Seeking Your Roots

[Phae Nymna]

I was just curious, so I thought it might be fun to post here about this.

Where is everyone here from genealogically? I always enjoy knowing about peoples heritage and notable features about their family- it's so cool!

Anyways, I'm the fourth generation of my family to be in America, but there were traces of my family 1647 Jamestown. My Great Grandfather and his wife immigrated here from Contessa Entellina, Sicily, which was founded by and lived in mainly by Albanian immigrants. So, I guess (on my mother's side at least) I'm an Albanian-Italian-American. :smallconfused:

I'm fourth or fifth generation on my father's side. His parents are third or fourth generation Irish and German descendants of whoever actually brought my family here. Oddly enough, my last name, Vetter, formerly meant cousin in German (now changed to simple cousin. [if I an totally wrong about this, German Speakers itP, PLEASE correct me]), and I have a MASSIVE family tree for my father's half (more like 3/4 :smallamused:) of the family.

Post yours, and cake may be rewarded!

[Castaras]

From what I remember...(Lensman can probably confirm it) My grandma has traced my dad's side of the family back to 1636...We were farmers then, in Britain.

Our name is also norman, so I'd guess that's where we came from.

[Tempest Fennac]

I'm supposedly 1/8th German/Russian or Polish (the grandparent in question isn't sure about what their parent's nationality is).

[CurlyKitGirl]

Traced back to 1400s by my granddad (Mum's dad). On that side it's pretty much all Cornish fishermen and farmers. And army guys. One of my ancestors may also have been a famous Cptn. in the 1600s.
On, and during the Spanish Amrmada it's quite likely there was rape involved and I have Spanish ancestry. Super-Gran was almost part-Italian.

On my Dad's side: back to the 1600s - all Cornish on one side with some Scottish relatives. The name though is Old Norse meaning 'of the graveyard'. Delicious irony as I love graveyeards anf spooky stuff.:smallbiggrin:

[The Rose Dragon]

I have no idea what my genealogy is. My dad's side comes from all around the Balkans, and my mother's side comes from all around the regions that was the Ottoman Empire.

I call myself American and be done with it (and I live in Turkey).

[Quincunx]

Quarter English, quarter Dutch, half lies.

It was my fifteenth ancestor in the male line who came to the U.S., the Dutch one. 1659, if my memory serves. I haven't seen the English genealogy of my paternal grandmother's family, but some persistent 'English' habits* make me think that they were either Canadian at some point or relatively recent arrivals. The lies may or may not wind through Calabria, West Virginia, Vermont. . .

*I was shocked down to the soles of my feet to discover that "lemon butter" was actually named lemon curd and was quite popular on the European side of the pond.

[Cobra_Ikari]

1/8 Italian
1/8 Spaniard
1/4 Cuban
1/2 German

Of course, I can only really trace back to grandparents or one set of great grandparents. Beyond that, we have illegitimacy, unknown fathers, and rampant name-changing, which made it more difficult than I had time or effort to press.

[Player_Zero]

███████████
OBJECTION!

I feel that this 'Quarter X', 'One sixteenth Y' and 'One two hundred and fifty sixth Z' stuff is a bit silly... If you were born in America and have American nationality then you are America. Case closed. :smalltongue:

Also, I can't trace my lineage back more than a generation or two.... Mostly because I'm lazy, yes... I think some of my ancestors may have been Scottish...

But still, if I don't turn out to be second in line for some royal appointment then I don't think It'll matter that much...

[Mauve Shirt]

Lotsa Irish, some Scottish, English, a bit of Norwegian

I'm related at some point to Ethan Allen (founder of Vermont, not involved with the furniture store :P)

[Jack Squat]

I'm of mostly German and Irish heritage...can't trace most of it back, and as far as we know my granmother's family basically just kinda appeared in Oklahoma...my other grandmother's parents came direct from Germany and never spoke a word of german once they got here.

Although one of my Irish ancestors snuck into the United States through Canada, I always found that kinda interesting.

[Quincunx]

Of course it's silly. However, he asked, so we answer.

[Player_Zero]

What I don't understand is when some people in America say that they are Irish... I understand that there was a lot of migration from Ireland to America, especially during the Potato Famine, but I don't call myself a Roman/Anglosaxon/Gaul/etc., since that would make no sense...

I'm not talking about the people who have close family ties in Ireland but rather the ones who haven't ever even been to Ireland and whose family hasn't for 400 years.

Is it just a tradition, or what?

[WalkingTarget]

Family from Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky which is as far back as it goes to my knowledge. Nothing but America in living memory (hell, nobody alive now even remembers having older relatives from other countries) so we've been here for a while. Two branches of the family have been traced back as far as the American Civil War, but before that it's hazy.

Based solely on surnames, we can surmise that I have English, Welsh, and German ancestry, but nobody knows how far back any of them came over. I just say American.

[Arioch]

My father's maternal grandparents emigrated to England from Ireland. Other than that, as far as I know,my family is all northern english until way back. I was born on the south coast, though.

[bosssmiley]

Tyneside Irish (behold the magnificence!)

Being of this particular cultural group is one of the highest manifestations of Great British Win possible. The Tyneside Irish combine Celtic wit, charm and savoir faire with both Geordie ingenuity and grit *and* general British awesumsauce. :smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:

[Trog]

What I don't understand is when some people in America say that they are Irish... I understand that there was a lot of migration from Ireland to America, especially during the Potato Famine, but I don't call myself a Roman/Anglosaxon/Gaul/etc., since that would make no sense...

I'm not talking about the people who have close family ties in Ireland but rather the ones who haven't ever even been to Ireland and whose family hasn't for 400 years.

Is it just a tradition, or what?
It's probably more of an American thing. The great melting pot and all. *shrug*

Danish, German, French, English mix here of indeterminable amounts.

[Morty]

My grandfathers as long as anyone can remember has been Polish, but my father's family has got a Czech-sounding last name, so who knows, maybe some of my ancestors has been from there.

[Serpentine]

All English. How dull :smallsigh:
My dad was born in England, came over when he was a toddler. Fun fact: His dad was the first professional photographer in Armidale :smallsmile:
My mum's side goes back to the convicts. My great-great-great-great-great (-great?) grandmother came over on the tail end of the Fleets (thirdish?). There's a story there of handling stolen goods, an affair, probably a rape on-ship (I think that's where our line comes from)... She was the maid of some sort of navy or army person, and had kids by her. They didn't get married, but he adopted her kids, from one of whom we're descended. That bit's all a bit odd. Why would he adopt her kids, and accept his children by her as his own, but not marry her? :smallconfused: So far as I know he wasn't married to anyone else, but it's all a bit sketchy...
Anyway, mostly English, possibly something like 1/16th Scottish.

[Agamid]

Scottish - Irish - English - Danish

Notable ancestors include:
Sweyn Asleifsson, a famous viking killed in 1171.
Olave (Olaf) the Black Norse King of Man and the Isles, who died in 1237.
Sir James Gunn, who served Prince Henry Sinclair during the 14th Century.
George Gunn, office of crowner and Lord of castle Clyth until he was murdered in 1478.
The Folk musician Robin Williamson (born in 1943) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Williamson

Despite being an Aussie, none of my ancestors were convicts. My grandmother on my mum's side immigrated here from South Africa in between the 1st and 2nd World War, where she met my grandfather on that side, whose family had immigrated to Oz (i think) 2 generations prior, from England and Ireland.
I'm not 100% on my dad's side... but i believe that my great-great grandfather immigrated here direct from Scotland, i don't know about my gran on that side's family history too much... she died before i was born so i never go to talk to her about family history on her side.

Yeah... and my Scottish clan have an on-going feud with the Keiths, so let ye Keiths beware! One day we'll properly get you back for stealing sweet Helen of Braemore and murdering her wedding party over 400 years ago! :smalltongue:

[Telonius]

Biologically: 1/2 Italian, other half German and Scots-Irish. Otherwise unknown.

Adoptive family: Mainly German, with some Scottish thrown in. Came over around 1870 or so. Standard American "horse thieves thrown out of the old country" story.

[Cobra_Ikari]

What I don't understand is when some people in America say that they are Irish... I understand that there was a lot of migration from Ireland to America, especially during the Potato Famine, but I don't call myself a Roman/Anglosaxon/Gaul/etc., since that would make no sense...

I'm not talking about the people who have close family ties in Ireland but rather the ones who haven't ever even been to Ireland and whose family hasn't for 400 years.

Is it just a tradition, or what?

Hmm. I generally don't claim to be anything. However, my father is an immigrant, and my mother is the daughter of immigrants. We tend to have large, family based holidays, with lots of influence from their cultures. So that's why it's important to me.

[RTGoodman]

Of course, I can only really trace back to grandparents or one set of great grandparents. Beyond that, we have illegitimacy, unknown fathers, and rampant name-changing, which made it more difficult than I had time or effort to press.

Yep, that's the problem with my family, too. My dad's been doing genealogy stuff for a while, to little avail. He's got us traced back to the late 19th century, but that only gets us to farmers in NC (with some Cherokee blood thrown in), plus my dad's side of the family who are apparently descended from French Canadians.

However, with my family's rampant red hair, pale skin, and (often) freckles, I assume some Celtic blood in there somewhere. Family names don't help either - Goodman is too generic and could have been a change upon immigration (or a derivative of another foreign name), Miller (the French-Canadian side) sounds German but comes from a line of Dumbrowskis or something like that, Bearden is of some origin unknown to me, and Branson sounds to me it could be either Celtic (Bran being a Celtic name, I assume, based on the Welsh character Bran from the Mabinogion) or Scandinavian (since they use the [Father's Name]-son/-dottir construction). I guess I could be descended from those Irish who fell under the sway of the Vikings, but I can't be certain of anything.

[Fostire]

On dad's side: Italian
On mom's side: German and a bit of spanish and native but mostly german

My great-great grandparents on both sides were inmigrants (except the native one). My great-grandfather fought in world war 1 for the germans, and got a medal for taking a bullet for saving a machine gun (in those times, machine guns were huge). He then emigrated here because of the ungratefulnes of the germans, that treated him like crap for losing the war that he faught and they didnt. He wanted to fight in world war 2 but his wife refused to let him go.
Cool story on the native one: she was a princess.

[GolemsVoice]

Well, I as neither I nor ny of our family I know has ever made efforts considering genealogy, I can trace myself back to my grandparents, which were, as far as I recall, both (meaning my mum's and my dad's) German. My dad's grandparents live in a rural area, and his mother married his father when he was on his way back from WWII, but it is likely to assume that both can trace their lines back into the same area where they now live, for travelling in such parts of the world and society was rare, and moving over great distances even rarer, save for wars, famines and other catastrophes.
On my mother's side it's a bit harder, but I stil think their ancestors where Germans as well, although the area they might once have lived in might not be a part of Germany today, as it was much larger before the World Wars.

[captain_decadence]

1/128 German
1/128 Italian
1/4 Uknown (adopted grandfather)
94/128 Different British (English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh)

But my family has been in America for 13 generations and we've spent 10 of them in the same state.

[B-Man]

My family used to have a document that traced our family origins to the early 1100s in Ireland or Scotland. Parts of my ancestry (from my mum's side) immigrated to the States in the 1800s and a few over to Canada in that time frame too. More relevantly, I am a second generation Canadian on both my mum's and father's sides of the family.

Most of my mum's side of the family is in Scotland and all of my father's side is in Finland.

I'm really sad to say that I know nothing of my father's side of the family other than there's a really nasty alcohol streak in it.

[Player_Zero]

Also, on the theme of my rant about random fractions of nationality it doesn't really make any sense.

If my grandfather was English then I would be 1/4 English? But what if he himself wasn't 100% English, but rather his grandfather was German? Would that mean that I am sixteenth German and three sixteenths English? But then what if it turned out that all of my other english relatives had French roots and those roots had roots and those roots had roots, etc. Then I wouldn't be English at all and neither would any of my ancestors, despite being born in, and having nationality of, England?

Perhaps if there were some sort of cut off point... If you said that great great grandparents didn't submit their nationality to the nationality pool and that their nationality was entirely dictated by where they were born...

If we're talking about the make-up of genes which we have inherited then most every European would have roughly the same nationality...

Also, assuming that the population and history of humanity was infinite then I would be no nationality whatsoever.
I must be tired... I generally don't go insane until I'm weary.

[Quincunx]

You also don't have an American view of 'time'--'long time ago', to be precise. My husband still thinks it's hilarious to point out "oh by the way, that building/town/funny-looking outcrop is [300] [750] [some ungodly number] years old" and watch my expression as I try to wrap my brain around the fact. Consider also that calling yourself "American" now implies Native American blood in there somewhere, and you have a recipe for tracing your 'ancestry' as far away from the place as possible.

[Aereshaa_the_2nd]

My mother's Russian, as her parents are both from Moscow, whereas my dad is Canadian/English/Whatever.

On my dad's side we came from the UK like centuries ago, whereas my mom's parents immigrated here fleeing the soviet pogroms or sthg. Apparently, my grandmother has traced her ancestry back to the Normans.

[Dragonrider]

My mom has worked out quite an impressive family tree for her family. I'm descended from a guy called John Woodbury no fewer than 13 times. :smallbiggrin: He came from Somersetshire, England (was in fact Welsh, which is what most of my ancestors were) in the 1600s, co-founded Beverly, MA, settled in that area, and my mom's family has basically lived there ever since. :smallamused:

What a claim to fame, eh? They're all Welsh, English, Irish, and Scottish on that side of the family (my mom's).

My dad's? Came from Germany 100 years ago and settled in New York. One of them invented the peppermint patty. We've got some Dutch in there as well and who knows what else...it's impossible to trace. because many of them are fairly recent immigrants.

Mom always says: "good thing your dad's a mutt, because my family is WAY too inbred."

And yet...she discovered through the course of her exploration...they're 13th cousins. :smallamused:

Ah, irony.

[InaVegt]

1/16 of my ancestry is from a race that is spread all around the world. The remainder is from the area I live in. So, I'm a Native European, for the most part.

[Pepz]

Mine's a bit tricky too.

We never actually tracked our genealogy because us Dutch people don't care as much as you americanites. The two things I know about my family.

From my dad's side:
Unknown :smallamused: I don't know my dad, my mom doesn't know my dad. All they told her during her IVF-treatment was that he was Dutch.

From my mom's side:
Dutch. Everything I ever heard was that my family lived in Rotterdam, and that at least 5 generations back everyone has been honest traders and craftsmen.

conclusion therefore is:
DUTCH,DUTCH,DUTCH :smallsmile:

and loving it, I might add

[Bag_of_Holding]

My maternal half is pure Korean, so I can say I'm 50% Asian. The other half though... I have my doubts but it's complicated.

[Shraik]

I actually know alot about this.
On father's side, Italian third generation, two peasants. Thats my grandfather. Then Grandmother is original dutch colonists, from before America was U.S.
On Mother's side, German 9th generation. Farmers. And Brazillian with French Roots. And a little Irish.

[Jack Squat]

I actually know alot about this.
On father's side, Italian third generation, two peasants. Thats my grandfather. Then Grandmother is original dutch colonists, from before America was U.S.
On Mother's side, German 9th generation. Farmers. And Brazillian with French Roots. And a little Irish.

Wait...Your grandma was an original dutch colonist http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb177/gitpsmilies/huh.gif

I think I'm misinterpreting something here

[some_other_dave]

1/4 Polish, 1/4 Czech (actually Bohemian, I am told).
The other half, meh, mostly English (the last names of both my paternal grandparents are quite English), but some various miscellaneous Western European thrown in the mix somewhere.

-soD

[Flickerdart]

Pure Russian here. And...well, that's about it. Nothing all that interesting.

[adanedhel9]

My mom's side of the family has traced themselves back to the late 1800s. But there weren't many immigrants involved, so we don't know any nationalities for sure. Based on last names, though, its mostly English. I know nothing from my dad's side, but based on last names, it seems to include German, Danish, Irish, and Czech.

[ForzaFiori]

My dad's side is know from the point of immigration onward, and from there i'm 1/8 Italian, 1/8 German, 1/8 English, and 1/8 Hungarian. My great grandfather (my dad's dad's dad) Came over from northern Italy with 4 brothers, and married/settled down around New York. His kid (my grandfather) and the kid of another set of immigrants (my grandmother) had my dad.

As for my mom, I have no idea. She's adopted, and the state of SC refuses to release her papers as to who her mother is and such.

[Shraik]

Wait...Your grandma was an original dutch colonist http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb177/gitpsmilies/huh.gif

I think I'm misinterpreting something here
Not that she was an original dutch colonist, but the family heritage on her side can be traced to the original dutch settles of the Finger Lakes in NY.
Not that she herself was.
That'd be one hell of an annanchronism though.

[Felixaar]

The Moon.

In reality though, I dont have much back tracing of my roots. I'm just proudly Australian :smallbiggrin:

[Edan]

My family has worked on a direct genealogy line on my mother's side back to the late 1300's, my father's side back to the 1500's.

Basically, traced back far enough, my blood is basically a mutt of most western European countries. English, Irish, Scottish, Scandinavian (my maternal grandfather was 1st generation American born to immigrant parents), German. Also traced ancestors to the American Revolution, Civil War and other neat events (father's side.)

Also, I live in Utah so both sides are linked to state founders and what not, plus genealogy is BIG here.

[Nibleswick]

Well, my dad was a professional genealogist, so I hope I know a little about my family history.

Our family started out (as far as it's traceable anyway) in a town in Germany called Steinhudde (sp?), they came to America in the 1850s along with half the town, many of them getting land grants by joining the army during the Mexican-American war. On my grandmother's (my dad's mum) we have this (http://houseofnames.com/fc.asp?sId=&s=Boughey) family. There is also the Dutch line they came over tho settle New Amsterdam (well, I say Dutch, but really they were Huguenots). There is also a bit of Spanish in there as well, in fact I'm a descendant of this man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_%C3%81lvarez_de_Toledo,_Duke_of_Alva).

@Shraik would you be willing to give me a name to look up? There weren't a whole lot of Dutch settlers, so chances are good that we're descended from the same folks.

[SDF]

I'm Scots-Irish, about half of each. I'm descended from Dr. David Livingstone (hence my middle name) and my great grandmother came into the US illegally from Canada.

[InaVegt]

@Shraik would you be willing to give me a name to look up? There weren't a whole lot of Dutch settlers, so chances are good that we're descended from the same folks.

Not a whole lot of Dutch settlers?

About half of the original area of the USA was originally colonized by the Dutch, and the Dutch language was so major in the original states that there was a discussion whether English or Dutch should've become the official language of the USA.

Now, of course, The USA as it stands now is much larger, but to say there weren't many Dutch settlers is to discredit the Dutch.

[Rollin]

I have an ancestor named Virginius Coleman Taliaferro.

Pronounced Tolliver.

[Jagg]

I also know a bit about this.

We've been in Australia for a looong time. First boat of settlers but there is a scandal in my family history involving a well known british monarch. When my ancestor (the illigitimate son of a British King) was told he could either spend a few years in the Tower of London and end up with his throat slit accidently, OR be paid off and exiled (and sent to the @rse end of the world in those days) to prevent being used as a rallying point to oust the ruling monarch....he folded.

Our family can be traced to the battle of Hastings in 1066 and Willliam the Conqueror through the British Royal Family.

I'm Prince Charles' like 16th cousin or something... and for those that care (coz I don't) I'm a peer....especially when I drink beer.

One would not take it amiss if you genuflected now.

[Randani]

My family has been able to trace their heritage back to the mid-1700s, discovered that we are related to a well-known British pirate of the time. Other than the British, I'm mainly Scots-Irish with a smidgen of Cherokee thrown in. And possibly a bit of French, not to sure on that one though.

[OwlbearUltimate]

I have a very colorful family backround. One of my ancestors was part of the Mayflower. He actully fell of the boat due to drunkenness :smallconfused: Theodore Roosavelt, the Bush Family :smallyuk: and Robert Lee are related to him as well. I am a good part German on one half. The other half stole away on a boat. I have a very unusual last name, basiclly anyone with it is pretty directly related to me, but it is very hard to trace.

[Jack Squat]

My family has been able to trace their heritage back to the mid-1700s, discovered that we are related to a well-known British pirate of the time. Other than the British, I'm mainly Scots-Irish with a smidgen of Cherokee thrown in. And possibly a bit of French, not to sure on that one though.


Which pirate? because that sounds really cool.


On an unrelated note, I found out that my great great uncle was a flight instructor, and considered an expert flier, who died in a plane crash in West Point, Mississipi in Dec. 16 1921. Oh, and there's an Airport in Pennsylvania named after him, I like that part of the story better http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb177/gitpsmilies/tongue.gif

[Phae Nymna]

I'm Scots-Irish, about half of each. I'm descended from Dr. David Livingstone (hence my middle name) and my great grandmother came into the US illegally from Canada.


Those pesky Canadians! And How to Get Rid of Them:
An Instructional Booklet


Fill a tub with Maple Syrup
Place on Canadian Soil
Whistle, Bang Pots, or simply lure Canadians
Attempt to drop Motor Oil in the Syrup
RUN!
Close the border gates once the Canadians have Passed
????
Profit!

:smalltongue:
TOTALLY kidding.

[Randani]

Which pirate? because that sounds really cool.


He went by the name of Wild Tom, his last name was either DeWolf or Crane. I can't remember which. Along with being a pirate, he also was active in the slave trade (not so cool), and was quite the man-slut :smalltongue:

[Tengu]

Pure Polish here, or maybe with some small pieces of other nationalities, such as 1/32 or so. In seventeenth century, and probably earlier too, my family used to be nobles, possessing a crest and rich enough to have at least one village. The Soviets took it all away, though.

[Lady Tialait]

My roots are a bit....akward. My Mother's family are pure native American Apache tribe. As for my dad...a bit weird and changes by who you ask. But, as far as I can find it goes something like this.

Me Daddy's Parents:

Dad's Dad
Grandpa Clayton
English and ALOT of Pioneering in his line. We still get random letters to him from all over the U.S. saying he owes taxes for land he just stared owning because the family member died. Very spread out family. We have a family tree, but It gets odd after the 3 sisters married the 3 brothers. (3 sisters from a family back 5 generations married into 3 brothers...I quite reading family history...kinda creaped out)


Dad's Mom
Grandmama McHigh (Grandpa Clayton is dead, so she reverted to her maiden Name)
Her family is a bunch of weirdos as far as I can see. Every family reunion I have gone to showcases the fact that William Teach...I think that is his name is an ancestor. And Jesse James.....And 2 suspects of being Jack the Ripper...they are very proud of this. And that creeps me out. I don't really like that part of the family.


So, yeah. I'm Half-Apache, Half-Euro-mutt. And I've married a Half-English (His dad was a immigrant) Half-Afro American. I am pregnated, this will be a very interesting thing when my baby is born...just to see the skin color.

[Sotextli]

Father's side:
Great Great Grandpa Oli Oen came over from Norway to try and have a better life. As soon as he got off the boat, he went to North Dakota and was a damn fine farmer. We have newspaper clippings with headlines like "Crazy Oen Grows 2 lbs. Potatoes!" and such like that. Next came Great Grandma Oen (only next gen member of the family that Dad really told me about), who stayed on the farm, but was a bit less successful. Then comes Grandpa Oen, who grew up, like the rest of his family, on the farm. The guy is brilliant; he can fix basically anything we can throw at him, even after he suffered a stroke. Guy's amazing, I tell ya. When my dad was twelve, Grandpa and Grandma moved out to a rural part of Washington. Grandpa worked for boeing (and so does my uncle), great mechanic. When he retired, he fixed up old tractors. My family actually lives down the road from Grandpa's old house (he moved to Arizona).

So dad's side is almost completely Norwegian. Dad's about 75% Norwegian and 15%-20% Danish/German.

Mom's side is a bit iffy.
Great Great Great Grandpa came over from Sweden with his family and moved around a lot. Had a lot of interesting adventures (detailed in a letter that he meant to send home, but never managed to), but mostly did farm work. After this, everything gets hazy. All I really know is that Grandma/Grandpa are somewhat related (third or fourth cousin I think?), but Grandpa is basically 100% Swede. Grandma, we're not sure about (adopted). She could really be anything but my pseronal guess is some kind of germanic.

So, to cap it off, I'm about 37% Norwegian, 25% Swedish, 7%-10% German/Danish, ~20% unknown. I'm basically the Viking poster child.

[Nibleswick]

Not a whole lot of Dutch settlers?

About half of the original area of the USA was originally colonized by the Dutch, and the Dutch language was so major in the original states that there was a discussion whether English or Dutch should've become the official language of the USA.

Now, of course, The USA as it stands now is much larger, but to say there weren't many Dutch settlers is to discredit the Dutch.

Most of those "Dutch" settlers were in fact German, Huguenot, and Flemish refugees.

The language thing is a myth (I usually hear it as German anyway).

On top of that we're talking about a specific area (New York), and a fairly specific time (early in it's colonization).

[Rockphed]

If I must answer with a single thing, I would say American. On the other hand, let me look at my Grand Parents(I could go back quite a bit farther, but that would be annoying). My Father's Father is English with a little bit of French. My Mother's Father is English with a tiny bit of Irish or Scottish or Welsh. My Father's Mother is English with a little bit of English, and my Mother's mother is German, Hungarian, and Possibly a Jew(depending on how you look at it.)

To make matters even more fun, my Grandfather was his own 4th cousin, somewhat like whoever it was at the end of the last page whose parents were 13th cousins, only 10 fewer generations. I have ancestors on both sides of the American Revolution, one of my Tories being the Cousin of General Greene. I think I have no direct ancestors who participated in the US civil war, though I apparently have cousins many times removed who were on both sides. I hate having parents with at least 60 years of combined genealogy experience.

[Seffbasilisk]

My Father's Father left the mountains in Lebanon for the first time in...long long time. He came to America, married an Irish girl... my father married an Irish girl...

but my lineage through my grandfather leads back to a warrior who invaded Egypt and was named the direct descendant of Amun-Ra. In an all-first-born-male line. So, I suppose in the course of things, I'm a Rank 0 diety.

The rest were a smattering of Irish kings and bards. Only one Englishman (and I'm counting those wanna-be Irish that moved in from England as English. And a few words this board forbids as well.) but he was murdered by her brothers for being a lying piece of....

So 75% Irish, 25% Lebanese (Arab).

[poleboy]

Eh... I think I can trace it back a few hundred years, but they were all farmers anyway so why bother? :smallsigh:

On a different note, a lot of people (who didn't know me) have sworn that I'm jewish for some reason. Look in the picture thread... do I look jewish? :smallconfused:

[randman22222]

Well, My dad's German, born to a full German mother, and an Italian American father. My mom's American, born to British and Austrian parents. I hold a German passport, and an American passport, but plan on going to college in the U.K. or something. I really don't say I'm of X nationality, because I've lived all over the world, and going to either of my passport countries never makes me feel at home. Nowhere makes me feel at home. Though, I do prefer going to Germany over the U.S. because of the food...

[Shademan]

in me fathers siade i descend from german nobles.
on mah momys side i descend from the rotal clerks (means that they were in the kings service)

so my family might've been raiding your family some hundred years ago...

[banjo1985]

I can trace my dad's side back to 13th century German knights. I have no idea about anything else though, though I do have my families knight crest, which is kind of cool. Involves too many owls for my liking though.

[Charity]

Should any of you be remotely interested.

50% Italian
25% English
25% Scottish

for my sins.

Though I am about the most English bloke you are ever likely to meet and don't speak a word of Italian sorry to say.

[Arang]

Supposedly came over from Germany sometime during the 16th century. Very little interesting has happened since then.

[Bonecrusher Doc]

Mostly Irish and German, on both sides. My parents say those two backgrounds help to balance each other... do we dare get into stereotyping? Also some French, Scots, Dutch, English. So all western European.

However, let's say that 3 out of 8 of my great-grandparents are Irish. Does this mean that 3/8 of my genetic material comes from those Irish grandparents? Or in the chance shuffling of genes, is it possible that I'm as little as 1/8 or as much as 7/8 "Irish?" It's been a while since I took intro to biology.

And has anyone on this forum done the National Geographic genographic project?
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/genographic

EDIT: Oh yeah, funny geneological story. During Prohibition, my maternal grandfather's father lost his job as a professional bartender. Meanwhile, my paternal grandfather's mother (German-speaking emigrant from France, widowed at the time) operated a "speakeasy," an illegal establishment serving alcohol.

[ghost_warlock]

I can trace my mom's side back to pre-WWII Germany. As for my dad's side, well, all I really know about him is that his last name was McCarty and he liked The Drugs. :smallfrown:

[Szilard]

My family is pretty much Hungary/Romanian, I'm technically the second generation in America because of my mom and dad also comig.
I remember My class had a project for how long our family was in America, I had the most recent at 13 years.

[Hairb]

Apparently, a scottish ancestor of mine was transported to Australia for defrauding the Post Office and forgery, served his sentence, remarried and eventually became the first school teacher in New South Wales.

[Killersquid]

I'm Half Italian, and quarter German and Irish.

The furthest I can look back is my Italian (father's) side, where the only reason to go to America was because all the family was going there. Around the 1960's I think they went, they were farmers, so they got a nice home in Philly with lots of ground. My grandma loved gardening, and about a decade after they moved to Philly, they settled in New Jersey, again, a house with lots of ground for my grandma to garden. I actually still have a quite a bit of family over in Italy, and my entire family speaks Italian (with the exception of me), but most speak a lot of English.

[Solo]

Must resist urge to make mathamatics or computer programming related joke....


I'm Han as far as I know.

[Dallas-Dakota]

On my mothers side shipmen, traders. Not fishermen.
On my father's line as far as anybody is able to remember it was in Twente. My great grandmother had only left Twente once in all of her 93 years of existance.

[Reinboom]

My mother's maiden name, Corwin, is derived from Curwen, a noble/royal family from England. Direct lineage. My grandmother's family is also derived from Austrian-Hungarian royalty.
On my father's side, I'm... party cherokee (native american), part irish, part english, and possibly part austrian.

Also, there's something about bonesetters in there for the Sweets, though I forget how far back that was.

[Dallas-Dakota]

On my father's side, I'm... party cherokee (native american), part irish, part english, and possibly part austrian..
The only way to make that more awesome is to have some australian blood in you...

[Reinboom]

The only way to make that more awesome is to have some australian blood in you...

I would try, but I doubt most Australians would like me committing an act of vampirism on them.

[Terraoblivion]

My ancestry is wonderfully simple to trace. On my father's side it is all Danish workers and before that Danish daylaborers and small farmers, with the exception of my great-grandmother who was from a family of German fishermen. On my mother's side it is all Danish large-scale farmers. Simple, right?

[Kool-Aid]

Unfortunately for me my (I think) great grandfather's mother died in childbirth and his father died soon after, so he was adopted and I don't think I'll ever find out.

However, I DO happen to know that I'm 62.5% Italian 25% Irish and 12.5% German.

EDIT:as far as I know of course.

[Lolzords]

My mother's side is Irish-Italian-Londoner, while my Dad's side is Liverpudlian-Welsh.

I don't know the years and such they moved to the various countries so I won't say. :)

[The Vorpal Tribble]

I'm such an American mutt...

I've traced back to around 1590 or so on one offshoot, though am mainly Cherokee and German, with a fair slice of Welsh, but also know I'm part English, French and Dutch.

Only know the occupations of folks since they came to America, and all the early ones were farmers. My cherokee great-great-grandmother was an herbal healer.

[SilverSheriff]

My Dad's family originated in Wales, with quite a lot of Irish blood mixed in there, my descendants moved to England and My Grandparents moved to Melbourne, Australia after World War 2 where my Dad was born in the late 60's/early 70's (I can't be bothered asking and it's too late at night).


all I know about my mother's side of the family is that she was adopted and that My Biological Grandmother spent some time in a mental institution, my mother isn't too far from that herself...:annoyed:

[Ilena]

Myself, both my Grandperents on my moms side came from Germany there, beyond that im not sure, ive never known my real father and his blood so i have no idea what half of me is and ive no idea beyond my grandperents (i asume full german as my great grandfather fought in ww1 as eather an officer or cavalry as he had a saber (saw a picture of it)), other then that i know nothing else

[I'm da Rogue!]

Mom's side:
Greatgrandparents were Greeks who lived in North Turkey, and came back to Greece in 1922.

My dad's family comes from an island (that some archeologists suppose it's the ancient Ithaka).

Our last name implies that we have roots in Vlachia.
Do you know who was from Vlachia too? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_III_Dracula)
(Actually,it's a common name here, but I wanted to show off) =P

The Balkan soup. We are a mix of civilizations.

[WalkingTarget]

I've been poking around in various online genealogy websites (mostly ones that are based on official records of some kind) and have found that somebody has traced my father's family back to a guy in Virginia in the 1740's. Aren't the interwebs wonderful?

[Adlan]

I am a Norfolk Man, My Fathers Fathers Fathers Fathers were from Norfolk. And as Far as we can tell, they were here since before the romans. I took part in the DNA donation tracing system, on my Y chromosome, and as my Fathers Fathers ect. are all Norfolk, they wanted mine.

Turns out I'm one of the 40% that is Celtic in Norfolk.

But then, as Current Genetic Studies are Showing that in Fact, all Western Europeans are Mostly still the Descendants of the Huntergatherer's, and the different Cultures were simple that, cultures, not major genetic migrations, I guess You can just put that down as Native European Hunter.

In Any Case, with the Blood of the Iceni, I also have a fair whack of Viking/Saxon Blood, a Norman last Name, a part scots grandmother and my Mother is an Austrian/Hungarian Jew who's mothers name was Khan, which as far as I can gather means she was one of the jew living under the Khanates, who then Left when the Khanates began to collapse.

[Paladin29]

I am spanish, that means my roots are very diverse. My surname can be traced to the XII century to Gupuzcoa (a basque region), so i am mainly castillian (castellano), however i have one arab surname (that was "christianiced" later), because my country was invaded by the arabs and moors in the early middle ages, and we don´t reconquered all of the country until XV century (however the great part of the Reconquista ends with the battle of Navas de Tolosa in 1212). I´ve a jewish surname also and other french (a great great grandfather was a french officer who stand in Spain when the french army withdraws in 1814). So I am a castillian/basque-arab-jew-french thing :smalltongue:

[Dr. Bath]

Well, half the family is from south/ west coast of Ireland (they're all crazy. Absolutely crazy) So I've passed as being local when I went visit that area due to the thick black/dark brown hair and blue eyes. Yay? Apparent I am descended from one of the celtic Queens way back when, but I can't remember who...

Other side is English as far as I know. From the south-east/London. Not sure though. Haven't really looked into it.

Sooo. Anglo-Celtic is what I am.

I think that works.

[sktarq]

Well lets see.
Dad was an Orphan, born in Oxfordshire and with a name that is found in only a few villages in part of that county up until a century or so ago. We have little to no records of his ancentry because his original records we burned in the blitz. He has some Dane/Norse genetic markers apparently though-so cue in that invasionary period but 90%+ Celt otherwise.
On my Mum's Side, Cornish and from the south/East side of the Wash on her Mum's side with Mostly Limmerick County on the other with a touch of Galacian Spanish back in the 1700's. (more Celts funny enough...She was Stawberry Blond, Green eyed and freckled apparently-from old Pre-Roman times)

And Yes I was born in the States, brought up in the UK expat community in California and am culturally "confused"....Personal I place myself in the Atlantic between Bermuda and the Azores

[WalkingTarget]

Wow, it's amazing what a few weeks worth of poking around will discover.

I just figured out that this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Chapin) guy is my great great great great great great great great great grandfather.

Spoilered for large image:
http://pics4.city-data.com/cpicc/cfiles22767.jpg

This means I'm a distant cousin (and I mean distant, think like 7th cousin, 4 times removed or something, I haven't worked out the math exactly) to financier J. P. Morgan, abolitionist John Brown, and presidents William Howard Taft and Grover Cleveland.

Here (http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=deannedriscoll&id=I309)'s a long list-style family tree page for people who are interested. It seems to be a extremely well-researched family. Genealogy records tend to not include living people's names, so the closest you'll get to me on this page are some great great grandparents (well, their children are there too, but listed as "living" with no given names, so I won't count them).

[rubakhin]

I'm half-Slavic, half-Irish. :smallamused:

The Slavic parts of me: More Polish than anything else, some Ukrainian, some Russian. I just say I'm Russian because everyone in my family was Russified anyway.

Famous people I'm related to on the Irish side: the House of Plantagenet, but none of the cool people, just the pricks. For instance, I am a direct descendant of John of England. The Robin Hood villain. :smallsigh:

[de-trick]

I'm 100% Ukrainian, or from the general area, i remember hearing my family was supose to be some kind of noble, but im not a 100% sure, my last name right now is Perih, but it is not the proper spelling as it would be in Ukrainian, stupid border people

[Lyesmith]

Ruba, that's pretty awesome!
I'm roughly a quater scottish, and about half english. The rest is all sorts. Arabian blood somewhere, apparently!
Isle of Skye from my fathers side, and before that viking raids (My surname means "From black water".). Mothers is relatively unknown.

[Edge]

Quarter Welsh (from my dad), quarter English (1/8 from both my parents), the rest is a mix from all over Europe. I'm roughly 1/8 German, I think.

To confuse things even more, my mum was born in a British airbase in Singapore.

[Ethrael]

All hail prince rubahkin!

I know very little about my roots, my granddad (dad's side) is from Chios, as was the rest of his family. My great-great-granddad (who has the same name as me) was actually Mayor of Chios a long while ago.

From my mum's side, I know very little, they were mostly farmers, some businesssmen, but I do know that some great-great-great-granddads and uncles went and moved to America.

As for meself, I was born in the U.S, moved to London when I was 5.5. and my whole family's Greek. Call it whatever you want. :smallbiggrin:

[Zar Peter]

My father once told me that one of our ancestors was an illegitimate child of Emperor Franz I Stephan of Habsburg Lothringen.
But since he and his wife Maria Theresia had 16 kids he had enough time to make illegitimate children so maybe half of Vienna can say this about themselfs.

Oh, and at last 50% of me comes from the Czech Republik, but once again this is a feature nearly every inhabitant of Vienna has.

I'm at last 3 generations pure Viennese.

[Spiryt]

Wow, some awesome stories here, especially Rubakhin's.

To diversify - myself I'm most probably 100 % bloody polish peasant from generations. Although my surname sounds strongly Czech.

Surname of my mom suggest a possibility of nobility at some point, but even if so it was long, long ago, as all grandparents come from the countryside cottages, let alone earlier generations.

[happyturtle]

I have no way of learning who my biological father was (and no desire to either) so I just think of myself as a mutt.

[Moff Chumley]

If you go five generations back, I'm from at least half of the countries in Europe. Ten, and you get Asia, Native American, and African; Fifteen, and I lose track.

[TFT]

I think I might have posted in here, but I checked and didn't see anything. Oh well.

I'm half Italian and I think 3/5 German 1/5 Czeckoslavakian and 1/5 French for the other half.
(I was just guessing on those fractions)

[alexeduardo]

100% Mexican Indio!

[thubby]

I'm 1/2 irish and 1/2 everything else that would be considered "caucasian"

[TheThan]

███████████
OBJECTION!

I feel that this 'Quarter X', 'One sixteenth Y' and 'One two hundred and fifty sixth Z' stuff is a bit silly... If you were born in America and have American nationality then you are America. Case closed. :smalltongue:

Also, I can't trace my lineage back more than a generation or two.... Mostly because I'm lazy, yes... I think some of my ancestors may have been Scottish...

But still, if I don't turn out to be second in line for some royal appointment then I don't think It'll matter that much...

I whole heartily agree.

One of my ancestors was on the mayflower; he wasn’t one of the colonists he was a sailor and apparently a pirate before joining that crew.

Arrg!

aside from that, I have Irish and Scottish ancestors, and supposedly some native American blood mixed in. (nothing we can prove, no records).

[WalkingTarget]

Here's a diagram of my (ancestor-only) family tree that I've been able to trace so far.

http://a893.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/54/l_2dd291243f5f27b4a58547d81ef3c5bc.png

Some English, some Welsh (possibly with some French Huguenots who moved to Wales sometime prior to coming to America), some German (well, from Württemberg before "Germany" became it's own country), and some lines that dead-end somewhere in America before making it back to another country.