Show Us Your Pedigree! The Heritage Thread.

[carebear]

Dublin Irish to Boston Irish, throw in some more Irish and then just enough Boston English blood (Devonshire?) to give me a work ethic.

Which I regularly drink into submission so it knows it's not the boss of me.



I come from freckly peoples...

 

[Miss Crisplock]

My Maternal Grandmother was from pre-Revolutionary English stock, and my maternal Grandfather (horrors!) from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Other members of his family spoke Russian at home, but he spoke at least 7 languages and we think he came from somewhere that was for a time Yugoslavia.

Dad's side is all Irish, all the time. Except for Grandpa Feldman.

Freckly Folk are we!

 

[Samsa]

My paternal Grandfather was 100% Irish, and my paternal Grandmother 100% Slovak. On my Mother's side it's a little less clear...there's some Scottish, some English, some Welsh, and some who-knows-what.

In other words, I'm a mongrel.

 

[ProperRogue]

Another German here

I am 100% German, though if my father read this he would correct me, reminding me that while most of Germany is Frankish I am Bavarian Protestant and there is a difference. He would then point to the family coat of arms and began to once again bore me and trace our lineage. In speaking to my Grandparents growing up, I had to use German, as both refused to speak English, Russia or French though they both could. My wife is also Anglo-Saxon protestant, but her genealogy traces back to Germany through England and the landed gentry there.

PR

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

My maternal Grandmother was from Austria. Maternal Grandfather was from Romania.
My Dad's side is all Polish, but have been in America for many generations.
We are all 100% Jewish.

 

[Lincsong]

WOW! It took that many months for someone who knew what a Melungeon was! Very interesting Tourbillion.

 

[Lincsong]

My paternal Grandfather was 100% Irish, and my paternal Grandmother 100% Slovak. On my Mother's side it's a little less clear...there's some Scottish, some English, some Welsh, and some who-knows-what.

In other words, I'm a mongrel.

A mongrel or a melungeon.

 

[Harp]

Line

Scotch-Irish to America by Irish rebellion and famine.
A clan tale has it that the British sentenced my maternal
great-great grandfather to death and the family escaped
Ireland on a Yankee vessel named Chicago.

 

[MudInYerEye]

Decsendant of Lucy the skeletal missing link. Beyond that, unsure.

 

[boomerchop]

Webb, Jefferson, Edwards and Trickett. Almost completely English I guess, though I'm not sure about the Trickett. That may be French? Don't know. What little searching I've done hasn't shown much about the name Trickett.

The Webbs and Jeffersons came from Virginia, the Edwards and Tricketts are more Pennsylvania/New Jersey sorts.

As far as traits, I guess I display common British traits, if there are such things; stiff upper lip, little complaining, a tendency toward reserve and formality. It's a good question and I haven't given it much thought.

How did I miss this thread originally?

12/21/06 - I recently found a geneaology website on the Tricketts and it appears they are English as well. Cheshire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, Dorset, etc.

 

[Sefton]

My maternal grandparents both came over from Spain in the 1920s. First stop was Hawaii (they picked sugar cane) and then on to San Francisco. My paternal grandmother came over from Russia (somewhere from around Siberia,I believe) in the 20s also. My paternal grandfather is something of a mystery. There are no photos of him. Aparently he was something of a scoundrel.He is rumored to have been from Mongolia which would explain why my uncles looked so distinctly Asian. Both of my parents were born and raised in San Francisco and so was I.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Cajun, Scots, English.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

so, well, thats a hard one, so my maternal grandma parents came from bohemia, what's now the czech republic (I think) but was a part of austria for some time, how or why they came to austria, god knows.... From my maternal grandfather, I don't know much about him or his but that he was jewish. My father comes from turkey but they are actually kurds. So yeah, I'm pretty much mixed up I guess

Naama

Wow, another Bohemian! Bohemians are known for their artistic abilities.
I am Bohemian and English from my father's side, and German and French from my mother's side.

 

[Rosie]

I might be melungeon. My maternal grandmother's family is in the melungeon DNA project. That family claims that they came to the US via England, but after fleeing the Spanish Inquisition and that they are converted Jews.

I took a genetic test and came out 6% Sub-Saharan African, which kinda surprised me since I am supposedly about 6% Native American (from the same "melungeon" great-grandfather). Plus melungeons are supposed to have small feet and mine are HUGE.

I just researched this and this is so interesting. Amongst Black folk from the South, there is a group of people who are very fair skinned, darker than "white" people but lighter than "average" black people. They tend to have folded eyes, straighter hair and "white" features. They are called Geech, not to be confused with Geechies or peoples of the Gullah Islands. I'm wondering if they could be from this group of people. I have two unrelated friends whose parents are from Virginia and North Carolina, they are so fair skinned, they are often confused for white and some of their family members could pass for Native American or Asian though they consider themselves Black American. My parents also were/are friends with two couples from Virginia who are also Geech, very fair skinned people who claim not to be mulatto but consider themselves Black American. After reading about this, I realize they all at sometime, since I've known them for years, have said something about their ancestors being mountain people. My mother is directly English/Irish (her grandmother) and Black African/Cherokee (her grandfather) she was nicknamed Geech by some family members because she is fair skinned, has Asian-esque eyes and somewhat straighter hair. Thanks for posting, very interesting.

 

[carebear]

Wow, another Bohemian! Bohemians are known for their artistic abilities.
I am Bohemian and English from my father's side, and German and French from my mother's side.

That's enough rhapsodising on Bohemians....

 

[sonsie]

I finally found out at age 44:

Mat. g-father - Scotch, Irish
Mat. g-mother - German, Irish

Pat. g-father - Scotch, Irish
Pat. g-mother - German


The family who adopted and raised me: German on Dad's side, English on Mom's

Traits? I have no idea. Don't know if the few traits I've heard of, which are always joked about, are true, or have been built up over the years, like Irish loving the drink too much and being prone to depression, the English stiff upper lip, which I spose means unemotional. Germans seem to be no-nonsense.

I wonder if there's a reliable site that expands on traits. I'll have to look around.

sonsie

 

[matei]

It is surprising how well researched many Americans are on the subject of geneology. It doesn't seem that geneology is as big in Europe as in the US.

That being said... many times your friendly neighbourhood European can be just as genetically diverse as your average American.

Speaking of... there is an interesting programme on the BBC called "Who Do You Think You Are?", in which celebrities research their bloodlines. Some of the results are quite unexpected.

As for me... I'm as genetically diverse as the next guy (or gal) on this forum!

 

[MissMissy]

I am mostly Swedish and German. My great-great grandmother was Ojibwe (Chippewa) Indian. She was taken from her family and forced to live in a boarding school where they would christianize the children. They changed her name to Emma and we don't have any record of her Ojibwe name. She and my great-great grandfather (who was French-Canadian) came to the US from Canada when they were 17 and 18 after they were married. There was such a predjudice against Native Americans that they hardly ever talked about it and my dad was always told to never tell anyone he's part Indian. But my dad and grandma are proud and they talk about it whenever they feel now.

 

[Nashoba]

On my real father's side I am Native American (Cherokee-Choctaw) and Italian. My paternal grandmother was 1st generation from Italy, my paternal grandfather's side was cherokee-choctaw, and german, english or irish(there's some discrepency in the record that I'm still sorting through, I personally believe it was probably English). My granfather's side (the non-native side) has been in america since before the revolutionary war and have been farmers and military men going back as far as I've been able to trace. I am a daughter of the Revolution as well as a daughter of the confederacy and the union. I have direct ancestors who fought on both sides of both wars. As well as the 1st and 2nd World Wars.
My stepfather's side of the family are Cuban and Lithuanian. When they tried to come to the US, they were denied entry and lived in Cuba for 20 someodd years. My grandmother and her siblings were born in Havanna. They were granted entrance in the early 40's when my great aunt had polio.
My mother's side are from Hungary and Latvia, they fled the old country when after one of my ancestors was poisened by an anti-semetic neighbor and persecution started to set in heavily.
As far as traits, I'm a native american dancer (was fancy shawl for years, now I dance Jingle) I have a love of Italian food, a nostalgia for my jewish upbringing (I'm religiously a Christian now, but I hold tightly to the jewish culture I grew up with), a love of Latin culture and I speak Spanish fluently thanks to my step-father and 8 years of it in school. To say the least my family is diverse!
Nash

 

[Nashoba]

There was such a predjudice against Native Americans that they hardly ever talked about it and my dad was always told to never tell anyone he's part Indian. But my dad and grandma are proud and they talk about it whenever they feel now.

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