Brit pensioner traces worlds biggest family tree!

July 14th, 2008 - 5:55 pm ICT by ANI  

London, July 14 (ANI): A British pensioner has claimed that he has produced the world’’s largest family tree after tracing 9,390 relatives including three kings.

Roy Blackmore, of Taunton, Somerset, has spent has spent 20,000 pounds and 28 years tracing his family tree back 1,500 years.

The ancestors he uncovered include Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror and Hugh Capet, a 10th century French king.

The 76-year-old, orphaned as a child, began the project in 1980 so he did most of his research without access to the Internet.

His tree stretches back to the Cerdick family in 500AD and 45 generations.

Dad-of-two also found among his relatives a cowboy, US Civil War soldiers, farmers, and the odd monk.

“One of the most shocking discoveries was that I”m a descendant of Alfred the Great, the Mirror quoted him,a s saying.

My interest started after I was orphaned as a child. I have been searching high and low for information on my family. There have been some very frustrating times when I seemingly hit a brick wall. But there is always a way around or over an obstacle and you just have to persevere.”

“I could go back further into my French descendants but I think I”ll leave it as it is,” he added.

Dad-of-two Roy said wife Sigrid, 77, remained patient while he sifted through documents and travelled the country collecting clues.

“To research 10,000 family members is a unique and amazing achievement, he said.

Many claim to have traced their family back to the Domesday Book but have actually used short cuts on the Internet.

“But to actually follow the paper trail is an incredible feat and I cannot praise it enough, he added. (ANI)


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