On my Dad's side there's Cherokee, Creole, West Indian and of course African descendants.

On my mom's side i've only been able to trace the Cherokee roots.

Both my mother and my father's side of the family are 100% Polish. Now, it's not as if they were told to only date and marry Polish people, that's just how it turned out.

We're having difficulty tracing my father's family as they didn't really want to talk about Poland once they had emmigrated to the US. Even though our family name is a little bit uncommon, we can't seem to find our relatives past my great-great-grandfather in the mid 1800's. My father's family arrived in the US 1917.

On the other hand, my mother's family is from Aleksanderow Kujawski in the central-north area of Poland near Torun. I hope to travel to Poland this summer to meet my family for the first time. They arrived in the US about 1916 or so. My grandfather was born in Chicago and is a US citizen. Though, his mother missed Poland and they moved back when he was 5. He grew up in Poland and, in light of WWII, came back to the US when he was 19.

So....we're proud Americans, but have strong links with our Polish heritage.

.....Kelly :)

I'm working on my lineage now, and I've managed to piece together some of my mother's side back to the 1200's somehow. As far as I can tell, there's English and Irish on that side. My dad's side has been a LOT harder to figure out -- they disappear a few generations back. But, I'm pretty sure they came from England or Ireland, too. My great aunt said her grandfather was German, but I haven't been able to find him anywhere yet. Her grandmother was supposedly Cherokee, not that I look at all like I inherited that.

My mom's side is 100% polish (her grandparents were 1st generation), and my Dad's side is Polish, Russian, and American Mutt.

-M

I had to do this huge Genealogy project in AP History back in high school. I can't even remember most of it now. (and thats only 3 years ago!!) I do know I am Italian, German, Portuguese, and a lil bit of a couple of other things. I think I am going to have to go dig up my old project and get back to you all on that one

Interesting post.... I'm French, Spanish and Italian. My grandmother swears that there is Greek in there somewhere too.

Oh my Geneology...so CONFUSING! I'll bet my history is one of the strangest on GC!

My mother was born in the Azores (Portugal) and though my father was born in America, his grandparents are French Canadian.

It's hard to trace my mom's family back because on her island, last names didn't really mean anything. You see, before my Grandfather was married his last name was Pacheco, and before my Grandmother got married her last name was Dutra. When they got married they became Mr. & Mrs. Amaral (just becase my Grandfather decided he liked that name...) But then they had 5 kids--all of which have all three last names (ex. My mom was Maria Gorete Dutra Pacheco Amaral even though her parents's last name was only Amaral.)

I've wanted to trace back farther, but the whole last name deal makes it difficult. I'm convinced there's Aryan blood in me somewhere because my mom and grandmother and all of them on that side are so fair-skinned and light-eyed. Traditionally, Portuguese people are more olive skinned and darker haired/eyed.

My father's family has been traced all the way back to France before they went to Canada. We have the family coat of arms and everything. And, we actually discovered a pretty neat story about the unconventional spelling of our last name:
There were 2 brothers, one was mean and one was nice. The mean one killed someone important in the town, and the ruler of the town (a baron or something) put an "X" at the end of his last name so that all in the future would know that he had done something wrong. :) (Yay for the random "X"!)

How do you all find your info? What websites and/or research libraries do you use? I am interested in learning more about my family history, but I don't know where to start...

My heritage is 100% Irish. My grandmother was the oldest of twelve children and came to NYC at 23. We still have dozens of relatives in Ireland, England, Scotland, and all over the USA. :)

50% German (Mom's side)
50% Polish (Dad's side)

My mom's maiden name is so stupid b/c it was butchered at Ellis Island. Her dad did a huge family tree, so he has that info, but I don't remember what it was originally.

Thank you Dad...for giving me a "...ski" last name that leads everyone I meet to proclaim, "Ahh!! You are Polish!" :p

rootsweb.com is a good place to start, and it's a free site. Yahoo also has quite a few genealogy groups. You could also try gencircles.com (another freebie).

English and Irish,

well with a little Ketchup and musturd thrown in I am sure!:)

If anyone in your family is an immigrant who came through New York, you might want to check out http://www.ellisisland.org/

I found this website to be extremely helpful!

.....Kelly :)