#reagan cook
California Grey 1, Reagan Charles Cook
This is my first new painting in over a year, and the first since thing I’ve painted in Los Angeles. It’s the first panel in a triptych, and features an innovative application method involving liquid plastic cured at 1350 degrees by a heat gun.
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Before last week, I was able to trace my family history back 400 years.
In December of 2012 I’d done some ancestry research which linked my maternal grandfather’s family line back 11 generations to an Isaac Prevost, who was an Archbishop in Northern France. Since I couldn’t find any details on his parents, I concluded that was as far back as I was going to get.
I was wrong.
I recently found out about another branch in my family tree, a history that goes back another 1000 years. Since my great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother Catherine Marie Brossard is descended from French Nobility, I can now trace my family back to the Capetian and Robertian dynasties of the early middle ages.
My Family Over the Past 43 Generations
1. Reagan Cook, Me (1989 - present)
2. Julie Provost, Mother (1964 - present)
3. Aurelle Provost, Grandfather (1927 - present)
4. William Provost, Great Grandfather etc. (1898 - 1977)
5. Adolphe Provost (1867 - 1944)
6. Gabriel Provost (1825 - 1881)
7. Louis Provost (1774 - 1837)
8. Antoine Provost (1727 - 1779)
9. Eustache Prevost Jr. (1692 - 1788)
10. Catherine Marie Brossard (1681 - 1721)
11. Isaac Urbain Brossard (1633 - 1710)
12. Marthurin Brossard (1608 - 1660)
13. Guillaume de Brossard, I (1557 - unknown)
14. Nicolas de Brossard (1540 - 1570)
15. Michel de Brossard (1479 - 1554)
16. Francois Thomas de Brossard (1449 - 1506)
17. Perrot de Brossard (1425 - 1506)
18. Jean de Brossard (1391 - 1426)
19. Gauthier de Brossard (1368 - 1437)
20. Noel Nicholas de Brossard (1343 - 1400)
21. Charles de Brossard (1309 - 1392)
22. Antoine de Brossard, Valois (1289 - 1346)
23. Charles, Count of Valois (1270 - 1325)
24. Philippe III, King of France (1245 - 1285)
25. Louis IX, King of France (1214 - 1270)
26. Louis VIII, King of France (1187 - 1226)
27. Philippe II, King of France (1165 - 1223)
28. Louis VII, King of France (1120 - 1180)
29. Louis VI, King of France (1081 - 1137
30. Philip I, King of France (1052 - 1108)
31. Henry I, King of France (1009 - 1060)
32. Robert II, King of the Franks (972 - 1031)
33. Hugh Capet, King of the Franks (940 - 996)
34. Hugh, Duke of the Franks (898 - 956)
35. Robert I, King of France (866 - 923)
36. Robert IV, Margrave of Neustria (820 - 866)
37. Robert III von Wormsgau (789 - 834)
38. Robert II von Hesbaye (770 - 807)
39. Thuringbert von Worms und Rheingau (757 - 770)
40. Robert I, von Worms und Rheingau (700 - 764)
41. Lambert II Robertian (670 - 741)
42. Chrodrobert Robertian (655 - 677)
43. Lambert Robertian (640 - unknown)
While this long history might seem quite unique - a connection to historical nobility is guaranteed for just about anyone.
Yale statistician Joseph Chang explained this phenomenon in a 1999 research paper (read it here). The paper points out just how quickly family trees grow, from 2 parents, 4 grandparents and so on. Using this simple generational equation, after forty generations or so, you get to a family of 1 trillion ancestors.
That’s about 2000 times more people than would have existed on Earth at the time (about 700 CE).
The only way to explain this is to accept that our grandparents are not independent of one another. Instead of drawing a tree that reaches out forever, after a few generations our family network starts to looks like a big spider web.
As it turns out, you don’t have to look very far to find most recent common ancestors (MRCA). According to Chang, the most recent common ancestor of every European alive today was a man or woman who lived in Europe about 600 years ago.
So, while it’s fun to know that my French Canadian ancestors are descended from Medieval Kings; I’m also descended from the majority every other person who lived in Europe for the past two thousand years.
Sources:
- Recent Common Ancestors of All Present Individuals, Joseph Chang, 1999
- The Geography of Recent Genetic Ancestry across Europe, Peter Ralph, 2013
