ADGD Attention Deficit Genealogy Disorder

 When I was a child I began looking through family Bibles at my grandparents. I determined that both my parents were seventh generation Americans, both Church of the Brethren, one German descended, the other Scots-Irish. That made me eighth. For maybe 30 years, if the subject ever came up, I said, "I'm eighth generation American."

Then I discovered genealogy using the Internet.  I joined a genealogy listserv for Church of the Brethren which was very helpful in determining maiden names and found surname websites and county histories. Then I found out about Cousin Dan Wenger who had a massive database of over 3,000 pages of my "closest" relatives.  I let my software manipulate my branches and found out I was 13th instead of 8th generation American.