Is it possible to trace my lineage back to Adam and Eve?

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Robert C. Gunderson, Senior Royalty Research Specialist of the Church Family History Department, stated:

“The simplest answer . . . is No. Let me explain. In thirty-five years of genealogical research, I have yet to see a pedigree back to Adam that can be documented. By assignment, I have reviewed hundreds of pedigrees over the years. I have not found one where each connection on the pedigree can be justified by evidence from contemporary documents. In my opinion it is not even possible to verify historically a connected European pedigree earlier than the time of the Merovingian Kings (c. a.d. 450–a.d. 752).

“Every pedigree I have seen which attempts to bridge the gap between that time and the biblical pedigree appears to be based on questionable tradition, or at worst, plain fabrication. Generally these pedigrees offer no evidence as to the origin of the information, or they cite a vague source” (“I Have a Question,” Ensign, Feb. 1984, 31).

François Weil, Chancellor of the Universities of Paris, stated:

"Genealogy was originally the prerogative of kings and princes. The oldest surviving royal genealogies in Europe go back to the sixth century A.D. for Gothic sovereigns, to the seventh century for their Irish, Lombardic, Visigothic, and Frankish counterparts, and to the eighth and ninth centuries for Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian kings" (Family Trees: A History of Genealogy in America [2013], 10–11).

Thus Weil and Gunderson agree—European royal pedigrees cannot be verified before the 500s A.D.

If a family history or pedigree implies otherwise, you are encouraged to ask contributors for their sources.

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