Hey! So, one of my many interests is learning about my ancestors, learning about where I come from. So I thought this would be a nice place to share where we come from, as in where our past is.
What are your ethnicities?
Any famous relatives/ancestors?
Any family stories?
Own any family artifacts?
For example. I am
*Half German
*A quarter Mexican
*French
*Native American
*Irish
*Corsican
*Prussian (Don’t exist no more, but I had family who moved from there to here when Prussia existed)
I’m not related to anybody famous.
*But I did have an ancestor who fought for the Confederacy during the US Civil War.
*My great-great Grandma was in San Francisco during the Great 1906 Earthquake
*My ancestors were bootleggers during Prohibation
*I had family living in Germany and the United States before WWII. After WWII, a family member from the US went to Germany but found no trace of them. They either moved or died.
*My Great Grandpa met my Great Grandma in France during WWII (she was French)
*My Grandma fought in the Pacific during WWII.
I own the bible that one of my Great Great Grandpas brought over from German to American in 1901. It’s in German, and is very, very old and fragile!
*I own family trees stretching back to the 19th century for my dad’s side of the family
*I own WWII Saving Bonds that were my grandma’s from the 1940s
*I have immigration papers of my Great-Great Grandpa from Germany
Wow, that’s quite some ancestry, ellie-jessie-eve! And being related to Danny DeVito must be awesome, Chuckles.
I’m not related to anyone famous as far as I’m aware. I’m half Maltese, a quarter Welsh and the rest English, though there very well may be other influences in my ancestry.
Well, I’m mostly English, but I’m also parts Scottish, Irish, Welsh and Australian. I’m not related to anyone famous, but my great-grandpa helped build Toronto, and my grandpa was a jockey. Apparently he was really good, and a bunch of gangsters told him to lose, or they’d hurt his family. My dad and my two aunts had to be escorted to school by mounties
I’m mostly English. Though I had an ancestor (from my Dad’s side) called Jean-Jacques Rousseau (hence my last name) who lead a french army and moved to England during a french civil war. I don’t know how long ago this was, probably several hundreds of years ago. I’m obviously part french, but it’s very tiny. Apart from that, my family is pretty boring. Great topic Kenzie!
I honestly don’t think I’m related to anyone famous. A famous actor was born in our state… does that count…? No…? (The actor is Patrick Dempsey, if you were wondering.)
Umm, let’s see. I’m for def mostly French, a good part German, a bit Scottish, and even some parts Native American, I believe… it’s all rolled up into one little bubbly all-American girl, known as myself.
…But mostly French. Though I can’t speak or understand it to save my life, despite how close I live to the Canadian border. xDDD
I am not related to anyone very famous, although I know so much about the presidents that I feel that I do know them personally.
I am 50% Italian, 25% Polish, 12 1/2% Irish, and 12 1/2% other. My great-grandfather (mom’s dad’s dad) grew up in an orphanage, so we don’t exactly know what his parents’ origins were or percents or whatnot. My last name is Polish, although it was changed when my ancestors came over to Ellis Island. It was only changed by one letter though.
Funny story. It turns out that my maternal grandmother’s parents and my paternal grandmother’s parents came from the same small town in Italy. However, we did not know this until a few years ago. My mom and my grandmother went over to the town where my grandmother’s family lived in about 2007. While they were there, they saw a plaque that had my other grandmother’s maiden name on it. It said that this person on the plaque had left the town and was now living in Providence, Rhode Island (or was, because this plaque is pretty old). When my mom returned and showed a picture of the plaque to my dad, he realized that the plaque was about his great-grandfather. So, parts of both sides of my family came form the same town in Italy. And they must have known each other, because today there is still only one source of water in the whole town. They must have met at one point. One of my great grandparents said that he knew one of my great grandparents on the other side, but he was pretty old and they thought that he was just “misremembering”, to quote Roger Clemens. Evidently not.
My dad has the trunk that his relatives brought over with them to Ellis Island. And a bottle from his ancestor’s bottling company. I think it was his great grandfather’s, but I’m not sure.
I loved reading all of your stories! It’s amazing how many different places we come from. First police killed in Vancouver, Confederate Army, French Civil War, gangsters
One thing I noticed is that we’re all of European ancestory (except for my 25% Mexican part).
aaldawrogers: Ha, which president would you like to be related to the most? That’s such a coincidence about the Italian town!
Wow, I actually think that’s super cool! In a sorta “I’m the spawn of criminals” sorta way xD
I believe I am just about the whitest a white boy could be. I know that from my mom’s side I’m part German, British, Russian, and Native American. So yeah, I’m pretty white. I have no idea what I get from my Dad though, cuz apparently he doesn’t know either
I don’t know if I’m related to anybody famous though. I think my Grandpa used to know Jesse James (the motorcycle guy) like, a long time ago and my step dad went to high school with the guy who founded Lost… (the surf/ skate company)
Yeah, I’m kinda boring… I actually have Mexican and Pacific Islander relatives through marriage (one of the cool things about having your parents get divorced )
Ugh, I wish I had a ‘United Nations’ family like most members here… Both my maternal and paternal great-relatives are from the same province in China (although their villages were only 20 minutes apart, curiously). My maternal grandparents met each other, then married and migrated to Malaysia (or migrated then married, I can’t remember which came first). They had to flee the country during World War 2 when the Japanese invaded the peninsula, but returned after the war was over.
For famous ancestors, I’m apparently related to the great Chinese explorer Zheng He, who was recently claimed to have discovered America 70 years before Columbus did. As awesome as he was, he was also unfortunately a Eunuch.
I never get tired of reading about where ya’ll are from, we have such a great diversity of people here!
Pixarfan91: You have no idea how jealous I am of you right now, you being related to a signer of the Declaration! All of my European ancestors haven’t been in the United States that long to take part in the Revolution!
In relation to Pixar, my mother’s maiden name is the same as the last name of a certain late Pixar writer who was third place on the Scare records in Monsters, Inc.
(The actor is Patrick Dempsey, if you were wondering.)
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Both my maternal and paternal great-relatives are from the same province in China (although their villages were only 20 minutes apart, curiously). My maternal grandparents met each other, then married and migrated to Malaysia (or migrated then married, I can’t remember which came first). They had to flee the country during World War 2 when the Japanese invaded the peninsula, but returned after the war was over.
