place so far.