DISCUSS YOUR ANCESTERY

[browneyedgirl]

Well, my fathers side is a mix of Prussian/Polish/Russian/German.
My cousin&I have en doing a bit of research&found that our earliest ancesters to USA arrived even before Mayflower! Our name was shortened during the immigratin process(thankfully)Or I would have certainly been the butt ofmany Polish jokes in School!
Now, my relatives are scattered throughout Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and California. Someone in the Lineage was rich enough to own slaves because there are a few blacks around with my very unusual Maiden name!(One ws a famous basketball player some years ago!)When slaves wre set free by the owner, they were given the owner's surname, btw!

My mother's side is a blend of English&Irish(hence, lots of red/auburn hair on my maternal side of family). My maternal lineage is respectable because many doctors are in that part of my ancestery&there ws also a Confederate General(lower ranking).
Also, my Great, great, great, grandad married an American Indian, so I have some Squaw thrown into my bloodline, too! My maternal ancestery immigrated to American shortly after the Revelutionary War.

Off-Topic--My Ex directly descended fom one of the most prominent Scotish families--there is even a family Castle(a very big&beautiful one)that is now a landmark&tourist attraction in Scotland. I think Lord Byron may be one of my Ex's way off distant kin. They directly descended from the same guy on Byron's Mothers side. And, my Ex's family lineage did not arrive in USA until right before Civil war.

Some people find studying geneology
silly, and say we must move forward, instead of looking back. But, I think everyone is curious as to where they come from, geneologically speaking.

[Neorave]

As far as I know, I am of the following nationalities:

German, Croatian, Swedish, and very little American Indian. As far as the Indian, the tribe my family holds is some tribe originating from Mississippi (I don't know the name, its a very obscure name though). I would research my family geneology, if it didn't cost a fucking arm & leg.

[Cristiane]

I know my grandpa's father came from Portugal by the time of Brazil colonization... don't know much about his history, I only know he had a coffee farm. By that time, coffee was the biggest brazilian exportation so most of the imigrants came to work in those farms, lately some of them could own their own farm.

About my mother family I know nothing...

[Spiderman]

Well I'm myself just plain Dutch, nothing more, nothing less.

My wife is half french and half dutch, her father is french. Her fathers grandpa was greek.
Her sister is going with a half portugees/half dutch guy and her brother has married a czech girl.

[HvyMtlClickWitch]

Right, my dad's parents emigrated here from Sicily, had three kids, and died. Two of these three kids went off and married other Sicilian kids, and had a bunch of other Sicilian kids, who are my cousins. But my dad decided to marry some WASP lady named Mom and who eventually gave birth to me. I believe i am the only person in my family who is not a full-blooded sicilian.

The rest of the Sicilians that did not descend from the original procreators are in Bagheria. Apparently the family business is horticulture; a lot of pressure is put on the kids not to wander off and become college students, rather to stay with the family.

Back to this WASP person, my mom. I believe the blend is of primarily English, with some Irish and some other white person race. But that's not relevant, mostly for the reason that my mom doesn't have any family. But my mom is very proud of the English part of her ancestry, and can't seem to stop talking about Shakespeare. Maybe we're related to the guy, who knows.

As a seven-year-old i remember complaining to my dad that i wasn't full-blooded. He told me that if i married a Sicilian, that it would fix that. I thought he was bullshitting me, but it turns out it's true. Go figure.

[Lucid Faia]

I'm almost all Irish, with some Sicilian. Yes, I'm Irish/Sicilian. You must think I have a hell of a temper or something.

[Shurik]

Jewish, just jewish

[HvyMtlClickWitch]

You must think I have a hell of a temper or something.

Well, do you?

[Painless_Cry]

my parents are from Pakistan, and i was born on the other side of the world... Paraguay... isn't funny and weird?

I'm a weird thing

[Equinox]

Well, My Grand, grand mother was spanish, his husban was half spanish half indian (Dom. Rep.) and thats it. i'm dominican.......y YA

[HvyMtlClickWitch]

my parents are from Pakistan, and i was born on the other side of the world... Paraguay... isn't funny and weird?

I'm a weird thing

Not that weird...

Are you Muslim then? Or has living in Paraguay made you a nice little catholic boy? Or are you doing your own thing?

[gon]

my parents are from Pakistan, and i was born on the other side of the world... Paraguay... isn't funny and weird?

I'm a weird thing

Not that weird...

Are you Muslim then? Or has living in Paraguay made you a nice little catholic boy? Or are you doing your own thing?

Painless is a girl!


I am spanish, born in Caracas, my father is also from Venezuela, my mother is colombian. I don´t know so much about my families, but I listened through my grand mother ( my mom´s mother) that my father´s family came from Spain along the 18th Century. Also my mother´s family is a very respectable family in Colombia ( there are some writers and classic musicians there) but, and this is an personal opinion, I am sure that in my mother´s family, via his father, it must be an indian ascendent (partially), because the faces, you know what I mean? If you see my dad, then the men of my mother´s family, and after that, have a look at me, you will see what I try to explain. At last, my name, and also the surnames of both families are old typical spanish surnames, so I guess they arrived to SouthAmerica along the past centuries. More or less like Simon Bolivar, jeje!

[gon]

By the way, BEG,


REALLY INTERESTING TOPIC. Sure one of the best on the Forum.

[browneyedgirl]

There are several websites that deal with Geneology.
My cousin, Tommy, placed a topic on a messageboard with our name&background. Within just a few days it was about 4 pages of info from around the country! Addresses, phone numbers, all kinds of useful info!
Well, things happened, I got busy&I did not access the site for a few weeks--when I did go to it the whole damn Thread had collapsed for some reason. Thank God Tommy had copied eveything so we still had some things to go on.

BTW, this particular messageboard ws free, but their other services costs quite a bit of money.
I don't even know if the messageboard exists anymore. This was a couple years ago when we did this research.

Ancestry.com is a good site, but they charge quite a bit, too.

There are loads of sites that research a surname for free, but it does not tackle the individual family background.

BTW, researching a family tree can have surprises!:D
About four years ago we had a GIGANTIC family reunion on my Dad's side of the family. We advertised in several papers, a few in towns many miles away. Our surname is not common so we were not prepared for the crowd that gathered that Saturday at a local park! Thats when we discovered we had Black people with our family name&Tommy began his research then!
Its a fascinating study-but takes alot of time---more time than I have to spare to delve into it with alot of detail.

[MAJINDIEGO]

My gradma´s from Portugal, and My Grandpa´s an Indian descendant.
i´m like, the last of mohicans!

[Damien Thorn]

As far as I know, I am of the following nationalities:

German, Croatian, Swedish, and very little American Indian.

Hey, we have another (part) Croat here!

As far as I can tell, I am half Dutch, half Croatian, but that's only based on nationality. I'm pretty sure there's plenty of other "influences" thrown in. One never really knows exactly...

As far as the Croatian ancestry goes, I can trace it back to early-16th-century Split, after which there was some migration to the North, which came to a halt in the regions that lie North-West of the Plitvice lakes.

But a lot went on in Croatia between the sixteenth century and the present day (as in the rest of Europe), including many wars against the Ottomans. So, it is really nigh impossible to come up with historical records of one's lines of ancestry. Sometimes, the churches kept baptism records, but most of the regular secular administration goes back no further than the eighteenth century.

Anyway, it's fun to know all this stuff, but what difference does it really make in everyday life? Not much, I reckon...

Cheers,

Damien

[GreenPeace]

I don't know exactly where my family came from.

As far as I know, in my mother's side of the family, my great grandfather was Italian. After WWI, he came to Brazil because of a gambling debt (or something like that).

That's all I know for now -- I have many relatives both in Brazil and Italy, but I know almost none of them
(who knows? there are many of my kin around the world, I might even be a distant relative of one of you )

As for father's side of the family... all I can assure is that my grandfather was Portuguese.

As soon as I find any relevant info on that, I'll post it here.

[You might be thinking, "this weirdo doesn't have much of a sense of family." You're right ]

[Painless_Cry]

Not that weird...

Are you Muslim then? Or has living in Paraguay made you a nice little catholic boy? Or are you doing your own thing?

yes i'm a girl! laugh

aparently i'm a muslim but i don't practice that much my religion, so.. i just believe in god because i need to

[Electric Eye]

Our name was shortened during the immigratin process(thankfully)Or I would have certainly been the butt ofmany Polish jokes in School!

What is funny of being Pole?

[browneyedgirl]

Our name was shortened during the immigratin process(thankfully)Or I would have certainly been the butt ofmany Polish jokes in School!

What is funny of being Pole?

Nothing at all. Its just that some people can be cruel&racist when it comes to certain nationalities.
Almost all foreign nationalities have been the butt of jokes by insensitive people.
Like Finnish people are made fun of by their drinking, etc. things like that-stereotypes. Really shallow&silly, but some people never grow up.

[Electric Eye]

Like Finnish people are made fun of by their drinking

So what about Russian? or maybe you mean they usually don't drink

Really shallow&silly, but some people never grow up.

The best reaction for such people is common ignorance.

[Twilightsymphony]

Pretty much .. german..

Im not sure, but i think we had a french family member, in the 17th or 18th century, but if i remember right i am not related in a direct way... i should ask my father, as genealogy is some kind of hobby of him...
i am not that interested in my ancestors, they´re all quite dead i assume

[Veripalttu]

I'm a finnswede, a Finn who speaks Swedish. I dont know much about my ancestors.

BEG: All the stories about Finns and alcohol are true, they are just tuned down to table joke level.

[Damien Thorn]

Almost all foreign nationalities have been the butt of jokes by insensitive people.

I probably won't get a reply to this, but what the hell:

Do you mean the native Americans are stand up comedians, making fun of all those European immigrants?

What I mean is that you Americans are all foreigners by definition, except for the indigenous tribes who arrived on the North-American continent from North-East Asia somewhere in the last ice-age. And, if we're going to discuss matters along the lines of "who got here first", I'm afraid the Spanish immigrants take precedence. They colonized California and Florida as early as the sixteenth century. So, it's Christopher Columbus, and not The Mayflower's pilgrims, even though Columbus' discovery of America and the ensuing colonization have been relegated to the background of current historical education, I imagine. The WASP establishment is nothing but a large group of foreigners who occupy a dominant positon in the USA today due to their strength in numbers and their eighteenth-century connections to the all powerful British Empire - until the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Cheers,

Damien

[browneyedgirl]

Damien, I made good grades in history, so I have known what you speak of since about Fourth grade! Actually, most Americans know all you said, but that does not stop the "Archie bunker" mentality from running rampant&wild.
Even the Native Americans are immigrants to USA!

Yes, I cringe everytime some dummy tells a "Pollock" joke&once I told a guy at work,"Hey, I don't like those jokes worth a damn because I'm Polish desent!" He just replied,"Then, don't listen!"
:shake:
Like I say, all the screaming about such ignorance&complaining is not gonna do any good. Some people are just immature&feed off ridiculing others. Ignoring these persons&setting a good example is the best way to deal with such nonsense.

[gon]

The problem is not the jokes every country and nacionality has to carry on with, the problem is if that jokes are offensive BEG.. Here in Europe we have tons of jokes about Poland, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, France, really ancient countries that had many troubles and fights betwenn them along the centuries, 2 world wars, many frontiers changes, religion troubles,many nacionalities even inside a country ( see Spain as a example) and lots of different army conflicts during the last 1000 years. Enough time to make millions of jokes against your neighbours, and many of them are offensive, but it is much better if you take that jokes with a lot of humour, because you have made also tons of it against the rest of the countries... so nothing happens....

[doc_holliday]

i'm a 100% pure Iranian. I live in Montreal, Canada tho.

browneyedgirl, what's your family name?

[Damien Thorn]

Damien, I made good grades in history, so I have known what you speak of since about Fourth grade! Actually, most Americans know all you said, but that does not stop the "Archie bunker" mentality from running rampant&wild.
Even the Native Americans are immigrants to USA!

Yes, I cringe everytime some dummy tells a "Pollock" joke&once I told a guy at work,"Hey, I don't like those jokes worth a damn because I'm Polish desent!" He just replied,"Then, don't listen!"
:shake:
Like I say, all the screaming about such ignorance&complaining is not gonna do any good. Some people are just immature&feed off ridiculing others. Ignoring these persons&setting a good example is the best way to deal with such nonsense.

I agree with everything you said. I just thought I should set the record straight, at the risk of sounding like an annoying little know-it-all, because common perceptions are so easily swayed towards misconception.

So, to everybody out there: Americans are all foreigners and, therefore, nobody has less reason for being xenophobic than an American - any American - citizen. (As if there ever was a reason for that...) Unfortunately, the shallow WASP and medieval European racist mentalities that were at the foundation of the largest ethnic cleansing operation in human history and intercontinental slave trade still run rampant in the USA today in certain circles.

Ultimately, we are all short-term visitors on this planet, wherever we are and whoever we are, and nobody will be able to lay claim to the ownership of anything, eventually.

Cheers,

Damien

[gon]

Damien, I made good grades in history, so I have known what you speak of since about Fourth grade! Actually, most Americans know all you said, but that does not stop the "Archie bunker" mentality from running rampant&wild.
Even the Native Americans are immigrants to USA!

Yes, I cringe everytime some dummy tells a "Pollock" joke&once I told a guy at work,"Hey, I don't like those jokes worth a damn because I'm Polish desent!" He just replied,"Then, don't listen!"
:shake:
Like I say, all the screaming about such ignorance&complaining is not gonna do any good. Some people are just immature&feed off ridiculing others. Ignoring these persons&setting a good example is the best way to deal with such nonsense.

I agree with everything you said. I just thought I should set the record straight, at the risk of sounding like an annoying little know-it-all, because common perceptions are so easily swayed towards misconception.

So, to everybody out there: Americans are all foreigners and, therefore, nobody has less reason for being xenophobic than an American - any American - citizen. (As if there ever was a reason for that...) Unfortunately, the shallow WASP and medieval European racist mentalities that were at the foundation of the largest ethnic cleansing operation in human history and intercontinental slave trade still run rampant in the USA today in certain circles.

Ultimately, we are all short-term visitors on this planet, wherever we are and whoever we are, and nobody will be able to lay claim to the ownership of anything, eventually.

Cheers,

Damien

Total agreement with you Damien! You know what? because we, spanish, are in the same situation. A spanish NEVER WOULD BE RACIST... because we are a cocktail ourselves! muslims, judes, visigodes, romans, phoenicians, cartaginens, celtics, greeks..... can anybody be racist here? if someone is, should be investigate about their procedence... maybe he got a surprise!

[Maka]

agree with ya gon... for example, here in Argentina there's a big mix of nationalities (spanish french italian german portuguese etc) and religions (judes catholics muslims budistas (jaja don't know how does it says in english )) and all you want...

but I don't agree that we can't be racist... unfortunately, there are... and quite lot...