This family tree shows up to six generations of ancestors on the Anderson/ Shepherd side of my family. The disadvantage of using a tree like this is that it does not show all of the siblings and children of the people in my direct family line. (There are currently 249 people in my full family tree.) It does however show most of my great great great grandparents, stretching back in time to the early 1800s. It also shows the limits of my research capabilities. I have not ventured much into international records so I reach an impasse at the time of emigration. As you can see in the tree the Andersons came into the United States through Canada (and I believe England before that). The Olsens and Hansdatters came from Norway. Foreign records are often in a different language, making it even more difficult to find useful information.
Another problem which arises when researching two hundred year old relatives is that it is difficult to prove a source. Census records often provided sparse information about an individual, sometimes nothing more than a name and a place and year of birth. While it may seem likely that two records are referring to the same person I have tried to get concrete evidence as there are undoubtedly multiple individuals sharing the same personal data.
This tree shows one anomaly worth discussing. Cranston and Sadie Anderson were siblings which meant that Raymond Anderson and May Shepherd were cousins when they married in 1938. As I mentioned in the introduction, the details surrounding their marriage are unknown. Did Raymond and May know they were cousins? Did they find out before or after they were married? What is known is that May knew about it and told her children at some point in time. No harm came from their marriage and, as a matter of fact, I wouldn't be writing this if they hadn't been joined in matrimony! Even today, twenty percent of all marriages worldwide are between first cousins and almost every family tree has at least one occurrence of consanguinity.
