Fox Family Update
Famous Relations Series
Smith Family Genealogy
(Written January 2007)
Most of you may have watched this years Super Bowl. In one commercial you saw Robert Goulet hawking Emerald Peanuts and hanging off the ceiling ala Spiderman. Recently, Robert Goulet placed his family tree out on the internet. Our family and his share a common ancestor, Thomas Goulet, who lived in France many years ago. Thomas Goulet never immigrated to New France, but two of his children (Jacques and Louise-Anne) did. They lived and raised families in what is now known as Quebec. Our family line goes through Louise-Anne, while Robert Goulets family line goes through Jacques.
Quite possibly we have another distant relation with Super Bowl ties Tom Landry. Tom Landry coached the Dallas Cowboys in the latter part of the twentieth century.
Are Robert Goulet and Tom Landry distant relatives? Perhaps; however, I cannot guarantee its accuracy. The French Canadians are notorious for tracing and publishing their family trees. The French kept good records of their births, marriages and deaths.
Laurel claims if I go back far enough I will discover we are also related to Jesus, Joseph and Mary. You may scoff but consider the following. We have two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents, and so on. Our ancestors increase geometrically as we descend down our family tree.
1. Parents 2
2. Grandparents 4
3. Great Grandparents 8
4. Great-Great Grandparents 16
5. Great-Great-Great Grandparents 32
6. Great-Great-Great-Great Grandparents 64
7. Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandparents 128
8. Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandparents 256
9. Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandparents 512
10. Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandparents 1024
Five generations more and the Great Grandparents number 32,768. Five generations more and we have 1,048, 576 Great Grandparents. It goes on and on. So it is conceivable that on some level we probably are related to most everyone living today.