Well, the Belgians (that was my paternal grandmother, born 1884 — her name of course was Marie) go back the farthest, to 1760, mostly I suspect because they never strayed far from their nest (Stavelot, Belgium), and the church records are quite comprehensive. The Heibels peter out before then, with Koll & Blasberg’s daughter born in 1783. On the maternal grandfather’s side, the records dry up around the beginning of the 19th century, but the maternal grandmother’s records go to the end of the 18th century. It’s not 20 generations, though, and I’ve never thought of it that way, mainly because my parents were already so old when they had me, and their parents were all dead, except for the Belgian grandmother, who was positively ancient. My maternal grandmother was born in 1881 (and died 11 or 12 years before I was even born) — so it isn’t a stretch to trace her folks and their folks and maybe one more generation, before you hit the early 19th century! I think I can go back 6 generation, and then it’s 1777: great-great-great-great-grandmother Sophie Hild, born 1777.

You can go back 20 generations in your family? WoW I can only go back two.