Why is my 8th great grandfather shown as my 10th great grandfather
My 7th great grandfather is shown as LZK1-C58 George Johnston II
His father George Johnston I (LZFB-BX1) is shown as my 10th great grandfather rather than my 8th great grandfather via a circuitous tree through his daughter Mary who married John Bloxom.
I could understand getting a shorter relationship through cousin marriages, but don't understand why Family Search is finding a more distant relationship.
Thanks for any clues.
Answers
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At that genealogical distance, many of us have pedigree collapse. I know I do. On one maternal, branch, a 3rd GGF is the youngest brother of a 5th GGF. Their father shows only as my 4th GGF because the relationship calculator takes the shortest path.
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Yes, understood. But this is the other way around … it's showing a greater distance (10th ggf) rather than the actual 8th ggf.
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Think I figured it out. There were 3 husbands shown, 2 with the name George Johnson, one the son of an Arthur Johnson and the other the son of a Jeptha Johnson.
I added George Johnson I (son of Jeptha) as the father of George Johnson II (my 7th ggf). Now George Johnson I (son of Jeptha) is shown as my 8th ggf. And George Johnson I (son of Arthur) is showing as my 10th ggf.
Looks like some people got merged who shouldn't have been. I'll need to try sorting this out by and by. Not sure who the father of my 7th ggf (George Johnson I) is. Arthur? Jeptha? Someone else? Not sure who my 8th great grandmother is either.
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Yes, the calculator can only work with the information in the tree. If something is missing or in error, the calculator can't display the path you expect to see.
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