But where are you really from?

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My family came to America on the Charming Nancy. Twenty Amish families, the first to settle here, and that was in 1738. They originated from Switzerland, and left because the Catholics were beheading the amish. That was so long ago, I just am American.
 
My mom's family hailed from Alsace and Bayern in Germany. My dad's family from Germany. They came here in the 1840's. I'm an American with German traditions. Putting my Keugels on the tree right now.
 
100% Pure-bread Appalachian American with a 50/50 mix of 100% pure English (dad) and 100% pure German (mom). Mom traces he lineage to Lohr, German with arrival in America in 1650s and dad from NE England arriving almost the same year. I can’t recall the name of the city on my dad’s side, but that’s on a document somewhere.

Both lines settled in Appalachia shortly after arrival, with the clan on my mom’s side living in the same holler since the early 1700s. The family “homestead” on my mom’s side that had been passed down generation to generation since the early 1700s was sold outside of the family about 2 decades ago as this current generation all have relocated out from the holler. A bit sad, but we still have the burial plot where my bones will go if they ever find them when I depart. The property on my dad’s side was taken by imminent domain by the freaking feds during the depression when they built the blue ridge parkway. There is a big hotel with nice scenic views on the parkway where their cattle once roamed. None of us has had a fondness for feds ever since.

100% Appalachian expat, I guess I should say.
 
My cousin chased back my father's side of the family back to the Mayflower. But that side is heavily Italian.

My mothers side was largely Hungarian.

My wife chased back my last name to Ashkenazi jews.

But I am an American born to American parents stationed in Germany. I gave up my German citizenship to join the Navy.

Ben
 
Tommyice said:
My mom's family hailed from Alsace and Bayern in Germany. My dad's family from Germany. They came here in the 1840's. I'm an American with German traditions. Putting my Keugels on the tree right now.
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Alsace is a very nice area. Spent part of a winter there a long time ago curtesy of the Army. I recall deep dark snow covered forest. Heavenly.
 
N. Italy/Azores & Devon/Wales

Posted before reading: many say American 🇺🇸. I agree however my Gpa wasn’t born here and was extremely proud of gaining his citizenship. It was important for us to know where we came from and why we are here now.
Other side back to pre Revolution.
 
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My ancestors were forced out of Scotland by the English in the early 1700’s.
My Great (X4) Grandfather paid them back by joining the newly created Continental Army in July 1775 and fighting for our freedom from the king.

It’s in my genes to fight against tyranny.
 
100% Swedish on my father's side. 50/50 Welsh and Hungarian on my mother's side. I believe all of my great grandparents were born in Europe, but my grand parents were born in the USA.
 
A ton of research has been done in my family lines. Some of it I researched myself and it dead ends, some of it has been kept track of for generations. Scottish, Irish, English, German, Austrian, Danish, French, 1/16 Native American on both mom’s and dad’s sides. That doesn’t mean 16 generations back. I think it is 4.
This year I researched back on a specific line and found a particular great great etc grandfather was spoken of by George Washington and was one of his trusted advisors. That’s why I research it. I think it’s cool, awesome, amazing to find out about who our ancestors were.
They don’t want us to forget them.
A distant cousin, she died within the last 10 years, 100+/- years old, told me our common ancestors were here in the early 1600s. She was a wealth of knowledge and information and several books are being compiled by 4 distant relatives to put together her research. It will be digitally stored and available for us to review at a specific historical society in the south.
 
I am American by birth
Southern by the grace of God

With a bit of Douglas tossed in to make things interesting
Our family crest
IMG_4674.jpeg
 
Neb said:
My cousin chased back my father's side of the family back to the Mayflower. But that side is heavily Italian.

My mothers side was largely Hungarian.

My wife chased back my last name to Ashkenazi jews.

But I am an American born to American parents stationed in Germany. I gave up my German citizenship to join the Navy.

Ben
Click to expand...
Ben
I am an American born to American Parents in France
I also signed away dual citizenship at the age of 18
Do you have a German birth certificate with a Dod letter?
 
Both my grandmothers were 100% Norwegian blooded, born in the USA to Norse immigrants. My Grandma Sampson's family traces back to the Mowats and Sinclairs of Caithness and Orkney in Northern Scotland. Those clans were descended partially from the Vikings. Both my grandfathers were 100% German. My maternal grandpa's family was from an area called Mecklinburg. His mom's family were Prussians, from near what is now the German/Polish border. My paternal great grandfather has proved impossible to trace. There are no records of him. He just suddenly appears in Iowa in 1868. I haven't even found German records. Apparently he never spoke to his 5 sons about his past, other than being from Germany. The family rumor is that he skirted around the authorities by immigrating to Canada first and then sneaking across the border, but no one knows for sure...
 
My fathers side of the family is from Germany. But you have to go back three generations before me to find the ones that immigrated to America (Texas, specifically). My moms side is Scot-Irish. I do not know when they immigrated, but it was at least two generations before me. They set down roots in North Carolina. My wife's family tree hails from the Ukraine (both mother and father side), although both of her parents were from Canada - the immigration from Ukraine having occurred sometime before that. I was an Army brat, and our family moved to three different states during my youth. Charlotte North Carolina to Short Hills New Jersey to Austin Texas. I went to college at Texas A&M. Then I moved to Colorado after college and met my wife when we were both working as ambulance attendants. Our kids have grown and moved out - my son is still here in Colorado and my daughter is in Hawaii.
 
Spikedriver said:
Both my grandmothers were 100% Norwegian blooded, born in the USA to Norse immigrants. My Grandma Sampson's family traces back to the Mowats and Sinclairs of Caithness and Orkney in Northern Scotland. Those clans were descended partially from the Vikings. Both my grandfathers were 100% German. My maternal grandpa's family was from an area called Mecklinburg. His mom's family were Prussians, from near what is now the German/Polish border. My paternal great grandfather has proved impossible to trace. There are no records of him. He just suddenly appears in Iowa in 1868. I haven't even found German records. Apparently he never spoke to his 5 sons about his past, other than being from Germany. The family rumor is that he skirted around the authorities by immigrating to Canada first and then sneaking across the border, but no one knows for sure...
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Vikings were all over Europe, including Russia, and they were raping and pillaging everywhere. Many of us are actually descended from Vikings as a result, even if our families were from another place such as Germany or England.

I think I have told several times about my ancestors being Czech and German. My gg grandmother had to register as a German during WW I, but I have seen her birth records from The Netherlands. Her family lived on the Rhine close to the border between the Netherlands and Germany. I think that is Prussia. I've done a lot of research of Czech records back to the mid 1700's but haven't been able to find German records.

My paternal grandfather's family are from Bavaria.

DNA tests by my uncle indicate that there is a small amount of Jewish blood in the family.

Due to the death of my mother at a young age, I spent lots of time with my grandparents, their siblings, their nieces and nephews. They all learned English as a second language. I knew relatives who were born in Europe. Given that there is an uncommon name on both sides of my parents, I worked to figure out if there was a relationship between these two sides. No! They were from different parts of Bohemia, now part of Czechia.
 
Can we inject a little humor into this thread?

One day a little five year old boy came home from Kindergarten ans asked his father "Where did I come from?" The father thought Wow, I knew I would have this conversation one day, but not this soon.

So the father went into a long explanation of the birds and the bees. When he was finished he asked his son "Does that answer it for you?" The little boy replied " I guess so. I just wondered because there is a new boy in my class, and he said he came from Chicago." :confused2:
 
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