# What are your roots?



## corazon (May 31, 2006)

I'm half Scottish and half American.
My mom grew up in Montrose, Scotland 
my dad grew up in Chimayo, New Mexico.

I'm curious about the rest of you...


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## Alix (May 31, 2006)

My roots are brunette...(sorry couldn't resist that one)


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## middie (May 31, 2006)

I'm a mutt. Cherokee Indian, Hungarian, Irish, Polish, Dutch, Italian, German.
That's just the ones I know of !


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## corazon (May 31, 2006)

lol Alix!


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## Andy M. (May 31, 2006)

My ancesters are Armenian.  Both parents were born and grew up in Armenia and surrounding countries and immigrated to the USA in the early 1920s.


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## corazon (May 31, 2006)

Have you ever been over to visit Andy?  Do you still have family there?


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## Angie (May 31, 2006)

Mom is mostly Danish with a little Norwegian and English.
Dad is mostly German with a little Irish.


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## Andy M. (May 31, 2006)

corazon90 said:
			
		

> Have you ever been over to visit Andy? Do you still have family there?


 

I've never been.  My Mom and her sisters and brother went back in the 70s.  

There are some distant relatives but no one the family has been in contact with.

I grew up in an Armenian household in Massachusetts.  Armenian spoken, Armenian foods served, my parents Armenian friends invited to visit.

I grew up bi-linguial but have last the vocabulary since I got married to someone who didn't speak the language.


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## Dove (May 31, 2006)

My Grandmother (Mom's Mother) was born in Durham England and her Father was born in Glasgow Scotland. Dad's Parents were from the Midwest but going back a century or less they were from Nottingham shire England.


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## licia (May 31, 2006)

My maternal grandmother was German and my paternal grandfather was Irish. I don't know about the rest. We have traced my grandmother's family back to 1756 where they lived in the Bavarian section of Germany before coming to the States via England. I have no idea what all that makes me.


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## Andy M. (May 31, 2006)

licia said:
			
		

> ...I have no idea what all that makes me.


 

It makes you an American!


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## wasabi (May 31, 2006)

1/2 Filipino
1/2 Puerto Rican
100% American


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## Barbara L (May 31, 2006)

I am backwards.     I'm half Swedish (my mom's parents were both born in Sweden--met here) and I don't drink coffee, and I'm half German and I don't drink beer.  Plus I am 100% true blue American.

 Barbara


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## ironchef (May 31, 2006)

I am half Japanese and half Chinese. My family immigrated to Hawaii in the late 1800s. I am 4th generation on the Japanese side and 5th generation on the Chinese side which pretty much makes me 110% American. I can't speak or understand barely anything (except for culinary terms, swear words, and basic conversational phrases) which suprises most Asians on the mainland who are either 1st generation or F.O.B. (Fresh Off the Boat). In Hawaii, it's pretty much expected that unless you are Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, or Thai/Cambodian/Laotian that you can't speak your native language and that English is your first, second, and third language.


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## buckytom (Jun 1, 2006)

lol ic. my best friend in high school was like you, asian, but american was his only language and culture. he was practically waspy.

andy, did your family endure the armenian holocaust of '15-'17? it's something that all people should edumacate themselves about, since genocide is still going on around the world.


for me, i am 1/2 irish, and 1/2 norwegian. 

dad was born here but raised in ireland. my grandfather, from co. cavan, emigrated to the u.s. just before the first world war. he fought in france for the u.s., getting 2 purple hearts (mean cavan bastid that he was). after the war, he married another emigre from co. mayo, had my dad, and moved back to ireland to live on a small farm, having several more children. they were actually well off with the disability $$ from the u.s gov't., and running a successful farm. my father remembers being the first family in his town with electricity, and indoor plumbing, a maid, and a car. towards the end of the 30's, my grandfather saw wwii coming, so he moved the family back to brooklyn, just in time for my dad to fight in wwii.

my mom's family moved to the states from oslo, norway in the '20's, and my mom was born and raised in brooklyn with 3 brothers and 3 sisters. some of the family went back to norway, living in oslo and places so far north you'd see russian submarines passing by on their way home on nice days.
i still have cousins there, mostly in oslo. i really should make the effort to contact them someday.


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## TATTRAT (Jun 1, 2006)

I am half Swedish, and half English...I burn to a crisp, and stay tan for no more the 3 days. Moved to the States in the 80's and have dual citizenship with the U.S. and U.K.

I guess I am an imported American? I LOVE IT HERE THOUGH! USA>all


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## Ishbel (Jun 1, 2006)

I'm Scots.  Nothing added, nothing taken away!    Red haired, very fair skinned.


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## lulu (Jun 1, 2006)

Interesting question.

I am a real mongrel: My father English with Irish mother and Welch roots to the English side of family.  My Mother New Zealand with Swedish/Scottish/Irish roots, my half sister is also of French decent.  I feel connected to all my genetic cultures.  But then as well, my family travelled a lot, I came to England to go to school when I was 8, but before that and during holidays lived in Southern States, West Indies, Carribean and France.  So I also feel connected to those cultures.  My husband is an Anglo-Italian guy of Jeqish decent.  He also lived around the world as a kid, though mainly in Italy.  His sister was brought up mainly in France.  Family conversations are amazing here.  His dad says somethng in English which his sister replies to in French, my husband and his brother chip in in Italian and I have a sort of a hybrid European response answering in English, French, Spanish or my very limited Italian, but usually a hybrid of them all.  Somehow we all understand what the other is saying and it has never caused a problem.  Just agreeing to speak all in the same language would be too simple!  LOL.  What's tricky is when people are here and I always have to remind my family to speak in a language that our guests can understand....it causes rows!  When I first came my brother and sister in law would just speak Italian whent the conversation did not involve me and it was very rude.

All I can say is god help our kids!!!!


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## licia (Jun 1, 2006)

Andy, yes, truly American 100%. Thanks for the reminder.


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## VickiQ (Jun 1, 2006)

My Dad's parents are from Sicily and Mom's Mom is from Puerto Rico and her Dad from Salamanca.Spain.My father's parents raised their family in Brooklyn, NY and my Mom's in Washington Heights,NY.My siblings and I learned the swear words of both cultures!!!My father was absolutely opposed to us learning spanish but, my "abuelita" would teach us everything she could on the sly. My Dad's parents were very difficult to understand and so we didn't actually find out we were swearing until we repeated something my grandfather had said and got in trouble for it!!!
My husband's family had been in this country - in this area since 1714-both sides original Dutch settlers.For some reason I find that more interesting- they certainly are more laid back-


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## GB (Jun 1, 2006)

Both sets of my grandparents were born in the USA, but their parents came here from Russia and Poland.


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## SierraCook (Jun 1, 2006)

My Dad's side of the family is Irish, Scottish, and Swedish.  Since my mom was adopted I am not sure of what her family lineage is.


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## texasgirl (Jun 1, 2006)

I have Irish, Sioux and Cherokee blood. Not sure what else. I'm a mongrel too. LOL


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## bethzaring (Jun 1, 2006)

I have researched my ancestry on the Internet for several years now.  It is truely amazing the amount of genealogical information out there.  The two main web sites I used were Ancestry.com which costs $$ and their sister, free, website, RootsWeb.com.  I have been able to identify almost 600 of my direct line ancestors and was astonished to find that most of them arrived on these shores in the 1600's.  About 95% of those 600 folks came from England, with a handful from Germany, France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales.  Before I started this research I thought I was German cause Zaring is german, but that is not the case.

I would strongly encourage you younger folks to ask your older relatives about their lives and ancestors. By the time I was born, 3 of my grandparents were deceased.  It seems most people get interested in genealogy in their later years, after their ancestors are long gone.  I had a great head start in the baby book my Mom prepared for me, it had a family tree that listed all 8 of my great grandparents.

Genealogy is a facinating science and a great history lesson too!


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## 240brickman (Jun 1, 2006)

My roots used to be brown, now they're mostly grey. (ha ha, no).

Actually, I'm 1/2 Italian (both of my Dad's parents are 100% Italian), 1/4 Irish (Mom's mother), and...get ready for this...1/4 Polish Jew (Mom's father).

Mom's father, my late Grandpa Mo, was the eldest of 3 kids when they escaped from Poland and came to New York (this, of course, was somewhere around 1910 or 1915). HIS mother was a widow, although I think she eventually remarried in the U.S. My grandfather was essentially put in charge of caring for his siblings.

In (approximately) 1925, Grandpa Mo met Mary Ellen Reilly, and they fell in love. One big problem: she was Irish Catholic, he was Jewish. At the time, this match was considered unthinkable.

Soooo, Grandpa Mo converted to Catholicism. Took him a couple of years to make it official, but he did it. He and my Grandmother got married; they eventually had a total of four children, three sons and a daughter (in that order). The daughter, Kathryn Rita, went on to become the mother of a nearly-famous Brickman.

Interesting note: my Mom, as well as her 3 brothers, attended Catholic School while they were growing up in New York. And they were the ONLY kids in their class with the last name "Levine".

Interesting note Number Two: Mom's eldest brother, my late uncle Howard, spent several years in the U.S. Army. Because of his last name, it was assumed that he was Jewish, so he was excused from certain drills/exercises during Jewish holidays. But when he didn't show up on Christmas or Easter etc. his superiors would question his absence. Howard would simply show them his dogtag, which was clearly marked with a "C"--for Catholic.

(my family is a creative bunch)

--J


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## pdswife (Jun 1, 2006)

Me... English, Scottish, Dutch, German, Polish, French Canadian Indian and 
a mixture of lots of other things.   But.. I'm most proud of being Greek by marriage.   : )


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## Andy M. (Jun 1, 2006)

buckytom said:
			
		

> ...andy, did your family endure the Armenian holocaust of '15-'17? it's something that all people should edumacate themselves about, since genocide is still going on around the world...


 
BT:

Yes, they did.  The stories were gut wrenching.  As a kid, I didn't get nursery rhymes, I got stories of my parents' childhoods.  My great grandfather saw his son (my grandfather) murdered at a mass grave site.  My mother and aunt worked for a friendly sheik carrying water when they were young girls.

Groups of Armenians marched from town to town looking for locations where the local govt. was friendly.  They were able to get to the US as young adults, thanks to an uncle, and start over.

It's amazing to me that so many of us have diverse backgrounds.  Just looking at the diverse locations around the world for DC members is amazing.  Factor in the diverse ethnic backgrounds and the mix we have here is amazing!


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## CharlieD (Jun 1, 2006)

bethzaring said:
			
		

> ...  It is truely amazing the amount of genealogical information out there...


 

    Only if you lived in the normal country.

 I am from Ukraine and you couldn't even find info on my great grand parents. Even though my grand father told me a lot. Nobody even knows where they died, most likely killed by nazis or buried. 

Oh, yeah, I am Not Ukrainian.


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## BreezyCooking (Jun 1, 2006)

I'm 100% Czech on both sides of the family.  In fact, my parents are second cousins, which my husband says explains an AWFUL lot.   As for hubby, he's 100% Ukrainian.

We've broken the mold.


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## Alix (Jun 1, 2006)

buckytom said:
			
		

> for me, i am 1/2 irish, and 1/2 norwegian.


 
You just described Ken's ancestry. Mine is slightly more diverse. I'm half Ukrainian from Dad (my grandparents emigrated when they were very young), and 1/4 Irish, 1/4 English from my Mom. 

Since there is more Irish than anything else in my kids we eat a lot of potatoes... 

We are just like most of you, a nice intermingling of many cultures.


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## phinz (Jun 1, 2006)

Scots-Irish, with some English sprinkled in. Mom's great-whatever grandfather was one of the first 5 of their surname to emigrate from Ireland sometime between 1690 and 1700. We can trace mom's roots back to the 1400s, with her family surname appearing sometime in ~1500 BC. Dad's side is harder to track because the verbal tradition isn't there like mom's is, but they're from the south of Scotland and North of England. I need to get with my eldest aunt, as she's traced more of it than I have. 

I wear the Douglas tartan when I have my good kilt on. I have kin that fought against the Crown in the American Revolution, as well as kin that fought on both sides in The War of Northern Aggression.


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## Sandyj (Jun 1, 2006)

Grandmothers: both born in South Africa, both Dutch speaking. One Grandmother was a true Afrikaner going back a couple of generations in Africa. The other was from a more recently imigrated Hollander family, and, oddly, never considered herself an Afrikaner.
One grandfather (b. 1879!) was borth in South Africa, but his father immigrated in about 1825 from Alsace-Lorraine. The other was probably also born in South Africa, but his parents immigrated from Australia. 
Both sets of grandparents raised their children speaking English as their first language, sending them to English speaking schools.


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## The Z (Jun 1, 2006)

I never felt connected to any of my 'ethnic' heritage.  The culture I relate to is the Iowa farmer.  The paternal side of my family was very influential in my upbringing.  I was raised on a farm.  I worked on my grandfather's, uncle's and father's farms.  We had family reunions on farms and lots of extended family (paternal) would come (all farmers).  For the record, I think my grandfather and his siblings (10) were born in Iowa and his father and mother came from Germany.  But nobody ever talked about German culture (I assume there is some).

On my mother's side... now THAT is an interesting story.  She was stolen from an orphanage at the age of 4 and never knew her real family.  She was only ever told 'stories' about what happened to them.  Just a couple of years ago I found them (YAY ME!) and she has recently met siblings she never remembered she had and learned what really happened to her parents and her siblings.  It's a long story, but an interesting one.  I also found out that, coincidentally, my blood cousin moved to Vegas about a month before I did.  We've met and get together occasionally.  Incidentally, he looks a lot like my brother... who looked nothing like anyone in our immediate or extended (paternal) family growing up.  We always joked with him about looking like the mailman... but it turns out he looks like the other (now known) side of the family.


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## buckytom (Jun 2, 2006)

alix, i knew i liked ken the first time i met him. brothers in "d'oh". 

andy, i had an armenian friend when i was a kid who told me the same stories that you'd mentioned. it was unspeakable evil.

and yes, YAY Z!!!!! way to go dude! you've given your family a priceless gift, of unity and connections thru time.

and speaking of unity, ahem, phinz, that was "the war between the states", for our country's unity. you lost (due to archaic tactics, a few bad decisions, and rapidly improving weaponry. not for lack of toughness or spirit). get over it already.


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## The Z (Jun 2, 2006)

buckytom said:
			
		

> and yes, YAY Z!!!!! way to go dude! you've given your family a priceless gift, of unity and connections thru time.


 
I gotta tell ya buck.... I 'well up' every time I tell (or write about) that story... now too. Nothing has given me more pleasure in my life than to have created a bridge for my mother (at age 64) to her surviving relatives. She ended up meeting her oldest brother only about 6 months before he died and now visits her sisters regularly. I think it's the most significant thing I've ever done. She was always told she was adopted and that her 'real' family was dead. She was never really mistreated or anything. I think the woman who 'took' her (the loving, wonderful woman I always thought of as my grandmother) thought she was rescuing her while, in reality, she was ripping her from her 4 older siblings who, because of their more developed age, never 'got over it' the way she did. It turns out they had looked for her for years and for over 50 years had wondered what had happened to their baby sister.


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## middie (Jun 2, 2006)

awww that's bittersweet z. my eyes are welling up now too


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## buckytom (Jun 2, 2006)

that's absolutely incredible z!  i wasn't kidding about the gift you gave your family. it will now carry on throughout the years, growing in it's importance and magnitude as the years pass for all of your family members. you should be very proud.
kudos, man.


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## corazon (Jun 2, 2006)

That is an incredible accomplishment Z!  I'm sure your mother (as well as the rest of the family) feels such gratitude for finding her siblings!  Like bucky said, you should be very proud!


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## bethzaring (Jun 2, 2006)

Z, that is an incredible story, I not only welled up, I cried.  What  a gift you have provided to your family!

I thought I would provide a link to the RootsWeb site page that lists the various mailing lists available.  They are grouped first by surname, then geographical locations and finally, other.  I utilized all three.  If I could not find my ancestors, say the Mills family, under the Mills mailing list, I  would then try the county/state they resided in.  Like this food web site, genealogy mailing lists have people who are extremely helpful in finding information.

http://lists.rootsweb.com/


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## VickiQ (Jun 2, 2006)

((Z)))I just have to say I have read and re-read your family history and am in such awe of you to have taken that path on this journey and found your Mom's family -a beautiful ending to an incredible story and the part I love most is the pride and accomplishment you feel and should feel for completing such an adventure.Much congratulations to you and many, many long happy years with your "found" family!!!!Love and energy, Vicki


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## Arcana (Jun 2, 2006)

*Geneology*

I didn't grow up with my father but my mother told me he is a baptized mormon and direct descendent of Brigham Young and yes that is my maiden name lol. She said he was Cherokee, German and French but I've found no indication that he or any of his wives were any of those nationalities. I am dying to know what his lineage is, I've been trying to investigate for years but I can't find his name among any of the Brigham Young family trees online. Some from my dad's generation are incomplete because the descendants don't want their info public. I was told by the mormom church in Vegas that they keep impeccible records of all baptized mormons so I could go research their records if I wanted to but I never had the time. 
On my mom's side, they are half Sicilian Italian (her mom) and half Syrian (her dad).


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## Sugar N' Spice (Jun 2, 2006)

Wow, lets see, my mother is from Taiwan.  My paternal grandmother was from Italy and married my paternal grandfather who was in the military, he is German and Irish.  So that makes me half chinese and a quarter Italian with some German and Irish in me.  But I consider myself American since I don't speak or understand any chinese and was raised here.  I've been told that I looked hispanic before since I am darker complected due to my italian roots.  But I think I look more pacific islander more than anything.


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## ironchef (Jun 2, 2006)

Sugar N' Spice said:
			
		

> But I think I look more pacific islander more than anything.


 
I think you look more like a Japanese girl who was born and raised in Hawaii.


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## Sugar N' Spice (Jun 2, 2006)

I've heard that I look Hawain too, people rarely get my ethnicity right but I guess I'm so mixed it's hard to tell.


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## Trip (Jun 2, 2006)

British with my grandmother, Scottish with grandfather and French with Dads side


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