My ancestors mostly came over before the revolution from England, but I do have a bit of Irish in me as well from immigration during the Potato Famine.

I think my ancestors are from every country in Europe and North Africa. I'm a mutt. ;)

Here are the main countries my family is from:

Mom's Side: Spain, Morocco, Turkey, France

Dad's Side: Austria, Hungary, Russia, Poland, Germany

Great-grandparents mother's side: Russian Jewish
Great-grandparents father's side: Polish Jewish

Both sets of great grandparents on my father's side came over from Calabria, Italy.

My maternal great grandparents came from Poland. (my grandmother's parents)

My maternal great grandparents (my grandfather's parents) came from Vienna, Austria but were of Slovenian descent.

Hard
 

This is a hard one for me because I really know nothing about my familys history. I do know that my last name, wasnt my dads when he was a kid. he shortened it to make it easier on me and my sister. his last name has only been in his family since the mid 1800s, they took the name of some Russian General or something to avoid persecution for being Jewish. Other than the fact that I know I am a third generation American, that sums it up.

I know that one of my maternal great grandmothers is from Sweden, and one of my paternal great grandmonthers is Native American. All of the rest of my heritage is a hodgepodge.

I really need to get working on my geneology. You would think that having a Mormon background, it would just come naturally, but no.... :(

My whole family is Russian Jewish including me. I was born in Russia and moved here when I was 7 and a half. My grandfather was born in Ukraine and my grandparents lived in Uzbekistan after they got married. I had some family living in Israel a little while ago, but they moved to the States a couple of years ago because of all the terrorism and stuff.

Ireland and German.

I love this thread!

Mom's side: My great-grandparents immigrated from Palestine in the 1920's. So on that side, I'm a third generation American. I also think there are some people before my great-grandparents that were from Turkey, but I'm not 100% sure. I also know that waaaaay back, I had relatives from Spain that had to leave because Jews were being prosecuted. My maw maw is a Sephardic Jew.

Dad's side: Scotland and Switzerland are the 2 countries that most of my ancestors came from. Fun fact: I have a relative on my dad's side that signed the Constitution-Charles Pinckney!

I am a first generation American. Both my parents were born in Cuba. Most of my family history goes back to Cuba, but about six generations back my ancestors were in Spain and France.

I just love anecdotes like these! The "best" I have is a g-g-grandfather who was thrown off the train for gambling - but not before he won a hotel in Pittsburgh, which is how that part of the family ended up north! :D

One sister had an Italian grandfather, whose family raised enough money for him to start a vineyard in America. He got to New York, and saw two trips to California (where the grapes grew well): one expensive, one a real bargain. He took the bargain - and ended up in California, PA! Those of you who went to California State College in PA may recognize Saeli's Restaurant!

Your best bet is to start at home. Ask who's who in your family. Who are your grandparents? What are the maiden names? Where did they live? Who were their parents? Realize that half of what will be told is embroidered! There are some great forms to use at http://www.usgenweb.org/researchers/...ng.html#forms. There are several different filing systems; find the one you're most comfortable with, and stick to it! Remember that spelling is never standard! I know of 28 ways of spelling "McCullough"!

See if there's a genealogical society in your area. The National Genealogical Society has a site at www.ngsgenealogy.org. Other sites are www.rootsweb.com, www.kindredkonnections.org, www.genealogy.org, www.usgenweb.org, www.genforum.com, and of course, the Latter Day Saints at www.familysearch.org. The LDS maintains awesome records, as it's part of their religion - and they couldn't be nicer about letting the rest of us use their records! Most lineage societies maintain a site, too, such as www.dar.org - which also provides a free ancestor look up service. There are a ton of free email sites, too ( such as www.ancestry.com).

When using a message board, ask for the proof behind any help given! I cannot stress that enough! When my mama & I were doing ours, we found two families who lived within four miles of each other, and the names were identical for three generations!! In order to prove which was ours, we had to prove which weren't ours. When I see well-meaning people try to say that these two lines are the same, I ask for the proof. It's easier to know up front that you're going down the wrong trail than research it for years and THEN find out! (Yes, I've been there. Yes, it's terribly frustrating!)

If you have any questions, feel free to pm me. I'm far from an expert, but I really do intend to make genealogy my second career! :)

Mom's side is easy. Mom comes from Badoc, Ilocos Norte, Philippines. She was born there and came to the United States in the 1970s.

Dad's side is not so easy. I know I have ancestors from the Big Island that I can trace back to Captain Cook's time. He was killed at Kealakekua Bay, the same place my ancestors lived. Centuries later, my great-grandfather left Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan and settled in Hawaii to work in the sugar plantations. So that makes me a YONSEI. :D

You're certainly welcome! Let me know if I can help you at all. You've inspired me to look up a few names I haven't touched in a while - and may have found a match! Bless you!

My mama was researching by herself one day, and came across an important link. Being in a library, she couldn't do much, so she turned to a new notebook page and wrote "WOW!!!" on it!

Once you get the bug, you're hooked for life! ;)

Yeah...my family can claim Jesse James, but do we really want to?

edited to add: For those looking for ways to research their family history, try the Mormons. They do this "Book of Life" thing, and I've heard a lot of people say it's been really useful to them.