: A lineal ancestor or relative is a direct ancestor - parent, grandparent, great grandparent, and so on back in time. Each lineal ancestor is a founder of an ancestral [[#B|Branch]] on your family tree. Often the female ancestral branches become more difficult to research as you go back in time because their surname was not recorded in earlier birth, marriage, and death records. | : A lineal ancestor or relative is a direct ancestor - parent, grandparent, great grandparent, and so on back in time. Each lineal ancestor is a founder of an ancestral [[#B|Branch]] on your family tree. Often the female ancestral branches become more difficult to research as you go back in time because their surname was not recorded in earlier birth, marriage, and death records. |