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What's your ancestry?

I love learning about people's family histories and from where they have descended. I often find myself talking to my family and SWMBO's family about our respective origins and find it all fascinating. I'm Sicilian and Irish on my mother's side, and Polish and English on my father's. She is Irish on her maternal side and Ukrainian Jewish on her paternal side. How about you guys?
 
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captp

Pretty Pink Fairy Princess.
Irish (father) Sicilian (mother), with, possibly a very small part German and Russian (we were never sure if Mom was lying about the Russian)
 
For the most part the last few generations have been from the Hague - Delft - Rotterdam area of the Netherlands. I am of the first actual born generation here in Canada. Before me, the last came here whilst very young, mostly pre-teen I think.
 

Claudel Xerxes

Staff member
1/2 Latvian, my father came from Latvia to the US during/immediately after WW2. 1/4 Polish, and the other 1/4 is a mix of English, German, and French.
 
I didn't think it was that rude of a question. Just interested in all the different places people come from is all.
 

Claudel Xerxes

Staff member
Beige. Vanilla. When anyone is rude enough to ask, I answer:"San Franciscan."

I'm confused on how inquiring about someone's ancestry is considered rude. I'm very proud of my Latvian heritage, and I get excited whenever I get to share that information with anyone who is curious about it.
 
I'm an American Heinz 57. A mixture of a bunch of different things and I'm pretty sure nobody in my family knows what they all are, but based solely on surnames I can list English, French, German, possibly Scottish or Irish, but there's certainly more mixed in there than just those.
 
I'm 4th generation American born, my father's ancestry was Norwegian English, and my mothers ancestry was Norwegian German, with some Irish. Whatever that makes me, I don't know. And I don't feel it is a rude question either.
 
I'm confused on how inquiring about someone's ancestry is considered rude. I'm very proud of my Latvian heritage, and I get excited whenever I get to share that information with anyone who is curious about it.

Well he said he was beige and vanilla, so I'm assuming he doesn't like random people on the street asking him his heritage because he looks different, probably not so much on an anonymous forum where nobody knows what each other looks like.
 
It's funny, because in the OP I listed my paternal heritage as being part English, but that is only because our last name is Woolford and his family came from a town on the Eastern Shore of Maryland called Woolford. He could be something completely different than English but that was the name his family took because that's where they came from. Really cool because it adds to the mystery of it all. Keep 'em coming, guys. I love reading this stuff. I keep hinting to my family that I want an Ancestry.com membership for my birthday or Christmas but no one listens to me :lol:
 
It's funny, because in the OP I listed my paternal heritage as being part English, but that is only because our last name is Woolford and his family came from a town on the Eastern Shore of Maryland called Woolford. He could be something completely different than English but that was the name his family took because that's where they came from. Really cool because it adds to the mystery of it all. Keep 'em coming, guys. I love reading this stuff. I keep hinting to my family that I want an Ancestry.com membership for my birthday or Christmas but no one listens to me :lol:

This is something I've thought about doing myself. I know my great grandparents on both sides of the family were born here in the U.S., but I don't know much about them or how far back my family immigrated here and it's something that's always interested me. One of these days I'm going to set up an account myself. I say you should just go for it, whether they get you a membership or not. You can always just say Santa got it for you. :tongue_sm
 
This is something I've thought about doing myself. I know my great grandparents on both sides of the family were born here in the U.S., but I don't know much about them or how far back my family immigrated here and it's something that's always interested me. One of these days I'm going to set up an account myself. I say you should just go for it, whether they get you a membership or not. You can always just say Santa got it for you. :tongue_sm
Good idea! Apparently you have to pay more for the "international" package to trace it beyond the U.S. but I think it is worth it depending on how much I find here. The girlfriend uses it and has found a treasure trove of information for her mother's family between Ancestry.com and the genealogy section of the library. All the records of her dad's family were burned in 1939 or probably sometime shortly thereafter so she hasn't been able to do much there but managed to trace her Irish lineage back to the Middle Ages. That's the kind of stuff I hope I can do.
 
My wife recently fell into the ancestry rabbit hole! It turns out the majority of both our families are descended from just a few places in England, with one particular branch of her family being among the early settlers of the New World. Apparently I am descended (from my Mother's Father's side) from two knights of the Order of the Garter, a father and son, both named William. Among my ancestors are a family who settled in the Long Island area of New York who fought for our independence in the American Revolution, and it's not entirely clear, but my wife may be descended from Clovis, first King of the Franks.

Also, my uncle, an avid genealogist, recently received the results of his DNA submission. It turns out our family genetics are over 95% Scandinavian (which anyone who knows a little about genetics and the development of early Europe understands as more than just Norway, Sweden, Finland).
 
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My wife recently fell into the ancestry rabbit hole! It turns out the majority of both our families are descended from just a few places in England, with one particular branch of her family being among the early settlers of the New World. Apparently I am descended (from my Mother's Father's side) from two knights of the Order of the Garter, a father and son, both named William. Among my ancestors are a family who settled in the Long Island area of New York who fought for our independence in the American Revolution, and it's not entirely clear, but my wife may be descended from Clovis, first King of the Franks.

Also, my uncle, an avid genealogist, recently received the results of his DNA submission. It turns out our family genetics are over 95% Scandinavian (which anyone who knows a little about genetics and the development of early Europe understands as more than just Norway, Sweden, Finland).

WOW Jess, The Order of Gartar, The Forefathers and original makers of Lilac Vegetal!!!...:w00t: Sorry I saw the pitch and had to swing for it:lol:
 
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