Would I be part of these groups?

Question

On ancestry.com a family member of mine made up my mom's side family tree and back in the 1,000s our family came from France, on the unlikely event any of this is true, would I be part French? A even earlier (again, if any of this is true) our family dates back to Jerusalem and Bethlahem and the areaq to become Palestine, would I be part whatever they were?

Answer 1

I agree with the warm, wise, witty, well-read and devilishly handome gentleman abve me; people who get back beyond the 1600's are probably fooling themselves, with rare exception. (I think there is an association of people descended from Christopher Columbus, but even then, who's to tell if the 14th great grandma fooled around with someone who looked like her husband and never told?

If, to answer your question, that family tree did prove true, yes, you'd be part French. How much a part is a matter of dividing often enough.

You are 1/2 what your parents were

1/4th of what your grandparents were

1/8th of what your great grandparents were

and so on. Down 12 generations or so you get into the 1/4096ths. You just keep doubling the bottom part of the fraction. It gets smaller each time.

Most of us add fractions. That is, if your mother was 1/4th Cherokee (or anything else) and your father was 1/8th of the same thing, you would be 1/8th from your mother and 1/16th from your father, for 3/16ths total.

Most of us in the USA also have a goodly numbers of "unknown, probably Northern European" in our lines.

Answer 2

It is virtually impossible for anyone to trace their family tree beyond the point at which written records began, for the vast majority of people, that was the 16th.century, royal and noble  lineages can go back a little further. Anyone who says they can trace their family back to, for example, Jerusalem (In pre or biblical times) is quite honestly dreaming, it may be possible to roughly trace, by the use of DNA analysis, the areas your ancestors passed through at different times, but your dna does not have a surname, so you cannot say that you can trace your family back to those times without what is commonly called, a paper trail.

I think you used the correct phrase yourself, "a family member of mine 'made up' my mom's side family tree"

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Your DNA holds all that has been added over many, many, generations, you are whatever has been added in all that time, right back to the time humans evolved tens of thousands of years ago.

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Thank you Mr.Pack sir !!