Ancestry of father separated over time (9)
I believe the answer is:
parentage
'ancestry' is the definition.
(I know that ancestry can be written as parentage)
'father separated over time' is the wordplay.
'father separated' becomes 'parent' (I have seen 'A father ' mean 'parent' so perhaps 'father' could also mean 'parent'. I am not sure about the 'separated' bit.).
'over' says to put letters next to each other (in a down clue, some letters go over others).
'time' becomes 'age' (an age is a period of time).
'parent'+'age'='PARENTAGE'
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for parentage that I've seen before include "Ancestry" , "Family origins" , "Extraction, descent" , "Ancestors" , "results from birth" .)