Father’s side -
Grandfather - German (of the prussian variety) mostly
Grandmother - French, Sicilian, English, German, God knows what else…
Mother’s Side -
Grandfather - German (of the hessian variety), Scottish (a little bit)
Grandmother - Small part Scottish, I think a little Irish somewhere way back, and God knows what else…
Basically, yea, I’m not really any nationality in particular. I guess I’m more German than anything else, but not really.
99.9% Irish. There was a Frenchman several generations back who left behind him my mother’s maiden name, L’Esperance. We are even Byrne on both sides of the family. My paternal grandfather changed it to Burns when he became a US citizen, thus my username.
Mike
Mother’s side - 100% Danish clear back as far as our genealogy has been done (1600s).
Father’s side - Mostly English with quite a bit of Irish and a little German thrown into the mix way back.
Nobody particularly famous but one infamous who was burned at the stake in England in the 1600s (my rebel streak, I suppose).
Susan
I used to think that I was Scottish. I played the the Great Highland Pipes for many years. Turned out that branch of the family was actually English, so now I play the whistle. Further research revealed that the branch of the family that I thought was English is actually Scottish, so I can go back to playing the pipes again. On second thought, I can’t even tune a whistle, do you think I can get three drones and a chanter in tune???
The figures below are only estimates and the purity of these lines is questionable.
Grandma (Mom’s) Norwegian
Grandpa (Mom’s) English
Grandma (Dad’s) Black Irish
Grandpa (Dad’s) Scottish
But the last person in my ancestry to leave Europe and come to the States left in about 1690. So after 300+ years here, can I count as a native? >
Stuart
This is amazing to me. I live and grew up in Cleveland. All my friends had a parent or at least a grandparent who was born in the old country. Irish, Italian, Croatian, Slovenian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Ukranian.
It’s strange to me to meet people whose great grandparents were born in North America although logically there would have to be many of them.
Mike
This is amazing to me. I live and grew up in Cleveland. All my friends had a parent or at least a grandparent who was born in the old country. Irish, Italian, Croatian, Slovenian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Ukranian.
It’s strange to me to meet people whose great grandparents were born in North America although logically there would have to be many of them.
Mike
That’s what is so totally amazing. On one hand, I can exhaustively document my dad’s family, the first immigrant of whom arrived in North America in 1633 and farmed just down the road from the Pilgrims, the last of whom fled the Potato Famine (or perhaps a few indignant fathers) around 1850. On the other side, although born an American citizen, I’m an immigrant myself. Most US Americans are mixtures of some sort, often many sorts. The surprise isn’t that we sometimes squabble - its that we get along at all.
Whole lotta folks here got hit with that red paintbrush, but ain’t becasue of Federal Guantum Blood laws. I have a friend who is 1/4 Navaho, 1/4 Winnebago, 1/4 Chippewa, and 1/2 Cherokee, and this FBI (Full Blooded Indian) isn’t considered Indian at all and cannot be enrolled in any tribe! Just had to get than one in!
Waiting for the Mothership…
[ This Message was edited by: Anna Martinez on 2002-09-15 14:15 ]
but the breakdown on that gets a bit dicey and all since most Mexicans are mutts-
so on my father’s side I am mostly Tarahumara Indian from the Sonoran Desert of Mexico and some Spaniard- my dad’s side brings the bootleggers and revolutionaries including my great-uncle who rode with Poncho Villa’s men when he was 9 (yes 9) years old…
on My mother’s side- some indian, spanish and Italian… I take after my father’s side and look more Native American then anything- people are always mistaking me for Navajo or something (which makes sense because the Tarahumara are from the same stock as the Navajo- they just live a bit farther south and into Mexico)
Scottish of the Robertson Clan variety, My mom has traced it to the Greenhorns in Lanark but hasn’t found any further info. Also, French, German, Swedish, English and Irish. What a mix.
I am 100% Czech living in Czech republic, Europe. Czech = Slavic language, Central European culture (brassband music, but also very traditional bagpipe and clarinets. Some say some styles of Czech folk music survived since times of Celts here in Central Europe).
But Czech Republic has a really interesting history of adapting American country music. So in fact, many Czechs play American country in local pubs as their true folk music (for example songs of Johnny Cash or many bluegrass songs). So this was my way to Irish music - via American music. I know Streets of Laredo and many others songs influenced by Irish music since my childhood, we were singing it (in Czech language) at boy-scouts campfires…
So some day I have noticed that there is a country called Ireland, where people play music so similar to American folk music I like so much…
By the way, it’s interesting, how many whistlers have also American native forefathers. From European point of view, it sounds really romantic…
On 2002-09-15 08:30, Loren wrote:
Unverified descendant of The Dread Pirate Roberts.
Inconceivable!!!
However I can scale sheer rockwalls with no ropes, fence both right and left handed, and fight giants quite well…
Loren
Inconceivable!!!
I don’t think that word means what you think it means.
As for this Cat. . .100% ‘Russian’. Current residents of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia may object to the categorization, though. One grandparent was born in England, but her parents were from Minsk.
I’m Irish and I feel like a minority person. Go figure. Both my parents were born and raised in Dublin. I was born there, but raised in Canada and the US. (Part of the last great wave of emmigration in the 50’s.) My mom has a French maiden name. My cousin on that side has done geneology research and belongs to an association of French names associated w/ French officers who were given property in Ireland as a reward of the British army a while back. The name Higgins comes from O’hUigin, which translates ‘kin to the viking.’ The original founder of the clan is supposed to be a grandson of a 5th century high king, Neill of the Nine Hostages. (You can see the royal bearing in me if you look up close. From a distance, I look like a geek.) My dad’s mother was brought to Ireland in the late 1800’s by a single mother refugee from Eastern Europe or Russia, presumably fleeing persecution of Jews. She was given up for adoption and raised by an Irish family in Dublin. She was consumed w/ Irish superstitions and scared her kids with banshee and ghost stories. She believed them. I was told that by my dad’s brother, a Dominican priest. As far as I’m concerned, it’s an open question.
Tony
