Show Us Your Pedigree! The Heritage Thread.

[Miss 1929]

1/4 Russian Jew
1/4 Polish Jew
1/4 Austrian Jew
1/4 mixed American ragbag, all the way back to the Mayflower and Pocohontas!
That quarter is my mother's mother, which technically disqualifies me from really being Jewish!lol

 

[adamjaskie]

I have Davis in my family

All of my Davis family was in Ohio, and even looking through the records for Delaware Co. OH, I found MANY unrelated Davis families living in the area, so it's unlikely it's the same Davis.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I'm just your typical American Eastern-European-Jewish mutt. Three of my four grandparents were immigrants who arrived in the US around a century ago - a potent mix of Austro-Hungarian, Romanian, German, Russian, and Polish. Nobody high-born, though I keep hearing that a great-grandsomething on my mother's side was "Second Tailor to the Czar"!

 

[dhermann1]

On my father's side: my father's father was born in Germany around 1887, and came here as an infant. I THINK I found the ship's manifest from 1890 that lists his name on Ancestry.com. My father's mother was born in Brooklyn in 1897. Her parents were Swiss and "Alsatian". It was styled thus because Alsace-Lorraine still belonged to Germany at the time (post Franco-Prussian War), even tho the general sentiment there was that they were still French culturally. I believe my grandfather's people came from near Leipzig.
On my mother's side it goes back a little further. My mother's father was part Dutch, early Nieuw Amsterdam settlers in Greene Couny NY, as far as I can tell, and his mother was from Down East Maine. The Maine thread supposedly derived from Puritans who came on the boat AFTER the Mayflower. It was said that the second boat brought the "quality" folks. To me it's Mayflower or nothing; sorry, ancestors. My mother's mother's family came from Pittsburgh. My great great great grandfather Dithridge was a master glass maker, who came to Pittsburgh from England to help start a glass factory. This evolved into Dithridge Glass, for all you antique glass fans out there. My grandmother's mother was born in England in 1841 and came here in 1850, settling in Pittsburgh. This pair of great grandparents (the Pittsburgh ones), were in the second graduating class of Pittsburgh High School, in 1861, I believe. The first class had 3 members, the second class had 16. This Great Grandmother then went to Pennsylvania Normal School, graduating in 1868, making my neice the fourth generation of women in her family to graduate from college.

 

[dhermann1]

Just another thought

This mix of ancestry must be interesting to non Americans. In Europe a large percentage of people have lived in the same place for a thousand years or more. Nothing like the wandering and mixing of the New World.

 

[dani]

i am mostly cherokee, my great grandmother was dutch, and on my real dads side of the family it is cherokee, and something called saxon i have no idea what saxon is though. i don't know a lot about my family, or my real dad. so it's hard finding out about my heritage.

 

[Big Man]

i am mostly cherokee, my great grandmother was dutch, and on my real dads side of the family it is cherokee, and something called saxon i have no idea what saxon is though. i don't know a lot about my family, or my real dad. so it's hard finding out about my heritage.

If my memory from history class serves me correct (its been a long time ago), the Saxons are peoples of northern Europe who (among other places) took part in the settlement of Britain in the 4th or 5th century.

As to your Cherokee ancestry, I see that you live in Maryville, TN. You are probabally very close to your roots, as your ancestors may have lived in the Overhill Towns. My 4th great grandfather "visited" the Overhill Towns in 1776 (but it was a less than pleasant visit). But, that was a looooong time ago ...

 

[Teekay44]

This Great Grandmother then went to Pennsylvania Normal School, graduating in 1868, making my niece the fourth generation of women in her family to graduate from college.

fftopic: Interesting tidbit. The Pennsylvania Normal School in Millersville Pa. became Millersville University of PA, part of the Pa state University system. I graduated from there.

 

[dhermann1]

I still have her diploma, and her provisional and her permanent teaching certificate. I'm pretty proud of her. Hattie Lewis. Her father Titus Lewis, died a few months after the family arrived. I have his brass trade plaque that says "T. Lewis, Tailor". Her mother boarded her with a family named Jones, and went into domestic service. Mother and daughter got to see each other on Sundays, presumably. Far from being a Dickensian situation, the Joneses took Hattie in and loved her like a daughter, and the feelings were returned. If young Will Jones had not died of "bilious fever" (basically hepatitis) she might have been Mrs Jones, instead of Mrs Dithridge.
Family history can be so fascinating!

 

[dhermann1]

i am mostly cherokee, my great grandmother was dutch, and on my real dads side of the family it is cherokee, and something called saxon i have no idea what saxon is though. i don't know a lot about my family, or my real dad. so it's hard finding out about my heritage.

Saxony is part of Germany. There is Upper Saxony and Lower Saxony. The name was given to a group of "barbarian" tribes along the border of the Empire by the Romans. It referred to the conical or pointed helmets they wore. The Angles were a specific tribe of Saxons, who migrated to Britain in the 400's. Their native tongue would have been Anglo Saxon, and anyone who spoke would be called an Anglo-Saxophone. lol

 

[dani]

wow thank you for the information. like i said i don't know a lot about my family, and hardly any about that side of my family, the first time i meet my real dad i was already married, and had a baby of my own. i believe his wife made him feel bad about not being in my life, and that was why he wanted to meet me, because after that i never heard from him again. once again thank you.

 

[Foofoogal]

Just have to say I am sure it was and is his loss. fftopic:
Enjoy your family now and make sweet memories for them.
From Nana (foofoogal)

 

[dani]

as for famous people, noone really that famous, but my great grandfathers, dad was half cherokee, and half african american, and through him we are somehow related to George Washington Carver, and i guess Washinton was a family name because my great grandfathers name was Elze Washington Carver. i love that name , and thats what i want to name my son if we ever have a boy.

 

[Story]

We're Americans.
With a capital A, huh?

You know what that means?

Do you? That means that our forefathers...

...were kicked out of every decent country in the world.

We are the wretched refuse.

We're the underdog.

We're mutts.

 

[Josephine]

I've been adding to my family tree, and decided to work on the Dalrymple side a bit for the heck of it (he married my great aunt). I found out his mom was Phoebe Struble, and I thought, Hmm, I'm a Struble. Looked into it more and discovered Great Uncle Mac and Great Aunt Katie are 5th cousins! Oh, the scandal!! lol

 

[freebird]

In my genealogical research, I have found that I am british, irish,and scot; with a touch of Cherokee thrown in for good measure.

 

[sixsexsix]

On my fathers side:
British (Lancashire) and French-Canadian. My ancestors were amongst the first French settlers in New France (Quebec) over 400 years ago.

On my mothers side:
Irish - came over during the Great Migration (during the potato famine) and on my maternal grandfathers side....I really have no idea! He's kind of the black sheep of the family.

 

[Tommy Fedora]

I'm surprised that so many people can trace their roots so far back in time. For me, I'm a relatively recent addition to the USA. My grandparents (all of them) started coming over from Sicily in 1910 and settled in New Jersey, so I'm only the second generation born here. My mother's aunt always wore giant purple hats and insisted that we came from italian royalty but we never had any real proof.
Short story....I remember as a child my grandmother's cousin visiting us from Italy and my grandmother always sending money back to the old country to help the family. We lost contact over the years but my aunt went back a few years ago to visit and restore contact. It turns out that there are now five doctors in the family in Italy and they invited anyone from the family to visit them as a guest at their villa on the italian riviera. I guess grandma's money went to good use.

 

[Josephine]

...started coming over from Sicily in 1910 and settled in New Jersey...

Jersey, huh? Know any Lorenzo's in Sussex County? lol

 

[Tommy Fedora]

Sorry, no.
Been to Sussex many times but don't know any Lorenzo's.