Where did your non-North American ancestors come from?

[MooseGirl]

Mom's side
her mom: 11th(?) generation Canadian....landed in Quebec around 1640.
her dad:english...have no idea how long...i kow at least my great grandpa was canadian

dad's side
his grandma was Belgian.
his other grandparents came from North(or south?)dakota into Saskatchewn - french speaking...not sure where the family was from before that



Supposedly along the way we managed to get Irish, German, and Native blood in us...but who really knows?

[MattUMASSD]

All this geneaology talk has sparked my interest. One day when I have a lot of money to play around with I would like research my ancestry like Alex Haley did. It would be interesting to go to South Carolina and Alabama from there to West Africa to see where my family came from. Does anyone know what were the major ports that slaves came in? I dont think there were any in alabama.

[Jill1228]

What he said!
Some of my family members are Cherokee Indian (great gma was born on the reservation.

Other ethnicities are Irish, German and French


As far as my husband, I dunno. he was adopted by an English Canadian family. Due to his looks we are guessing dutch (very fair skin, very blonde hair and blue eyes)

[i]
Prior to that my ancestors came over shackled in the hull of a slave ship amidst the stink of feces, urine and death, waiting to be showcased and sold like livestock.

So basically, besides guessing the general region of Western Africa, I don't know where my ancestors came from. I can only wonder[/B]

[CutiePie2000]

Originally posted by MattUMASSD
One day when I have a lot of money to play around with I would like research my ancestry like Alex Haley did. ......Does anyone know what were the major ports that slaves came in?

ROOTS (the TV miniseries) came out in 1977 and I was 7 years old at the time. I remember the part where the slave traders kidnap Kunte Kinte (LeVar Burton, aka "Geordie Laforge" from Star Trek). I was terrified when that part happened.

I watched ROOTS again at about age 29 (rented and watched all 6 tapes over 2 nights) and to watch it with "grown up eyes", the kidnap scene is still very upsetting and disturbing (but obviously realistic). It's an excellent series - now I plan to read the book, too.

As more major ports, you could probably research this through American history books, etc. I know in Amistad (the movie), they arrived in Connecticut.

[Kristin AGD]

Researching your roots can give your life new perspective. I will share with you something I found in my family history. As I posted above one side of my family goes back to the establishment of the colonies.
We have heard about the horrors of slavery all of our lives. The fact that people were actually the property of other people. But nothing brought that fact home to me until I was reading some estate papers from one of my ancestors. There listed in black and white several men, woman, and a child were listed on this ancestors list of assets. It really brought home to me the fact that people were treated as property. Can you imagine listing a human being on your net assets?

I am not ashamed to admit there were slaveholders in our family. That was them, not me. I was slightly shocked that my New England family was where I found them. But seeing that one piece of history has given me a new respect for freedom.

[sugar and spice]

Originally posted by kappaloo
Czech or Slovak? (My boyfriend's parents are Czech, and I have been reminded over and over in painful detail that there have been no Czechoslovakians since 1992 )

I know token Czech phrases: Pivo prosim! being the most important! :P

Is the musician from your mom's or dad's side - if it's on your mom's I have it down to 3 last names. I won't write them here, since you probably don't like having your last name publish a la internet.

I have no clue if it's Czech or Slovak -- I just tell people that since it was Czechoslovakia when they left it, I'm going to keep referring to them as Czechoslovakians. Or else I just call them "Bohemians" to avoid all the semantics.

The musician name is on my father's side -- the English side.

[enlightenment06]

Originally posted by MattUMASSD
All this geneaology talk has sparked my interest. One day when I have a lot of money to play around with I would like research my ancestry like Alex Haley did. It would be interesting to go to South Carolina and Alabama from there to West Africa to see where my family came from. Does anyone know what were the major ports that slaves came in? I dont think there were any in alabama.

I think Charlestown (now known as Charleston?), South Carolina was a big port. South Carolina had the largest slave trading going on within the United States, which is why the state was a big proponent of ending the trans-Atlantic slave trade

[honeychile]

Charlestown did become Charleston. A great book to read is "Slaves in the Family" by Edward Ball. A lot of people whose ancestors had slaves can relate to his confusion on the issue. To my knowledge, no one in my family did, but I teach a local history mini-class and you'd be surprised how many people are shocked to see slavery outside of the traditional South!

I forget who mentioned the Mormons - that's the LDS site (Church of the Latter Day Saints). They prefer to be called LDS for the most part.

My understanding is that there are really good records in what used to be the Ivory Coast (West Ghana? I'm showing my ignorance of world geography!) on the slave industry. I haven't done any major slave genealogy (yet), but I'm pretty sure that you trace backwards from freedom to the owner to the first African descendant, to the boat and to the "Castle" in Africa where most slaves were held prior to being sent to America. Our genealogical society (Western PA GS) has a whole special interest group on African American heritage; the former head of the National Archives (James Walker) is black, and had a wealth of information to share.

It gets a little upsetting to use words like "own" and "property", doesn't it? People forget that one of the first people to die in the American Revolution was black (Crispus Attucks), and that there was at least one black freeman at the founding of Jamestown!

[enlightenment06]

Ivory Coast is still Ivory Coast. What used the be known as Gold Coast is now Ghana. There are two slave dungeons in Ghana, one at El Mina and the other at Cape Coast. I've been there and seen the "Door of No Return" where boats would leave the African coast filled with slaves. It is a very somber place to be, I can't even begin to describe it.

[Silverblue]

Cherokee Indian, English, Irish, German, French. Apparently, that mix makes you resemble Hedy Lamarr, whom a couple of photographers have told me I'm similar to in appearance. I'll take it!

A great-uncle traced one branch of my family to England in the early 1300s. One ancestor was a knight during the reign of Elizabeth I! Another one helped found the Jamestown Colony.

One of my grandmothers was half-Cherokee. During her childhood (she was born in the early 1890s), it was a source of scorn. When I was old enough to understand I was part Cherokee, I was thrilled! Thankfully, times change.

[honeychile]

Originally posted by enlightenment06
Ivory Coast is still Ivory Coast. What used the be known as Gold Coast is now Ghana. There are two slave dungeons in Ghana, one at El Mina and the other at Cape Coast. I've been there and seen the "Door of No Return" where boats would leave the African coast filled with slaves. It is a very somber place to be, I can't even begin to describe it.

I can only begin to imagine the grief that one would feel, even being at such a place.

[ADPiSAI]

Originally posted by GeekyPenguin
Mom's side: Polish, Prussian, German
Dad's side: Irish, Polish, German, French

never seen anyone else claim the Prussian part before! I'm the only one in my family who does, because I'm all technical like that. They just say Poland, because that's what my great-grandmother's area ended up turning into.

anyway...

Mom's side: Polish, Prussian, German
Dad's side: Polish, Austrian

[honeychile]

For those interested in looking up African-American or Jewish genealogy, here's a couple of ideas:

Go to www.dar.org, click on forms, scroll to library, and click on the type of research you're looking for. You need acrobatic reader to print out the forms, but it's a start.

[docetboy]

Finland on the fathers side,
Netherlands on my mothers.

[treblk]

both parents came from Nigeria
So did I