See How William Shakespeare's Parents were First Cousins!
William Shakespeare's genealogy gives us a perfect example of "Common Ancestors."
Common Ancestors are individuals who show up multiple times in your genealogy because
they are connected to you in more than one genealogical line. In other words, their
descendants married each other! (We all have them in our genealogies.) In times
past, it was not an "uncommon" occurrence to marry a cousin.
William Shakespeare's "Common Ancestors" are closer to him than most of our common
ancestors would be. His grandmothers, Mary Webb and Abigail Webb, are sisters. That
makes his parents first cousins. His "Common Ancestors" are his great-grand parents,
they appear in his fathers line and his mothers line.
See it for yourself-it's fun! - Click here
to open Genealogy Browser for William Shakespeare.
- Select the "Common Ancestor Connections" icon in the tool bar.
- Notice the blue lines appear in the Starfield? (pedigree on the right of half of
the screen).
- Unselect the "Common Ancestor Connections" icon.
- Select the "Trace Ancestry" icon and hold your mouse over one of William Shakespeare's
great-grandparents. The great-grandparent's name boxes turn blue to indicate a "Common
Ancestor."
- Notice the two lines that appear "tracing" each of William Shakespeare's paths to
his Common Ancestors.
- You might also notice the pedigree statistics bar that lists the number of common
ancestors.
- While you're there try a couple of other features out, especially the "Zoom" feature!
Check out the two blue lines in the pedigree. They run from William Shakespeare
to his great-grandparents. And both sets of great-grandparents are the same, or
common!
(Also note that toolbar Trace icon is on.)
