I live near a Native American tribe. One of my tribal neighbors mentioned that carbon dating on a fire pit the tribe uses indicates his family/tribe has likely been living here for at least 10,000 years. Wow!
My family, by contrast, has lived nowhere for that long. Our origins go back to Ireland, Germany, and England. I remember my great-grandmother visiting us when I was a small child. She came to the U.S. from Germany when she was 16 years old. She still spoke almost no English at age 90; she could get by with that in Chicago, where she spent her life after she arrived.
I am curious to know how many of us can brag of many generations in one place–or, on the other hand, how many of us came to our current country from somewhere else. Share your experiences!
My father’s ancestors came to the US in about 1850 when it seemed like the mold that caused the Irish potato famine might spread beyond Ireland.
My mother’s parents fled Germany in 1935 or 36, basically because they didn’t want to be Nazis. When Hitler combined the offices of president and chancellor, started suspending civil rights, and outlawed competing parties, they saw the writing on the wall and came to America.
I know my mother’s side came from Ireland or Scotland don’t know when, but West Point has a barracks named after a relation. My Mom was born in 1921 in Meeteesee,WY as Grandad worked on the Pitchfork ranch then. Mom had 5 sisters and 1 brother. I know that the sisters and also my mom married off the Pitchfork ranch.
My real father’s side from Germany whenever the US gave land to those that came to help in the war, maybe around 1776. Kinda cloudy about that side of the family as I was 1 years old when Mom got a divorce and didn’t connect with father’s side till in the teens.
So, family been here a while mostly Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Oregan and Alaska, so mostly western pioneers.
So far according to Ancestry and my family doing the DNA tests, 1500,s Europe to colonial New England ( Massachusetts to Rhode Island) and the birth of the United States of America.
I’ll keep updating this thread as my sisters,daughter, family and myself continue this journey backwards.
I was born in Quebec Canada. My fathers family is Italian, his parents immigrated from different parts of Italy during ww2 and met and married here. My mother’s family is best described as French Canadian with a bit of Dutch and German sprinkled in.
I am likewise in Indian country. Of course, if you live in the states, you all are. But I have lived on a reservation and worked for a different tribe. I presently live a couple miles east of a major reservation.
My ancestry is interesting. On my mother’s side, I describe it as Amish and Australian. My great grandmother’s family were among the original settlers of their area of the Pacific Northwest after leaving Pennsylvania when she was 8. My great-great-grandfather was a British prospector in Australia who fled to the US with his family after getting screwed by a business partner. From what I understand, he basically escaped with his life.
On my father’s side, my ancestry is traced back to Roman times, since I am a direct descendant of European royalty. Charlemagne is my 33rd great grandfather, and the tree dates back to Caesar. That and $5.00 will get you a drink at Starbucks.
Interestingly, the path suddenly leaves royalty in the 1600s and eventually ends up with my great grandmother as a “taxi dancer” in a Pacific Northwest frontier town (think “Private Dancer” by Tina Turner). Her daughter, my grandmother, married a man who was raised in an orphanage under an assumed name after his parents (my great-great grandparents) got divorced at a time in which people–especially Christian ministers–never got divorced.
A recent Ebay find and addition to my book collection was a religious text written by my great-great-great grandfather, the father of the mother who sent her son to an orphanage.
