Genealogy has become a popular pastime in the last decade, as the greater availability of information over the internet has made it easier than ever before to track down lost, estranged and forgotten relatives in all corners of the globe. However, while it can be fun and insightful to find famous names in your family history, you should be prepared to find some less savoury characters too.
Many of us will only have the privilege of knowing people from several generations of our family, if that, and even in this relatively small selection there can be enormous diversity in personalities. Some relatives may also be your closest friends and confidantes, while you may wish that others would keep their distance, so you shouldn't expect anything different as you trace back the branches of your family tree.
The old adage that you can choose your friends but not your family is never more true than when researching family history, but at the same time it's important not to make judgements. Depending on your location and the point in time you are researching, you could find that some of your ancestors were involved in bloody wars or unethical trades that seem barbaric by modern standards, but may be more understandable when placed in their original historical context.
Even more surprising are when famous names show up in the list, which happens more often than you might expect. Indeed, there are some historians who claim that the exponentially increasing number of ancestors each of us possess means we are all inevitably descended from some of the world's most notorious rules - including Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan. This intriguing theory is based on the doubling of our number of ancestors with each successive generation - from two parents to four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, sixteen great-great-grandparents and so on.
So, while it may be naïve to hold out hopes of a pure bloodline, further surprises still can arise when you see your family tree intersecting with those of more recent historical figures - whether it's modern-day celebrities or people you would be less keen about others finding out about. This risk can be one of the biggest thrills when you trace family history, however, and you should remember that - as much as discovering your ancestors may help you understand yourself - you really are the sum of your experiences, rather than merely a result of your lineage.