Show Us Your Pedigree! The Heritage Thread.

[Stray Cat]

Why am I craving ouzo all of the sudden?

Just a little question: IF YOU ARE HAVING OUZO.. I'm invited, right?!

 

[Dubya]

Well, I'm English born but have traces of Celtic blood (Scots and Irish), and if you go back far enough probably Pict or Viking
My great, great, great grandfather was in fact killed at the battle of Gettysburg in 1863.


He wasn't in the army, he was camping nearby and went to complain about the noise....................................

 

[AmateisGal]

he wasn't in the army, he was camping nearby and went to complain about the noise....................................:d

lol!

 

[AmateisGal]

Why am I craving ouzo all of the sudden?

I tried ouzo once when hubby and I were out on a date. I hated it. (sorry).

 

[kamikat]

Why am I craving ouzo all of the sudden?

Because you are very wise.

 

[kyboots]

Well, I'm English born but have traces of Celtic blood (Scots and Irish), and if you go back far enough probably Pict or Viking
My great, great, great grandfather was in fact killed at the battle of Gettysburg in 1863.


He wasn't in the army, he was camping nearby and went to complain about the noise....................................

dub-ya I lov-ya this was great!... Dutch here; we arrived 1653 came over from Belgium on the ship "Dynasty" ( to New Amsterdam ) got run off by the da_n English so became a "Lord of Flatbush"; came to Ky. to build barns; anybody need a barn? --

 

[Taz-man]

I am Scottish, Irish, German, English, French, and Cherokee Indian

 

[PistolPete1969]

German, Scottish, Irish, a little Dutch, a tiny bit English from my dad's side....typical American mutt

Pete

 

[DavidJ]

I'm Mexican. So boring, right? Unless you go into detail. I have Aztec blood running through me, as well as some hard to pronounce Mexican tribe, and Spanish. You can really tell who got what blood in my family. My brother and I took after my dad (the Aztec part), we're pretty dark. While my sisters took after my mom's side, they're hardly dark at all.

 

[LordBest]

Well, let's see. English, Scots, tiny bit of Welsh, more English, a bit of Norman, yet more English and possibly a tiny bit of French. Back to the eleventh century on my fathers side, fifteenth on my mothers side.

 

[Harp]

I tried ouzo once... I hated it. (sorry).

Teepotah felos, katalava Ouzo.
I spent two years as an advisor with the Greek Army and Ouzo was the wine of life,
drunk by the helmet-full splashed by a few drops of water. :eeek:

 

[StetsonHomburg]

My heritage is 100% British, 75% Scottish and 15%. My Paternal side is The Ogilvy Clan (Father's Father's Side) Which I decend from Lord James Ogilvy, 4th Earl of Findlater, 1st Earl of Seafield. My Fathers Mother is a Mckenzie, but no one famous from there. And then on my Maternal side: (Mother's Mother's side) Is the Sinclair Clan and on my Mother's Father's side is the Anderson Clan. I put alot of effort into finding alot of this out myself actually I traced my roots back almost six generations. I believe all but the Sinclairs in my family were Highlanders. And also my clan can claim to have one of the Ugliest tartans ever made, behold the 8th wonder of the world! Clan Ogilvy:

And for inheritance I guess, My gold pocket watches, cufflinks and tie clips. MONEY. And tons of antiques (Though some are worthless in monitary value, some are sentimentally more than less significantly unimportant to the further well being of my quarters and drawing room)

 

[Rathdown]

Scottish, although other nationalities have married into the family from time to time (we call them the "dowry grannies"). Until recently I lived at our Irish seat, but now reside in the USA.

 

[AmateisGal]

Teepotah felos, katalava Ouzo.
I spent two years as an advisor with the Greek Army and Ouzo was the wine of life,
drunk by the helmet-full splashed by a few drops of water. :eeek:

My husband tells me stories of how he used to get drunk on Ouzo with his ex-father-in-law (who was Greek) when they were on vacation in Greece. I couldn't drink enough of it to get drunk!

 

[george]

Didn't you know, all it takes is a single drop of Greek blood to call yourself Greek? Sometimes, all it takes is marrying into a Greek family. My grandmother was raised in an orphanage and had no idea of her heritage. She married my grandfather and became Greek We've had several people marry into the family and convert to Orthodoxy and adopt all the traditions and culture. My blood may be half Italian, but I consider myself Greek all the way!

That's usually how it goes if you have a "ksenos" coming into the family, haha. My dad is also a convert to Orthodoxy. I just like the term Greek-American because obviously I'm Greek but I also have a love of the country of my birth, what it stands for, and I'm grateful for how well it has treated my family the past 50 years. I don't use the term because I can't think of myself as Greek enough to be "fully Greek," thus necessitating the inclusion of "American" as a suffix on my nationality, I use it because I really feel American too. Teddy Roosevelt wouldn't like me being a "hyphonated American" but I guess I'll just have to agree to disagree with him on that one.

I don't know. It's just as easy for me to imagine myself passing the time either quietly or in serious debate at a Greek coffeehouse as it is for me to imagine myself going to an ice cream parlor with the all-American girl. I feel profoundly patriotic hearing either national anthem. That's why I can't tear myself away from the term "Greek-American," I guess.

Either way, I'm probably making too much out of nothing, and so should probably go for a (Greek/Turkish) coffee to settle the mind! Ouzo... maybe later tonight

Even so, I'll make sure the first bottle of alcohol I ever purchase from a liqour store is ouzo, hah.

 

[Roving_Bohemian]

How far back are we talking? Thanks to my aunt we have a decent "tree" lined out, going all the way back to the Buchanan & Stuarts at Culloden, William Prince of Orange, Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne (Vicomte de Turenne), and some crazy Norman Barron I can't recall the name of...

In more recent generations, My mother's father's grandfather was a Swedish spy on Czar Nickolas II, who married a "lesser princess" (Royal family but not directly tied to the throne) and had to flee her father's wrath by coming to America. Their son married a mostly "Pennsylvania Dutch" (German-American settler) woman, and their second son is my grandfather. His wife's father was an "Emerson" (allegedly related to the author), and her mother a Gibson. (who claimed kin-ship to Charles Dana Gibson, originator of the "Gibson Girl")

On my Father's side, his great grandfather was a Norwegian farmer with 11 sons. When he died, his wife re-married. The younger half of the boys (including my great-grandfather) took their step-dad's name, while the older half decided they'd rather be called after the farm they helped their real dad develop: Tollefsrud. So if you know anyone with that last name, we're probably related! :eusa_clap:

My dad's dad married Grace Churchill, who's paternal great-grandfather (George Spencer-Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough) was also the paternal great-grandfather of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill!

So to sum it up: (approx.) 1/4 Scandinavian, 1/6 English, and the rest German/Irish/Scottish/French

 

[AmateisGal]

My dad's side is from Northern Italy, around Turin. While home over Thanksgiving, our family made our traditional Italian salami. It's made out of pork. We do everything just like my great-grandparents did and use the same tools - a big tub for mixing the meat and spices, and the stuffing machine is the same, too. I took lots of pictures, which, if you're interested, you can see here.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2490157066652.124931.1634503002&type=1&l=4da4598ecc

We also ate bagna cauda, a traditional northern Italian dish. It literally means "hot bath" and consists of butter, garlic, and anchovies in a hot skillet. You dip bread, veggies, chicken, and whatever else your heart desires. SO good.

 

[Angus Forbes]

British, 100% -- England, Scotland, Ulster, and Wales -- back at least six generations (I wish I knew more!).

 

[Paul von Zander]

Half are Badeners from Heidelberg u. Mannheim; the rest are odds-and-ends, Irish / Scotts / Mutt -- and as Bill Murray told us, "There is no dog more loveable, than the Mutt". We're regular folk, by and large. I don't believe there are any manor houses, stables or stylish dressers in our backgrounds... probably why I'm the clothes horse in what remains of the family.

I once asked my paternal Grandfather, but not in English, "Opa, how did you survive the Great War?" He had emigrated to the U.S. in 1920 after the Grosser Weltkreig (so-called, before we had to start numbering them), and bore an amazing resemblance to the actor, Armin Müller-Stahl.

He had started as a volunteer in October or 1914, spent the entire war as a machine-gunner in one of the Badener infantry regiments on the western front, and was captured in October of 1918 -- almost four years to the day. In answer to my question, he slowly lifted his hands.

 

[amador]

The family story goes like this... Dad's side: two brothers from Spain came to the new world and started breeding freely with what was left of the local native women. Mom's side: unknown origins in what is now northerm Mexico. Both families fled the carnage of Mexican Revolution to US seeking refuge. Conquest and war erase much.