Ancestry

[Madrigal]

So, I saw one member post something that seemed to indicate Italian ancestry, which reminded me that I'm really nosey.

What is your ancestry? Were you raised as a first, second or third generation immigrant? How far back do you know the story of your family tree? Have your customs, tastes, personality and mannerisms been influenced by your ancestors in any way? Did your family pass down any stories about your ancestors? Are there any myths and legends about your ancestors in your family? Have you made any special effort to find out more about your ancestry or ancestors, through research, travel, etc? Do you think your ancestry is interesting and is there anything in particular about your heritage that you're proud of?

[JohnClay]

Both sides of my parents had come from Germany to Australia about 150 years ago. My dad's mother had Irish ancestry. My dad used a computer program to record about 1000 ancestors that he researched about.... my dad has visited related places in Germany and where they came from before they settled in Germany (near Russia)
One side of Germans come from the "Barossa Valley" which has a huge number of Lutheran churches. Apparently they came there due to religious persecution in Germany...

is there anything in particular about your heritage that you're proud of?

Well I am unaware of any of my relatives being divorced. The only example I know of is my uncle's wife's sister.... I think her son was a bit of a trouble-maker but he died in a car accident.

[djm]

Paternal grandfathers family were from Jewish immigrants Belarus (Russia at the time) on his fathers side and Scottish on his mothers side (mother came down from Scotland after having a kid with the aristocrat she worked for paid off and told to fuck off out of Scotland). His parents met when he was invalided out of Galipoli and she was a volunteer nurse, which is how he ended up in Birmingham. She was a troubled woman who abandoned the kids when he died of TB. My grandfathers aunt was more like his mother and could speak scottish gaelic albeit with a strong midland accent.

Paternal grandmothers family of French descent on fathers side, mother side from north of England. Lots of stories of family treasure in France, but think that turned out to be a ripping yarn. Mother mended sheets for a hospital, father was a musician.

Maternal grandmothers family from rural Worcestershire as far back as can go. Moved to Birmingham when the brother inherited the farm and chucked them out. My grandmother was one of 13 girls, they had no electric, or even running water at the farm. Her mother worked as a maid, and her father a groom in service at the local manor. When they moved to Brum he worked at an aluminium smelting works.

Maternal grandfathers family also Midlanders as far back as I know. Mother became ill and was wheelchair bound, dad worked long hours in a factory so had to fostered during week, got rickets as foster family gave his milk to their own kids (had bandy legs). Spent two years in a dipheria clinic before coming out and signing up for WW2. Was in the pacific, saw Hiroshima mop up. Died at 49 when I was quite little so didn't see much of him.

So mostly English, with some Russian, French and Scots.

[last_caress]

43% British & Irish
7% German
50% Polish

Mostly came to US between 1880 and 1940.

My aunt is into genealogy and got me to take the test. She was supposed to take a trip to Westport, Ireland to do some research in 2020 but covid hosed that.

I actually found running the raw genetic data through Promethease more interesting than the ancestry stuff.

[Ferrus]

According to a DNA test my parents did my mother was about 75% from various parts of England 20% Donegal in Ireland, 4% Sweden and 1% Indian which was suspicious given multiple generations of her family had been soldiers in the Raj. Her family on the father's side were all blonde, blue eyed and with cleft chins, so clearly some Viking influence there. My father's haoplotypes were mainly from the Midlands and Essex. His grandmother was from Lausanne but the DNA results suggested more from the north of France, presumably they had moved there at some point.

[Stigmata]

I did 23&me and apparently I'm black, black, and more black.

[Utisz]

My mother was from the West of Ireland and my father was from the West of Ireland.

My mother's mother was from the West of Ireland and my mother's father was from the West of Ireland.

My father's mother was from the West of Ireland and my father's father was from the West of Ireland.

My mother's mother's mother was from the West of Ireland and my mother's mother's father was from the West of Ireland.

My mother's father's mother, now she was from the West of Ireland and my mother's father's father, well he was from the West of Ireland.

Now my father's mother's mother, well she was from the West of Ireland, and my father's mother's father was from the West of Ireland.

But you see my father's father's mother was from the West of Ireland, while my father's father's father came from the West of Ireland.

But now, and this is where it gets interesting, you see my ...

[MoneyJungle]

30% Germanic Europe
21% Eastern Europe & Russia (Polish)
19% England and Northwestern Europe
17% Scotland
13% European Jewish

This changes practically every time I log into Ancestry. I could’ve sworn they said I was Irish a year ago.

[TeresaJ]

Mostly creole. On my mom's side Spanish men married French women. On my dad's side French (somewhat Germanic) men married Spanish women. I'm distantly related to some moderately notable historical figures in New Orleans. Probably distantly related to half of Southern Louisiana one way or another.

There's a story on my mom's side that this French woman was on Grand Isle during the hurricane of 1909. She was washed out to sea and rescued by a Spaniard. She didn't speak Spanish and he didn't speak French but they wound up getting married. Different branches of the family have different versions of the story that are more or less risque.

A lot of seafarers and gamblers on my mom's side. Some relatives worked in the opera house in New Orleans working on sets and costumes, and there's a line of siblings named after operatic characters. Seafarers and shopkeepers on my dad's side. Generations who declined to fight for inheritance with greedier cousins on either side, so a long gentle slide from wealth to middle class.

Oh and then my grandma married this man of eastern European descent so my name and looks are eastern European. You wouldn't think I was was from Louisiana at all.

I think it's cool to know the history, to feel some connection with past generations. I once looked through internet census archives to try to find the family of the woman who had been the housekeeper when my grandmother was a child, because I wanted to give them a painting she had made of her, but I couldn't identify her. Someday maybe I'll make it down there again specifically to continue the search.

[Ferrus]

Was in the pacific, saw Hiroshima mop up.

My grandfather and his identical twin were in the marines and were sent there after the Japanese surrender also - well after having been told to police Hong Kong for a week or so during during the anarchy immediately as the Japenese abandoned it.