Genealogy
 

How many people out there don't know what nationality your ancestors are? I know I've got some mixture of Dutch, German, Native American, Irish, among others in my blood. But to tell you the truth, whenever someone's asked me, I've always said "American."

I love learning about other cultures, so I'm into knowing about my own geneology. I'm mostly Irish & German, with quite a bit of Scotch-Irish and a little bit of Native American as well.

One of my good friends in college didn't have a clue what her ancestory was (her last name didn't stand out as a specific ethnic name, either). Whenever she asked her dad, he just said "American". It drove her crazy. Especially if she had a school project or something ABOUT her history.

I have another friend who knows the ethnicity of her ancestors, but that's it. Her grandpa always says "You never know what branches are hanging off the family tree". Which just totally makes her more curious about it.

My Dad's mom wrote a family history a few years ago. She traced her roots back to Germany through her mom's side and Ireland through her dad. I know a fair amount of maternal grandmother's family as well. Her grandfather set up a homestead in Minnesota that is still family owned. They're all German too. I think most of my family are Ellis islanders who showed up around the turn of the last century.

Unfortunately, both of my parents were raised by stepfathers so I know nothing about that half of my lineage (including my last name.) We're pretty sure they're German, English and Scottish though.

My father is into building our family tree right now, so far between the two of us, we've managed to trace my mother's family back to the 1400s. As far as ancestry goes, I'm Irish, Italian, Welsh, Dutch, German, Cherokee, and Czechoslovakian (which no longer exists....I think it's the Slovak side??). I just find it interesting to research this stuff for some reason...

Yeah, we had a book published about 1970 about our family history. Of course my stupid ass older sister lost it. Claimed she doesnt have it. I remember giving it to her stupid ass. No one else has a copy. It was good too. Could trace the family all the way back to hamburg, germany, and even details why the original family came to the US. I guess I am glad I at least knwo where in germany they are from. A lot of peopel dont even knwo that.

On my moms side, my grandmother can trace back to the american revolution, but i'd have no idea where those papers are...

My mom's side is simple. She's from the Philippines and all my ancestors are from the Philippines too. If I looked far enough, I'm sure I have a Spanish ancestor somewhere, since they colonized that place centuries ago.

My dad's side is a bit more complicated. I did I project a while back and found out that I have Hawaiian ancestors who lived on the Big Island prior to Kamehameha I uniting the islands. I got my Japanese and more Filipino blood when the first waves of sugar plantation immigrants came at the turn of the 20th century.

My mom did a search on my dad's last name and found a bunch of them living in the Ukraine. ??? :confused: To this day I don't know where my last name originated from.

My dad's side....Spanish and Korean.

My mom's side....Korean and Hawaiian.

So, that makes me 1/2 Korean, 1/4 Spanish, and 1/4 Hawaiian.

Neat thread!!

Different people on my mother's fathers's side have been researching our family history. I worked on it a bit when I was in Salt Lake City for a conference. I used the geneology library at the Mormon Center. Lots of stuff if you all ever find yourself in Salt Lake. So far my mother has been able to go back to 1852, my great-grandfather's birth. She is hoping to find plantation documents to go back farther.

I think someone mentioned a family name change? Well, I know that on my father's mother's side, my great (or great-great) grandfather changed his last name from Rasmussen, the slave owners name, to Rasmus. So, slight name changes are very possible.

I'm Irish on my dad's side (and I look it too with my fair complexion, blue eyes and blond hair) and my mom's side were all gypsy's so there's a mixture of everything. Her great-great grandparents settled in what is now the Czech Republic, so that's what the family usually claims to be.

Irish/English on my father's side. Mother's side is a little more complicated. Includes both of the above plus black dutch (probably where I get my complexion), French, Spanish, Belgian, Italian and more. That side of the family has been in the US a lot longer and is much more diverse because of it.

I have a little bit of everything including, but not limited to, Irish, Italian, Cuban, and Cherokee. The strongest blood-wise is the Irish on my mother's side, although I don't have any Irish-type features at all.

i have extreme irishness on my dad's side with some german, english, and french randomly mixed in. my mom's side is mostly german with a scattering of french mixed in.

i have scottish, cherokee, portugeese, and african blood all in me:D

i'd like to thank my parents for my diversity.
arent we all diverse? the term 'multiracial' needs to go away, cause really we are all 'multi' in 'ethnicity':p

We have one, too. Unfortunately, my mean old great uncle won't let us have it even though it's supposed to go to my mom...but I digress. ;) I am the eleventh generation on her side to live in America (my family is originally from Wales). The family has been traced further back, supposedly to a British royal family, but I don't know if we're *legitimately* related or not. As for my dad's family, I have no clue, except that some came from County Cork in Ireland. No idea when. One of these days, when I'm old and rich and have nothing to do, I'm going to trace that side of the family.

well, on my dad's side, there's no telling. . .dominican, armenian, hebrew, choctaw, african, scot-irish, polish

on mom's side, there's african, blackfeet, english

i just tell everyone that i'm me. . .because the only proof i have are pictures of gorgeous people, indian robe numbers, and a tattered polish flag. . .and people think i'm lying anyway

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 :)