Show Us Your Pedigree! The Heritage Thread.

[MissMissy]

We have the same problem in my family. No one wanted to talk about it for so long that people started to forget where they came from. My family walked the trail of tears and yet they denied their heritage on every census. My grandfather says his mother NEVER talked about it. It makes for some very frustrating family history research when they literally lied about it for years.
Nashoba

I think that is so sad, sounds like many families did the same as ours.
After my great-grandfather died my grandmother started to learn more about her heritage and be proud of it and I am very glad she did. Thankfully there were a few stories passed down to her and that gave her a head start. She and my dad visited some cousins once on the reservation and they learned some more there. They made it so my siblings and I are very excited to tell others about our heritage. I bought 3 or 4 books to learn about the Ojibwe which I found very interesting and my sister met with a spiritual teacher from one of the reservations in Minnesota and did a guided meditation with her.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

My mom: born in Paris.
Her mom: French, from Toulouse.
Her dad: Half French, half Austrian.

My dad: born in NYC.
His mom: American, with French-Swiss (and some English) ancestry.
His dad: German.

.

 

[Nashoba]

I think that is so sad, sounds like many families did the same as ours.
After my great-grandfather died my grandmother started to learn more about her heritage and be proud of it and I am very glad she did. Thankfully there were a few stories passed down to her and that gave her a head start. She and my dad visited some cousins once on the reservation and they learned some more there. They made it so my siblings and I are very excited to tell others about our heritage. I bought 3 or 4 books to learn about the Ojibwe which I found very interesting and my sister met with a spiritual teacher from one of the reservations in Minnesota and did a guided meditation with her.

It is sad. It's frustrating too. We all have enough blood to receive roll numbers and I'm in the process of getting mine, but my grandfather knows almost nothing of his heritage. Our family is from Oklahoma, right off the rez and they STILL knew next to nothing. When I first became more involved in the community I had to really struggle to learn information. My husband and I belong to a Southern Drum and I learned a great deal there when I was young but my teachers were mostly Kiowa and Chippewa. In fact I'm a jingle dress dancer now because the wife of our drum elder is chippewa and she taught me a great deal about her people. One day she and I sat down and started talking about Jingle dresses. I walked out of there with a dress designed by her, instruction and her blessing and was asked by her family to carry on their tradition of jingle dancers. It isn't my tribe but they've adopted me into their family and I'm honored to dance for them.
I've learned first hand that it only takes one generation for us to completely lose our culture. I'm the only one in my family who continues the traditions of basketry, beadwork, quillwork, and leatherwork. No one else knows how. But you better believe my children will!
Nash

 

[Lady Day]

My family has been in the US for over 5 generations. We have gone to the same church for over 100 years. I have been to the Plantation where my Great Great (Im sure there is another great in there somewhere) Uncle laid out the stone markers to the front walk way. Like most slave families, we settled only 40 miles from the plantation.

The interesting thing about family history, especialy in the US, is that most people have at least some tie to their homeland. Be it a grand parent or a lot of times even a parent. With most black folks the US is their homeland. I have no idea what part(s) of Africa I hail from and no way to know. Thats alright, I have a big rich family history right here.


LD

 

[Twitch]

My Mom's side of the family id German. Probably come in last quarter of 1800s. Dad's side was 2 brothers that came through Ireland but they think they may have originated in Germany. They got here in early 1700s and owned the land that Chatanooga stands on today. Obviously they didn't keep it or I'd be on my freaking yacht now! They settled in Arkansas. My Grandfather is 1/2 Cherokee. That's about all I know or care to know.

 

[Retro Grouch]

The last four generations were south of the Mason-Dixon line. Before that, western European mutt.

Tom

 

[Barbigirl]

Mutt

maternal grma - Swedish from Minnesota her family came 1905-ish Peterson
maternal grpa - German - Voshall

Paternal side was here since pre civil war:
paternal grma - English I think? Barrett
paternal grpa - English - Bailey

 

[MissMissy]

It is sad. It's frustrating too. We all have enough blood to receive roll numbers and I'm in the process of getting mine, but my grandfather knows almost nothing of his heritage. Our family is from Oklahoma, right off the rez and they STILL knew next to nothing. When I first became more involved in the community I had to really struggle to learn information. My husband and I belong to a Southern Drum and I learned a great deal there when I was young but my teachers were mostly Kiowa and Chippewa. In fact I'm a jingle dress dancer now because the wife of our drum elder is chippewa and she taught me a great deal about her people. One day she and I sat down and started talking about Jingle dresses. I walked out of there with a dress designed by her, instruction and her blessing and was asked by her family to carry on their tradition of jingle dancers. It isn't my tribe but they've adopted me into their family and I'm honored to dance for them.
I've learned first hand that it only takes one generation for us to completely lose our culture. I'm the only one in my family who continues the traditions of basketry, beadwork, quillwork, and leatherwork. No one else knows how. But you better believe my children will!
Nash

Wow, I am glad that you dance. That is so awesome. I have seen video of women jingle dress dancing. :eusa_clap Keep learning the culture your children will be so much the better for it! And I love to hear that some of your teachers were Chippewa as that is my Native American heritage!

 

[Nashoba]

Wow, I am glad that you dance. That is so awesome. I have seen video of women jingle dress dancing. :eusa_clap Keep learning the culture your children will be so much the better for it! And I love to hear that some of your teachers were Chippewa as that is my Native American heritage!

I still struggle to learn my own tribal heritage though. I'm closer to our reservations now, but I'm western band cherokee and Oklahoma is still a bit of a drive from TN. I've had to work hard to earn the trust of elders so that they would teach me. I've sat at people's feet for years soaking in what I could glean from them before they'd really speak directly to me. Especially in basketry. It's really hard to find someone who's willing to teach someone who they consider to be an outsider. I have to prove myself before they're willing to teach me. It makes what I know all the more valuable to me because I really had to earn it, but I want my children to grow up with it and not have to fight to learn it. I want them to learn it from me.
She was one of my best teachers. She and her husband are also WWII vetrans so we would just sit and listen to their stories about the war. They won't be here much longer, and we have to preserve what we can of their memories. She's been through everything from forced bording school to relocations and finally being able to break free and be self-sufficient. It's incredible what the people of that generation endured, and overcame!

Nash

 

[Honey Doll]

I'm German and French on my mother's side and from my Father, French (the family's been here since the colonies), slavic and a bit of Irish as well.

Honey Doll

 

[mikepara]

Nationality is fleeting.

Unlike some people on here who can trace family members back to the pilgrims or earlier, I cannot even find my dead grandparents.

I know they where from Ireland pre partition. Records burnt up in the 1920's Civil War, there are probably parish records but without Birth / Marriage Certificates no hope.

Even then I could be a Celt or a Scots planter, of Norse, Angle or Saxon. Even a Roman or French Norman ba***rd heritage.

I cannot even say Oh! I was born in Suchandsuch country therefore its my Motherland. I was born in Germany but in the British Military Hospital at Rinteln. Resulting in that 'If' I could play Rugby at international level I could chose any British 'home' team.

I've noticed a lot of Americans saying they are Irish American or Italian American etc. How many generations / marriages does it take to stop being something American and just being American?

Therefore is Nationality what you are? Or what you feel?

Or is it just down to the Sports team you shout for?

If so then Come on Norn Iron!

 

[carebear]

I've noticed a lot of Americans saying they are Irish American or Italian American etc. How many generations / marriages does it take to stop being something American and just being American?

Therefore is Nationality what you are? Or what you feel?

There have been books written on that question from almost the beginning of our country. All (even the ones who came over the land bridge) Americans are from somewhere else originally and there is a very human need to know ones past. That's why all cultures have oral histories going back to the end of time. By coming here we (our ancestors) "cut" that chain recently enough to be aware of it and, as you note about yourself, that can lead to a disconnect.

Also, we are about the most mobile people on earth. Statistically there are very few folks elsewhere in the world (until very recently anyway) for whom it is common for them to pick up and move the whole family across the continent in search of a better life, or abandon their elders to strike out on one's own.

So Americans like to research geneology, as we don't necessarily imbibe it at our mother's breast as, say, a Burgundian Frenchman whose family has occupied the same patch of land for a thousand years might. Even today I bet most non-trendoid zombie Frenchmen are Frenchmen first and "Citizens of Europe" a far distant second.

There's no problem being an Irish-American, most folks are proud of their family's heritage but have no desire to, say, move back there. Heck, most of us left to get away from one group of Europeans or another. lol It's a historical association not a true loyalty. They are "just being American", but knowing where they came from.

 

[mikepara]

MC thats a great answer.

That cleared that up. A concise answer to an actual question, [ ie: not a trying to be clever one]MP

 

[Girl Friday]

3rd generation Mexican, unfortunately I am not very good at it, I can't speak Spanish or drink tequila. But I can make flour tortillas! they just aren't always round.

 

[carebear]

3rd generation Mexican, unfortunately I am not very good at it, I can't speak Spanish or drink tequila. But I can make flour tortillas! they just aren't always round.

They don't have to be round if you fill them with tasty meats and cheeses and fold them...

My god-baby's mama's mama (Mexican) makes the best tamales... :eusa_clap

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

It's funny. In my case I'm first-generation, Dad was from England of Scots-Irish decent, and Mom was from Austria of Hungarian and Slovak descent, but I truly never considered myself anything but American.

I guess I'd feel differently if both parents were from the same country or if another language was spoken in my home.

I'd still like to learn German, I've tried over the years but haven't done it. I can speak "English" when the need arises, old boy.

 

[Polka Dot]

Fun thread.

I am 1/4 German, 1/4 Irish, 1/4 Danish, and 1/4 Dutch. It's likely more complicated than that, but as far as I can tell that's my basic heritage. My father's side is all from Chicago, and I believe all immigrated in the 1880s. The German part of my family is from the southwestern part of Germany, near the border with Switzerland. My relatives (several generations removed) still run the family piano factory, so my last name is also the name of a make of fine pianos.

I know next to nothing about the rest of my family, unfortunately. I believe they all immigrated around the same time, that is to say the late 19th century.

I studied abroad in college, and I once had dinner with a nice French family who found the topic of American heritage fascinating. When I tried to explain where the various parts of my family are from, one of them said, "Of course; you have Scandinavian eyes." (I didn't know it was so obvious!)

 

[Mr. Lucky]

Here's mine!

Oh, come on! Someone had to do it. Hell, I'm surprised it's gone 11 pages without!

 

[Elaina]

Yup. My grandfather was from Chicago, but we keep that a hidden secret.

My family is interesting only because they're all crazy. My G-grandma on my mother's side was the first woman arrested in Dallas for smoking, had an affair for several years as a live in lover of a matador (so much so my Uncle looks like said matador), became the first white voodoo priestess in souther La, and was mad because Jones came after the first woman to graduate from the University of Louisana. Ran a speak easy and had a judge play piano...you get the idea.

Had another g-grandma that was a flapper. There's a cafe in Waco, TX she used to visit, and her picture is on the wall. Story on her is she was a less then respectable woman, but give her a dollar and she'd turn it into 500 in a day.

Various other things too. My Grandfather created an old welding bit known as the Manning bit, not in use anymore, I think tig welding took it's place. Took the union's records out of the hall in my mom's dress, so they wouldn't get busted in California, and was one of the first soldiers dropped into Hiroshima after the bomb. My other grandfather saw the St. Valentine's day massacre, and did something in the steelworker's job to make it safer (I never could get an answer out of my father, other then something about the furnace). Had an uncle that was given a German SS medal in WWII because he saved the lives of several hundred German soldiers, and the CO gave him his medal as a token of gratitude. My uncle never said much on it other then it was senseless to kill all those men, and it was close to the end of the war anyway, and hid the medals back in the cigar box.

Had three Aunts that worked for Neiman Marcus when they were the it place to shop in the 50's. All did different jobs, but all of them were integral to the design department at that time. Had another Aunt that was married to the legal limit in Texas and couldn't get married again, but she married well and better each time.

My family isn't all that famous, or really normal.

Elaina

 

[imoldfashioned]

My paternal grandfather was from Ireland and my paternal grandmother was assumed to be of Irish ancestry (she was a foundling, left on a doorstep in Manhattan and adopted).

My maternal grandfather's family was nearly all Irish (one Scot in the mix a few generations back) and, interestingly, many emigrated from Ireland first to Canada and from there to the US.

My maternal grandmother throws a wrench into the "all Irish" mix. She was purely Danish on her mother's side and purely Dutch on her father's side--some of her ancestors came to the US in 1647 with Peter Stuyvesant. I could join the DAR if I wanted to thanks to one of my "greats" in that line who served in the American Revolution. The other familial claim to fame is that Robert Louis Stevenson's wife Fanny was my great grandfather's cousin. Other than that my ancestors were pretty humble--farmers, laborers and the like.

When I'm asked conversationally I usually simplify and say I'm Irish.