Your heritage

[warlock56]

How many of you have done research on your family tree? Do you know where your ancestors come from?

I don't want to divulge too much information about mine yet, mainly to let others participate but I will afterwards.

For starters, my main heritage lines are English, Scottish, German and Franco-Prussian. I have 2 direct ancestors that fought for our nation's freedom by putting everything they had on the line and were enlisted in the Continental Army, one fighting in the North Carolina regiment and the other in Virginia. I have several who fought in the Civil War, most of them on the Union side, but a couple on a Confederate side also, one of which enlisted in Kentucky at the tender age of 15.

Many of my more recent ancestors fought in World War I...I do not have their exact assignments as of yet or if they saw battle, but they were most definitely drafted.

[Stiofán]

One grandfather was second generation Norwegian-American. The rest of my grandparents were Scots-Irish American, for the most part, with a little English and Welsh thrown in.

One great-grandfather was an engineer and inventor. He built numerous projects in California including the state capital building. He also was an adviser to both Roosevelt and Churchill during WWII, and proposed and helped design the balloon defenses over London. Also invented the garbage disposal and catalytic converter. He owned most of the town of Pocatello, Idaho at one time. After my great-grandmother died, he remarried with his wealth going to the new bride, and that's why I'm as poor as I am :).

I inherited none of his abilities or intelligence. Oh, I also had some cousins who were shot and killed at the OK corral (McLaury brothers).

[Techie2000]

I'm 50% Polish and 50% Irish, although the Irish also has some British and Scotish thrown in. That's about all I know.

[cdw]

German and English and something else, I forget what. Pure German on mother's side...her father was not in any war, her stepfather, the grandfather I grew up with was in WWI and had a little deep dent in his scalp where he was hit. Grandmother and my mom came over right before the outbreak of WWII, on one of the last ships to arrive. Met my grandfather here, years later.
My fathers side...hmmm... I know my father was in the Navy, no war, but I've never asked about my Grandfather on that side....they were here forever and were very upset that my father married a 'foreigner', much less a german!!
I know they were English mixed with something but I'm not sure what it was... besides vodka. :)

[joseftu]

You asked for it! All of this is from discussions with my relatives.

On my mother's side, my grandparents were born and grew up in a small village in Hungary (although at the time I think it was Romania--it shifted back and forth pretty frequently--it was actually in Transylvania--no vampire jokes, please!).

My maternal grandfather's father was a miller, and also had a small (illegal) still to make liquor from extra plums and other fruit and grains. My maternal grandmother's father was not a rabbi--but an extremely religious man who spent all his time studying and praying--I don't think he was a very good breadwinner, so they were very poor.

My grandparents were married very young; I think the marriage was arranged by their parents. When my grandfather was in his late teens, some army troops (which army? he was never really sure) came through the village and rounded up all the young men, and told them they were in the army and had to go fight somebody--they were never told who, just "the enemy." My grandfather was made a "bugler." He told me, "They were all the time hitting me, and beating me, and they made me eat treyf [non-kosher food], and they said they would kill me in the back in the battle."

So he left. He deserted, found his way hitching rides on trains and walking to Paris, and found work there (cleaning a store, I think). Then he sent money for my grandmother to come meet him. She soon was pregnant with my uncle, and my grandfather made his way to Montreal, and then somehow (not legally, I'm sure) crossed the border to the US. He made it to NYC, and got work in a button factory on the Lower East Side. He sent for my grandmother again, and she made the crossing, in steerage, pregnant, and sick. Somehow he had managed to get her a visa to enter the US.

They lived in NYC for a while, and when they saved money, moved to Indiana, where one of my grandfather's distant relatives had settled. They opened a small grocery store, in a bad neighborhood, and worked (and made their children work) for 16 or 18 hours a day, every day except <i>shabbos</i>. They managed to send money and papers to move many of their other relatives either to the US, or South America, or Israel (then Palestine), until WWII made that impossible. I know that they saved many, many people--but not enough. Every single member of their families, everyone from their village who did not make it out of Europe, was murdered.

On my father's side, the story is a little similar, but the village was in Russia (in Belarus), and it was my great-grandparents who made it out. My two great-grandfathers (I never knew them) were friends, who were also seized by the army (the Czar's army, I guess), and also deserted.

They managed to get accepted by a charitable program set up by NY German Jews, who didn't want the Russian and Eastern European Jews around--they were embarassing. So this program gave them passage to the US, and land to farm, but it was land in Wisconsin--in a kind of frozen wasteland that nobody else ever wanted, or was able, to farm. None of them were farmers to begin with--more like tailors and shoemakers, and they had never been allowed to own land before. So they didn't do to well on the farm!

I think the major crop they produced was rocks. My grandmother tells me that her father was injured in a dynamite accident (I guess blowing up a big rock!) so the whole extended family moved to Milwaukee (the big city) where they first worked in, and then ended up owning, small stores (shoes and clothing).

They also managed to get some relatives out before the war--and some actually survived. I know that I have some relatives who immigrated in the 70's to NYC. I haven't met them, but they have the same last name as I do (it's very unusual) although they spell it differently.

It's a pretty classic American story. I'm very proud of my heritage--I come from a long line of pioneers, brave and intrepid explorers, and heros (although you could also call them deserters and illegal aliens). They managed to survive, and stay Jewish, through an era of history when that was very, very difficult.

I'm very privileged that I got to really know my maternal grandfather (he should rest in peace), and hear many of his stories first-hand. My two grandmothers are still alive now (in their mid-nineties), and although there are many stories they simply will not tell, I've still heard quite a bit from them about what it was like to live the unusual lives they've lived.

[Violet1966]

Well as far as I know on my mom's side, it's all German.

My dad's side is a little more confusing. My great grandfather was from Scotland and was a full time Navy man when he came here. I just learned some interesting history when I did some research for my dad. He was the chief Engineer for General Quaizon's (sp) yacht the Kasiana. He was on the return flight from the first Trans Atlantic air mail flight on the Hawaai clipper, if I'm remember names right. First air mail flight. Came into San Francisco when he was done with his job on the Kasiana on the return flight. The Kasiana was lost at sea not soon after and so was the Hawaii Clipper. If my great grandfather was on either, I wouldn't have been born. He was married to an American Indian. Commanche. Then they had my Grandfather. He married my grandmother who was from I think it was Basilica...I always forget and have to ask, Italy. So I'm a mut ;)

[Fiona]

As mentioned in the getting to know you thread... I'm a native Californian, by that I mean Native American, also. My mother's maternal family are Ohlone Indians. We didn't get very far :) I still live right here on the Monterey Peninsula. My dad's family are all German (/immigrants) what I call Missouri Germans. My grandmother emmigrated, my grandfather was born here... just barely ;)
I was also raised by a Missouri German. Ironically the woman who adopted my mother was one. *She's my REAL Grandma ;)

The jury is still out on my mother's father. He has been known to be a French Immigrant. There are some rumors that he may have been Italian, but I don't think so. :) Her maternal grandmother was also a French Immigrant.

So, to sum it up, (pun intended,) I'm 50% German, 37.5% French and 12.5% Native American, Mutt for short! ;)

[SixofNine]

From my father I'm 50% Italian (grandfather from Naples. grandmother from Genoa).

From my mother I'm 25% Irish, 12.5% Czech, and 12.5% is from somewhere in the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Brian

[ravital]

Half Sepharadic Jew, and another half Sepharadic Jew. Pure-bred, born in Tangier, Morocco. My ancestors probably got there after the expulsion from Spain, and probably were in Spain for a good 800 years before that. Except for one Great-Grandfather who went to try and make a fortune growing sugar in Brazil and later went back to Tangier, we didn't move around much... Until I came along, that is. :cool:

[MNeedham73]

Mom's side: English/Welsh
Dad's side: Irish and German


Mom's family left England in the late 19-teens and settled in a Detroit suburb.

Dad's family left Ireland during the famine in the mid 1800's, made their way to Canada, and settled near Port Huron, MI.

[ethics]

One side is Baltic German (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_German). Most recent is from Kaunas, Lithuanian. Other side is from Iman, Siberia which was what the name of the small city very near the border of China was named prior to 1972. It's now known as Dalnerechensk (http://www.transsib.ru/Eng/city-dvost.htm#Dalnerechensk).

I grew up in Kharkov, Ukraine.

[bruzzes]

My dad's name was Adam, mother's was Eve.

They started a nudist colony back in the day...

Ok, OK... no more bad humor.

German, Polish, Ukranian. I'll leave out the French part.

[kingdome74]

Well, let's see, according to my sister, who has admitted time and again that she's never wrong and has no intention to be in the near future, traced three sides of our family back to England and the other to Scotland. Our claim to fame is my great, great, etc granpappy was living in Missouri around 1849 and heard those inspirational words of Horace Greeley "go west, young man, go west" and promptly moved to New York where we have been encamped since waiting for the next bit of inspiration.

[warlock56]

Well since I promised more info....

For mine, the one that I have had the most difficulty with (in other words, having the hardest time finding ancestors) goes back to about 1805.

The one side I have had the most success with dates back to about 100BC, but have made some possible headway into getting back to 300BC...that one is a little sketchy. That particular line descends from several Roman emperors such as Caius Julius Caesar III, to Livia Drusilla, to Charlemagne. Hell I was even able to pin down relation to King Coel (you know the nursery rhyme..Old King Cole?). The best I can tell about this particular line is after the fall of the Empire, most of the later descendants hung around the modern-day English territories and also overlapped with some French.

It's certainly amazing to me to be able to trace my family back over 2000 years of our history...to those who first heard of the new world discovered by Columbus, to realizing the era of the renaissance, to the very (supposed) birth and death of Christ. None were more surprised than I.

[ethics]

Damn man, I wish I could extend my finds back to 1700, less BC days!

[LissaKay]

Since I was adopted as a newborn infant, my biological family tree has no roots, and only three branches ... my children. But my parents were given information on my birth mother's family ... she was a wee bit of an Irish lassie (I know her name and it doesn't get much more Irish than that), whose mother's family harks back to the original French settlers. Bio-mumsie had herself a fling with a swarthy Italian hunk (OK, so I am letting imagination run a bit wild here ... ) and the result was me. Problem was, Mumsie's hubby was off in the Navy. And upon finding out about my impending arrival in the world, he decided he would stay there. Mumsie had a quandary on her hands.

RealMom™ was consulting with her OB-GYN on the infertility issue, and doc just so happened to also be the doc to bio-mumsie. A match made in heaven! And we lived happily ever after ... sorta.

Anyway ... my adoptive family has some cool history. On my dad's side, our line can be traced directly back to John Adams and John Quincy Adams. America's first feminist, Abigail, was my greatx6-grandmother! My paternal grandfather's first and middle name was John Adams ... much of the family is still in the Virginia/DC area. Some moved out to California in the 50s and many remain in the Ventura County area. Grandpa John was in the Navy, was stationed in Hawaii during Pearl Harbor, but was not at that base when it was struck. My father was born in January 1940 ... he first met his father when he was 5 years old.

Mother's side of the family, on her mother's side, came from the silver mining towns of Colorado ... Pueblo and Central City, mostly. Families were big, life spans were short. Grandma was the last of 13 ... her mother died shortly after her birth, likely from complications. The 13 kids were farmed out to various relatives. Grandma went to Grandma Annie, who had already raised her own brood, had grandkids of her own and then took on 5 of the orphans. Grandma Annie stood 4' 8" tall and was full of piss and vinegar. In her younger days, she ran a dining hall/pub in town, and although the top of her head barely reached their chests, she ruled over those brutish silver miners with the force of her personality alone. No one, and I mean NO ONE messed with Grandma Annie. Her full name was Anne Elizabeth ... and so is my daughter's. I have a ring that was forged from gold mined in Colorado by Grandpa Gus and set with a rectangular ruby and had belonged to Grandma Annie. She wore it on her middle finger ... it just fits my pinky, and I have teensy hands. Strong women all through the family line ... and it ain't genetic! My daughter carries on the tradition now.

My maternal grandfather's family hails from northern Texas ... where the men are men and even the bulls respect that. His family surivived the Dust Bowl days and the Great Depression. Made of hardy Texan stock, they are a strong bunch. Grandpa had 5 brothers and 5 sisters ... 7 are still alive, in their 90s. Grandpa died 2 years ago at the age of 89, physically still healthy but ravaged by Alzheimers.

I find the past to be interesting, and even worthy of some research to know where my family has been ... but I prefer to focus on today and set my sights on tomorrow and what the future will bring us.

[rowd]

My great,great,great,great Grandfather was the first white settler to enter Madison county in Ohio. He was taken captive by Indians, lived with them for a few years and hunted, explored, took scalps and transcribed the story to his son Henry.

The whole story is posted on the web with sources at http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1338/jonalder.html
http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1338/sources.html

For a preview of the titles for each chapter, I list them here as the web site just has a number for each.

The Captivity of Jonathan Alder (1773-1849)
and his life with the Indians


Chapter I The Captivity (http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1338/jonalder.html)

Chapter II The Flight-The Big Sandy-Crossing Ohio (http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1338/jon2.html)

Chapter III Running the Gauntlet - The Adoption - The Indian Language - Col. Crawford (http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1338/jon3.html)

Chapter IV Winter Amusements - Spring Trapping - Swimming in Mad River - White Agents - Exchanges (http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1338/jon4.html)

Chapter V The Departure and Return - New Stratagems - Mrs. Martin - Indian Work - Squaw Work (http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1338/jon5.html)

Chapter VI Indian Cruelty-Returns to His Indian Father and Mother-Indian Superstition-Learning to Hunt (http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1338/jon6.html)

Chapter VII Making Salt-Hunting Bear-Logan's Expedition-Making Sugar-Hard Times (http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1338/jon7.html)

Chapter VIII Some Recapitulations-Freezing on Sandusky Plains-Sees a Dead Buffalo-Wounded by an Indian Boy-New Corn Feasts and Amusements (http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1338/jon8.html)

Chapter IX Capturing Horses in Kentucky-Swimming the Ohio River (http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1338/jon9.html) Chapter X White Invasions and Reprisals-Hunting Adventures-Indian Superstitions-The Feast For the Dead (http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1338/jon10.html)

Chapter XI A Second Trip to Kentuck-Becomes a Free Hunter-Indian Marriages and Divorces-Taking Scalps (http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1338/jon11.html)

Chapter XII A New Expedition to Kentucky-Death of Succopanus-Meets Barshaw, Sister of Big Turtle-Hunting on Darby-Fire Hunting-General Harmar (http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1338/jon12.html)

Chapter XIII Campaign of General St. Clair-His Disastrous Defeat-Savage Exultation-The Appointment of Gen.Wayne-Indian Confederacy (http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1338/jon13.html)

[zero]

My wife's aunt is big time into genealogy. When we married she had me get as much of my family's history as I could find. She was able to track down my great, great, great and so on grand father on my Dad's side. He came from Germany in the late 1800's with his wife and two kids. His wife died on the boat ride over. They settled around Shiner Texas and evidently the house he built still remains and is even a historical landmark. On my mothers side, my great, great, grandparents came from Italy. My mother was never close with them so I have little to no knowledge of anything they may have done.

[Violet1966]

Amazing stuff here...and some very touching too. Thank you all for sharing this stuff with us all. I'm fascinated :thumbsup:

[rockotman]

My grandfather from my father's side was a baker from Croatia that came to the US in 1898 aboard the SS Kaiser Frederick.

Below is the manifest from the Ellis Island web site with his name at the top of the list.

I do not know any thing about the ancestry from my mother's side, except that they were a mix of German, Swiss, Italian, and Austrian, and came to this country in the late 1880's.

[cyrus]

america has an extremely diverse population which is IMO one of the greatest assets a nation can have.

iran is equally diverse. there are kurds, lori, gilani, farsi, mazandarani, balutshi, khorassani, bakhtiari, azari, armenians, georgians, ossetians and turkmens. and afghans who are mostly tajik but also some hazara. in the south at the persian gulf, there are persian arabs and even a lot of persian africans who originated from ethiopia.

so we have blond persians with light eyes in the north (armenians, azeris, georgians, and some farsi people), indian looking persians in the east (balutshi), small asian featured persians with slitted eyes (turkmens and hazara), arab persians, black african persians, and then we have the average persian in tehran who is typically a mix of a couple of the aforementioned.

as far as im concerned i am half gilani from shahsavar (the city in northern iran at the caspian were the pahlavi shahs originated) and half azari from tabriz (were the qajar dynasty - the one before the pahlavis - originated from).

[ethics]

And Jews, although religion was not your focus but one of the most beautiful Synagogues happens to be in Tehran.

[cyrus]

yep i forgot the jews. allthough i dont think they are a distinctive ethnicity. i happen to know a couple of persian jews and they just look like any other persian i know lol. anyways your right there are a lot of very old synagogues in iran and there is a large jewish community (about 100.000) in isfahan.

[cyrus]

btw the president of israel (moshe kazaw) is a persian jew. he grew up in iran and emigrated to israel about age 30! but obviously he is not an iranian citizen anymore LOL.

[ethics]

Yes, I came to the US a year prior to the influx of Persian Jews fleeing Khomeini's revolution. I would say my first friends were these people who now comprise a large minority in California and New York.

(Mods, feel free to split and move this off topic discussion. :))

[wildgod]

My parents are both right off the boat from Italy.

I def need to undertake some kind of geneology but the records arent exactly the best kept in Italy.

[Fiona]

I'll leave out the French part.HEY! If I gotta be french, YOU gotta be french! :kissmy:

rofl

[Shake]

My family are of jewish descent who immigrated to the United States and Canada from Eastern Europe. My great grandparents on my mothers side came from Poland and the Ukraine. I think I once traced one of my great grandparents from an area bordering China/Mongolia. On my fathers side my great grandparents came from Germany and Lithuania. Thats basically what little I really know about my origins.

[ethics]

Hey, maybe we are related! ;)

[Coot]

My paternal grandfather was born with the surname of Heisenberg. He came to the US to settle in 1898 from Germany at the age of 14. He was born here though. Figger that one out ;) He changed his name to something less 'bergy' sounding and finally settled in Harlan County Kentucky.

My paternal grandmother was of pure Scotts descent and played a pretty mean dobroe. She also had an affinity for hickory switches and assuring that all us younguns stayed in line.

My maternal grandfather came to the US somewhere around 1900. He was an Ireland born Englishman who ventured into what is now Nevada, Arizona, California and Utah. He married a Piute woman, who is the sum total of my take on spirituality...it's nice, it might make you feel good, but if you take it seriously, it might take you somewhere you haven't imagined. My Sho' ei 'nah also taught me that everything's relative...she was way smarter than Ayn Rand :)

[cdw]

according to my sister, who has admitted time and again that she's never wrong and has no intention to be in the near future

rofl You have one of those too?

[Mr Xer Kibard]

I'm an Australian of German and Slovakian heritage.

[bruzzes]

HEY! If I gotta be french, YOU gotta be french! :kissmy:

rofl

Alsace-Lorraine held by both France and Germany off and on.

So the lineage is quite emphereal.

I did learn one french thing well...

but that is another story.

[rockotman]

I did learn one french thing well...

but that is another story.
You learned how to eat cheese and surrender? :happy:

[ditch]

I'm an Australian of German and Slovakian heritage.

I think that makes two Aussies that are currently posting here Mr Xer. Stick around eh. There's plenty of sense talked here...most of the time.
:)

[Allene]

Interesting thread! I missed it earlier.

I am 100% Scottish. My people came from the Scottish Highlands and islands (Loch Morar and the Moidart and Lochaber districts on the mainland, and South Uist in the Outer Hebrides). One family on my mother's side arrived in Prince Edward Island around 1790. His son then moved to Cape Breton Island in 1814. The rest of my mother's family came directly to Cape Breton in the 1820s and 30s. My father's people came over in 1816 and around 1823. All of these people left as a result of the Highland Clearances.

Cape Breton Island (where I was born and raised) is the most Scottish place outside Scotland, and I can currently boast of no less than three pipers in my immediate family. All my family were Gaelic speakers who had to learn English after they came to the New World. If you listen to the descendants of these families today, you can still pick up the rhythm of Gaelic in their speech, even though they are speaking English.

[Colin]

Yeah, cool thread :)

I'm 50% Japanese, 50% Swedish and other European (probably German).

I don't know a whole lot about the European side of the family... just that my Great Grandmother was originally from Sweden.

On the Japanese-side my Grandfather's family is from Okayama (Honshu) and my Grandma's is from Fukuoka (Kyushu). I had relatives who fought on both sides in WWII (Japan and USA). I always thought that was kind of interesting.

[ditch]

One half of me is Australian and the other half is Australian also. :)
Scottish and English grand or great grandparents.

I have an aunty who has traced the family tree and claims my direct family is 13th cousins to George W Bush. You've heard about 6 degrees of separation, well this is 13. :)

[Piobaireachd]

My family (name) is German, very German on both sides. My mother's family entered the Minnesota territory and settled in southern Minnesota with and near the "Little House on the Prairie" folks in the 1800's. They were all near Mankato, MN.

My father's family came to the US in the early 1900's and settled near New Ulm, MN.

But, my sister and I are both adopted (different biological parents). I didn't know much about my background until I started to do some research a couple of years ago. As you can see by my avatar, I love the 'pipes. I found that I do have a bunch of Scottish, Irish, and English in my background. I guess that explains the Celtic connection.