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As a rabid genealogist, I can tell you that I have traced many, many family lines that go back to very prominent, powerful and wealthy families and as each descendant comes forward, there is a definite trend of diminishing returns after these highly accomplished people. Only too many families with wealth, power and privilege raise children with lesser talents, less self-control, no work ethic, etc. With each successive generation, the family becomes poorer and more obscure until they are shoeless hillbillies who have to start at the bottom again (no offense to those of us who are shoeless hillbillies). I have seen this trend over and over as I trace people's families. I do not often see the trend in reverse, but presumably it happens somewhere over hundreds of years. Remember, those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.
