Show Us Your Pedigree! The Heritage Thread.

[Lincsong]

No Melungeon's around this place?[huh]

 

[BellyTank]

My maternal grandmother's side is Scottish and/or Irish, the name being Kendrick.

My maternal grandfather was the son of immigrants from Sweden and Norway, named Carlson.

My paternal grandmother's family is almost entirely Cherokee Indian.

My paternal grandfather's family is French, but we don't know many details, there were Huguenots somewhere.

...sounds like you're the most 'American' thus far...

B
T

 

[mysterygal]

And let's not count milk chocolate either. Yeech! (Mysterygal's going to kill me for this.)

I'll be easy on you today

 

[Braxton36]

Quite a thread Scott started

I don't think I've seen this many responses this fast, ever.

My answer:

A wee bit of Swiss, a smidgen of German (2/32) a dash of French and the remaining bulk English/Scottish/Irish. First ancestors came to Jamestown in 1607. The others drifted over during the balance of the 17th and 18th centuries, the last ones arriving in the very early 19th century. I've studied this subject since I was a boy. Fascinating to me.

I read not long ago that genealogy is now one of the top three hobbies in the U.S.

 

[Steve]

Holy !!!

So that's what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they wrote the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.:eusa_doh:

Folks had a higher pain threshold in those days. (They had to!)

.

Hehe, probably so and probably so. I feel like Nic Cage in National Treasure every time I tell that.

 

[Mr_Misanthropy]

...sounds like you're the most 'American' thus far...

B
T

Well thank you (I think). I really wish I knew more about my ancestry, I'm sure there are plenty of good stories I'm missing. My great grandfather was a full Cherokee, and he died at age 101 when I was around 14. I never really got a chance to talk to him much, but I wish I would have.
I also think that one of the reasons this thread has gotten so much response so fast, is that everyone is interested in their family's past. It's unique to each person, and it's amazing to think that something we do today has the potential to be a story told hundreds of years from now.
Although I hate to say it, but I've tried to trace back my family tree and it's just too HARD!! The farthest back we can go is Civil war era, where I had an ancestor who fought with an infantry in Illinois.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

...sounds like you're the most 'American' thus far...

Mr_Misanthropy would be perfectly American if one of his ancestors were a Mexican living in, say, California at the end of the Mexican-American War (1848).

Various pieces of land that eventually became part of the United States were initially held by:

-- Native-American groups
-- Native Hawaiian groups originally from Tahiti
-- The Aztec empire
-- Great Britain
-- The Netherlands
-- France
-- Spain
-- Mexico
-- Russia (Alaska)

Have I left out any peoples or countries?

.

 

[BellyTank]

Well thank you (I think).

Yes, it was meant in the positive...
You're welcome.

B
T

 

[JustJen]

I've seen your grandfather's uncle's silent film, THE WIND. It is a masterpiece.

You must see this film!

I know, I definitely do need to. I'll take a gander at half.com. Know of any other sites that might have it?


Thanks!
Jen

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Wish I did know. I saw it years ago at the cinematheque in Berkeley, California.

 

[Lincsong]

Razor Sharp

If I broke it down into 16ths would anyone believe me?[huh] Would anyone care?

 

[Viola]

I'm 100% Jewish. Both sides out of the Ukraine most recently. No particularly diversity there, all Jews all the time. Very consistent that way. No fun great-great-uncle the bank robber either, sadly.

Before that they were in Italy and Prague, before that France and Spain, before that sand and sheep in assorted locations around the Middle East.

 

[jake_fink]

Originally Posted by Steve
... a Captain Benjamin Merrel, who was hung, drawn and quartered, beheaded, and his bowels burned for allowing patriots to escape through his land after a skirmish with the British.

Hope they remembered to call him names.

I know, I definitely do need to. I'll take a gander at half.com. Know of any other sites that might have it?

There is an online auction site, the name slips my mind a the moment, where if you search "silent wind dvd" you'll find what you're looking for.

I'm not American so I'll sit this one out.

 

[ortega76]

I'm about 95% Mexican with a little Navajo thrown in for good measure. The bulk of my family has been in Chicago for about 80 years. My great-grandfather was a Colonel in Mexico who rode with Zapata (Jesus Salvador Ortega). He was later executed as a terrorist by the land-owner backed government. My grandfather fled shortly thereafter. A little bit about revolutionary activity causing him to leave quickly. It echoes in that my father was actively discouraged from visiting Mexico or even learning Spanish.

 

[Novella]

English, Irish, French, German, Polish, Slovenian, very possibly Dutch, and 1/4 Japanese! There are so many countries I'm not really sure what traditions I've inherited from where. When I was younger I was always jealous of friends who had strong cultural traditions and local cultural events. I'd feel culture-less but now I realize what my mom would tell me was right - I'm American and that's my culture.

 

[Gray Ghost]

On my father's side it is German, Norse, and Ulster Scot. On my mother's side it is Royal English, Royal Scot, Highland Scot, and Ulster Scot. When part of her family came over, I ended up with some Powatan from Virginia and Cherokee from North Carolina. My mother is direct decendant of the House of Lancaster, the red rose in the war of the roses, and Malcolm III of Scotland. King Malcolm killed MacBeth to retake the thrown of Scotland. My father side came in through Pennsylvania and through the port at Wilmington, NC but dont remember the years. My mother's side came in with the first settlers at Jamestown, VA and also through the port at Wilmington, NC and through Pennsylvania. My Ulster Scot sides of my family came in at Pennsylvania and followed the great road to the Mountains of NC and then over to the coastal plain of NC, while the Highland Scot side came into Wilmington, NC and settled in the coastal plain.

Eric "Gray Ghost" Russ

 

[Etienne]

I'm a native Californian, born to native Californians, whose parents on both sides were German and one grandmother had some English/Irish. My maiden name is the German word for cherry--Kirsch!

 

[jamespowers]

I'm a native Californian, born to native Californians, whose parents on both sides were German and one grandmother had some English/Irish. My maiden name is the German word for cherry--Kirsch!

Wow! A native Californian from Native Californians. You don't see many of those around here. You are the second one I have met. The first one is me. Pleased to meet you. :eusa_clap

Regards,

J

 

[LizzieMaine]

You know, I saw the title of this thread and thought it said "Show Us Your Pedicure." So I was taking my shoe off, but then I saw "Pedigree." Time to get the glasses fixed, I think.

Anyways, I'm mostly Scottish-American by way of Canada, but with a few other ingredients mixed in. My great great great grandfather was a sea captain from a small town in Nova Scotia, and his son -- about whom I know nothing other than that he died from eating bad canned clams at a picnic -- married an Italian immigrant and moved to Halifax, where they had a son who moved to Massachusetts in the 1890s, and then to Maine around 1900, where our family's been rooted ever since. We're *almost* considered natives now!

 

[mysterygal]

lol Please no feet pictures! I make those kinds of mistakes myself...but it's because of no caffine in the morning