What's Your Heritage?

Sparrow87

So my mother has been doing ancestry.com trying to find out more about her heritage.  She knows that she is 50% German and 50% Irish.  My father is 100% Italian which makes my brothers and I 25% Irish 25% German and 50% Italian. 

Well she found out that one of her great grandmothers that married into the family was from Canada!  My mother determined that she is 1/8 French Canadian which makes my brothers and I 1/16 French Canadian!  I thought that was very cool and it kind of blew my mind.  If we didn't know that what else don't we know? 

So the questions that I have for you ladies are, have you ever learned anything surprising about your family or heritage?  Are you related to any famous historical figures?  Have you used ancestry.com or any other website to get your information?  Inquiring minds need to know! 

AudgiePodge

I am about half German and half Mexican. My great-great-great grandfather on my mother's side is John Wilkes Booth.

lilphillips14

The only interesting thing I can think of is that my great great great aunt was Mary Baker Eddy --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Baker_Eddy

Other than that, I'm pretty much half Irish, half German. Both of my parents families have heavy Irish and German blood in them.

Peaseblossom55

I'm such a mutt. I believe I'm 1/4 German, 1/4 spanish, 1/4 russian 1/8 italian and 1/8 greek. It's always been debated because when I asked my dad about his side his reply was always from my side you are half jewish.  I've had to argue jewish is a religion not a background and hence the russian and spanish.  Unless anyone believes being jewish is considered a background not just a religion.  Our family was raised Catholic since that was my mom's religion.

Audgie that is so interesting you have a relation to John Wilkes Booth.

leia1979

My dad's parents came from Italy in the early 20th century. My grandmother's parents (on my mom's side) came from Ireland. My grandpa was adopted, so we aren't sure about  his background.

For the most part, my family immigrated through Ellis Island. Just as an FYI, if you had relatives who came through Ellis Island, you can go to ellisisland.org to try and search for their ship's passenger manifest.

KatyRoseM

I'm 1/2 polish Jew, 1/4 Irish and 1/4 western European mutt.  The only famous people we are related to are the hattfeilds, but very distantly. 

MirandaVanZ

I am half Dutch on my Dad's side and a mutt on my Mom's side.
My great uncle on my Mom's side is a Papa from the mammas and the papas and he was all the characters on the show Theodore Tugboat.

alanna91

I'm third or fourth generation "United States of American" depending on which side you look at. I have a very strong Irish heritage that comes from both my mother and father which I've always related to more. Around where I'm from, everyone seems to be of Irish heritage so I think that added to my tendency to relate to that more.
I also have French Canadian (Nova Scotia) and Mi'kmaq heritage.

Leia, I'm actually going to go check that Ellis Island thing out..very cool!
Audgie, are you serious about the John Wilkes Booth relation?

xSnuggleBunnyyy

Well I know a lot about my moms side. From her I am Czechoslovakian, Austrian, German, and maybe some Irish in there? Then my dads side is questionable but I know he's gotta have Irish/Scottish because him and I both have the red hair and fair skin. All I know is I'm a European mutt. :P My great grandfather who came to the U.S. from  Austria or Hungray one of those "hunky" countries, couldn't write so he signed his name with an "x". And my grandfather on my moms side was one of 12 kids! 6 girls and 6 boys...wowie. Other then that I don't have any interesting stories.

swhite2012

Well my grandma on my dad's side is English Canadian basically. Other than that I am mostly German and Irish. My mom is like 1/4 Maltese but I don't think I got much of those genes...I'm so pale! Anyways through my dad's mom I am related to Russel Stover (the chocolate guy) and very distantly to Eisenhower I think.

csousa1

I am predominantly Irish and German, with some Welsh, Scottish, Canadian and Native American. My adoptive father is 100% Portuguese, and I have a huge Portuguese family, so I relate most to that and to my Irish heritage.

My great great great aunt on my mother's side was a Welsh duchess, who lived in a castle and never had to dress herself or brush her own hair before the age of 18. When she was 18, she fell in love with a Canadian farmer, renounced her title and ran away with him to Prince Edward Island, where the majority of my maternal grandmother's family now comes from. I always loved that story growing up, like my family had their own personal fairy tale

loves2shop4shoes

100% Portuguese.

I think somewhere way, way back when there was some French in there.  So if you wanna get really technical, Porkchop wtih a side of Fries.

Hazel_B

Based on my calculation I'm half Scottish, 1/8 English and 3/8 Swiss Mennonite.

I don't think I can count the American bit since they left the USA for Canada right after the War of Independence, although my family did live in Pennsylvania for about 100 years prior to moving to Canada. Either way, they were still Swiss Mennonite.

I don't think I'm related to anyone famous really. One of my great great uncles was friends with Henry Ford and chose not to go into business with him....pretty stupid move. 

Edit: I forgot, my great great aunt was married to the nephew of Alexander MacKenize the explorer and namesake of the MacKenzie River in the Northwest Territories.

[Deleted User]

I know my grandma on my dad's side was very into researching our family history. Honestly though, I never paid that much attention. Now as I'm getting older, I think it would be very interesting to go through her research and photos to see what I can learn!

I know on my mom's side i'm German & Czech, on my dad's side i'm Irish....but I'm sure there's more to it than that.

Of, and funny fact - I actually had someone tell me that I looked Czech (after I told them my heritage of course) and I was like "Really? I have no idea what a Czech person looks like". I mean seriously, I know there are features that stand out for many people....but I don't think most people really know what a Czech person looks like. At least I don't!

heyimbren

My family is essentially just Canadian. However, I'm half Iroquois (Mohawk) but other than that I have no idea. My grandma's father was adopted, and my own father was adopted. We know there's some English way back there, we're just unsure of how much.

becunning2

I'm 100% Alaskan!  Bwa, ha, ha!

...But really, I'm not sure.  My mom told me I was pretty English/Irish with maybe a touch of French.  But I have no clue.  It's weird, but for someone who studies Latin, I'm not interested in my own "past" family, just my future one.

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_whats-heritage?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:35933f82-6e35-4ee9-ae02-be3b6d526c53Post:c2ac810b-2e7e-4599-8278-cd7313d41afd">Re: What's Your Heritage?</a>:
[QUOTE]'ve had to argue jewish is a religion not a background and hence the russian and spanish.  Unless anyone believes being jewish is considered a background not just a religion.  Our family was raised Catholic since that was my mom's religion. Audgie that is so interesting you have a relation to John Wilkes Booth.
Posted by danser55[/QUOTE]

This is actually a complicated/confusing issue Danser. Judaism is both a religion and a people/ethnicity.  You can have Jewish heritage as a people--but not believe in the Jewish religion.  You can also convert to Judaism, and that makes you Jewish, but you don't have the heritage/ethnicity.  It might need a flow chart of its own! <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-laughing.gif" border="0" alt="Laughing" title="Laughing" />

MidniteRae

I'm 50% hispanic. My ancestors on my mother's side were from Spain and then moved to Mexico- and then Arizona. I'm a 4th generation Arizona native. My great-grandmother was born here a couple year before Arizona became a state. I'm not sure about everything on my dad's side. I think it's just Latvian and Irish. 

Hazel_B

becunning - Very good point about ethnicity and religion being different. I view Mennonite in a similar way since there are Swiss Mennonites and Russian Mennonites. I honestly can't go further. I know my Swiss Mennonite side was given permission to leave Europe in Bern but considering how small modern day Swtizerland is I believe they lived in southern Germany.  Here's the catch....they left Europe before Germany became a country. Does that make me German? Hard to prove where they lived in the 1600s. So, I have no idea, it has always been easier to say Swiss Mennonite.

CCO2012

On my mothers side I am Swiss and French from my grandmother and German and Swiss from my grandfather. Both sides are from the Alps. Fun fact on my grandfathers side is that the boy who started our lineage, was stuck in a cave to wait out the plague.

On my father's side I am indigenous Venezuelan from near the Amazon from my grandmother among other things and Italian and Moroccan on my grandfather's side. Fun fact about that is that it is said that the daughter of an Italian Slave owner in Venezuela got freaky with a Moroccan slave and that where we came from Scandalous!

jaycee7389

I come from German, Irish, and Native American blood.

My paternal grandmother is 100% German and my paternal grandfather is 50% German, 50% irish. My maternal grandmother is 50% German and 50% Native American. My maternal grandfather is 100% German. All of my great grandparents, except fpr my maternal great grandmother, were born in another country. All of my grandparents were born here in America.

kellylove22

I'm 1/2 Greek and 1/4 Irish and 1/4 Scottish. It's pretty easy for me to trace my heritage back because my mom emigrated here from Greece, and my Scottish grandfather emigrated here from Scotland. The weird twist in my heritage is that my Greek grandfather emigrated here through Ellis Island when he was 18 and worked here for a while before moving back to Greece to marry my grandmother (and yeah, they had about a 20 year age difference), but the good news is that my mom could derive her citizenship from her dad rather than having to jump through a lot of hoops to become a citizen when she moved here.

xSnuggleBunnyyy

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_whats-heritage?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:35933f82-6e35-4ee9-ae02-be3b6d526c53Post:d4ed5f5c-899a-4e49-80d8-0eab1177dbba">Re: What's Your Heritage?</a>:
[QUOTE]and funny fact - I actually had someone tell me that I looked Czech (after I told them my heritage of course) and I was like "Really? I have no idea what a Czech person looks like". I mean seriously, I know there are features that stand out for many people....but I don't think most people really know what a Czech person looks like. At least I don't!
Posted by allusive007[/QUOTE]

This is funny, I don't see how they could tell! Most people know my moms side of the family is Czech or from somewhere close to it because of the last name, but other than that I would also like to know how they could! <span class="postbody">I did read somewhere that the cheekbones of Czech, Slovakian & Hungarian people tend to be more defined.</span>

motoLyn

100% Viet-namese!  Hahaha... well I was hoping there be a little french in me, french soldier some where in the family tree back when Vietnam was a French colony but I highly doubt that. 

peekaboo2011

Audgie, that's way cool!

My maternal grandmother's side of the family is Black Dutch (no, they aren't black, that's just the term for that region I guess) and Potawatami Injuns.  My maternal grandfather's side is German and Cherokee.  My father's side of the family is mostly German, with some Irish mixed in.

I'm actually a registered injun.  My great grandmother was a full blood.

AnneR15

I wish I knew more about my heritage. I have some distant relatives still living in Sweden, but the direct connection goes all the way back to my great great grandfather. On my dad's side, I have a relative who came over from Jamaica and fought in the Civil War, but he wasn't Jamaican, and we're not sure where he originally came from. Somewhere on my dad's side, I'm supposedly related to Daniel Boone, but I have no idea where that theory comes from.

The only thing I really know is that I'm at least a 5th generation Texan. I've been told that's like being from a foreign country

ETA: I also have a little Cherokee blood in me.

lavenderfields13

I signed up for ancestry.com awhile ago too! It's pretty cool the things you can find out. I am basically a mutt. On my dad's side I'm English and French Canadian..and a tiny bit of Irish- no one on his side thought there was any Irish blood but through ancestry.com I found out his great great grandmother was from Ireland! On my mom's side it's English, Irish, German, Italian..maybe Scottish?
I'm not related to anyone famous or interesting as far as I know. lol.
I always wished I was something less boring and more interesting like CCO- French, German, Swiss, Venezuelan, Italian and Morroccan?? That's a crazy mix!
I also have a theory that very different ethnicities mixed together make very cute babies!

bethsmiles

I've always wanted to know more about my heritage. My family has been here forever. My grandma is in the DAR and daughters of the Eastern stars, my grandpa is a free mason.  I'm pretty sure I've got some British, German, and Belgian on my mom's side. On my dad's side I know I have some Scottish heritage.

BF is 1/4 Italian and 1/4 German and I think about 1/4 Irish and then the other 1/4 is a hodgepodge of other ethnicities.

PaigeMcC

Lookit all you people with Canadian heritage!! GO CANADA! wo0t!


Okay, I'm done.

My Grandpa and Dad have actually traced their family tree back all the way to Ireland and King C, and then his son King McC (Mc meaning son of...) and so on.  From there Samuel McC and his fam jam came to Nova Scotia in the mid 1700's and settled about an hour from our farmhouse.  The rest is puuuuure Canadian.

Mom's side is different...they can trace themselves back to a Scottish boat of horse theives but there's no trace of them once you trace the boat back to Scottland.  The theory is they changed their name to avoid prosecution...but it's still being looked in to.

Sparrow87

Wow lots of cool stories!  I didn't realize how diverse our little community is! 

deburnin

My dad's Haudenosaunee (Seneca) and my mom's German, Irish, English, and who the heck knows what else. lol On my mom's side we're related to Isaac Newton. I actually have a very distant cousin who's named after him. My dad's side is too hard to trace.

jemmini6

I'm predominately German and Irish, but there's obviously lots of little stuff mixed in here and there (I believe we even have some Choctaw in there somewhere, although you wouldn't know it with how pale I am).  But really, I consider myself to just be American.  I believe parts of my family have been here since before the Civil War (we have a tin-type of someone in our family, not sure who).

FI is predominately French, German and Mexican.  His grandma was born and raised in France and he still has quite a bit of family there.  His grandparents on the other side is where his Mexican herritage comes in, but it's generations removed.