But where are you really from?

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General Omar Bradley married one of my great grandmother's sisters. Farther back on my mother's family tree is Annie Oakley.

My father followed my grandfather and immigrated from Spain. Probably the best movie-like story is of my grandfather fighting the fascists and Nazis in the Spanish civil war. He was captain of a ship, sank by the Italian navy and ended up in a refugee camp in Tunisia. My father was born in Tunisia.

Anyway, grandfather couldn't go home being that he was on the Republican side of the war (hint: opposing the fascists) so he came to America to herd sheep.
 
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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Going straight up my paternal side, my great great grandfather was left on the doorstep of the water company as a baby. The men of the water company raised him each in their turn while working their shift.
 
You already probably know I am German ( but became US citizen after college)
My dad did ancestry research back to the middle ages hoping to find some aristocrats, but all he found was German peasants, a few criminals, one missionary that got eaten by cannibals in Sumatra in the early 1900s , a cousin that moved to Brazil and got rich, and on my mother's side, her mother;s parents were gypsies ( Roma) but somehow managed to buy a pub in a village and became Catholic so they escaped Hitler during the war. My dad's parents were very much against that marriage ( card carrying Nazis) and my grandmother who's husband died on the Russian front and never found was not invited to their wedding and never attended any social occasions like birthdays or holidays at my dad's families houses. Strange family , huh? I hear this a lot : "you don't look German" LOL but I got my height from dad's side of the family my mother was really short like 5 ft
 
Thank you, everyone, for entering into the spirit of the question - It's interesting how many of your folks originated from Europe- and have the recipes to prove it! I understand most of you consider yourselves American, but there is always a story behind it all and it's nice to acknowledge the hardships/ journeys others went through for us to be here. Love the one about the child being raised by the male workers. That wouldn't happen anymore.
 
Magpie said:
I feel the values of this forum are international :)
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You're right. I often forget that the forums I participate in arent an American only space. True american values are just so universally superior to anything else that the world currently offers that I often forget that foreign values are technically "values" aswell. The word values is in this case too close to the word "valuable" so I think my brain just has a hard time not conflating the two.

Good reminder for me, thank you!
 
It is Offensive, racist, Prejudiced to ask that question. Some where a Snow flake is melting!
I am European, UK, some from more than one of the island countries.
My last name is French, I traced my Great, Great, Great, uncle back four hundred years to Scotland, also my name sake.
 
Frodo said:
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?
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I am not sure. My X tossed my birth certificate along with many other papers.

I did get a replacement but was not the original.

Ben
 
My father's parents were both from southern Germany -- south enough to be Catholic rather than Lutheran. They were both the first generation born here in the US. Both of my mother's people were from the Emerald Isle, coming here in the 1870's.

Dawn's dad was 100% Cajun; her Mom was 100% Swedish. Dawn is baking Pepparkokar and ground almond spritz, Rosenmunnar, and Chokladbiskvier; none of which I can pronounce, but taste great, all of 'em.

But it's Culture and Values that make us what we are, not the fact that some old dude from country we've never been to or language we can't understand is my 6-great grandfather!

Our colleague Mr. Canon29 says "I think it ceases to matter when you become an American and adopt our values". I would agree that such is important; but, like most in the USA, I consider "our values" to be a lot more varied than that. Our "American" values are not going to exactly like any other country's, just like we United Statesians don't share all of our own individual values with each other.

My entire family is bilingual; we all like to cook and eat Latin (mostly Mexican) food, play and sing Mexican songs (not all the time!), and my son drives a Ford hecho en Mexico. I am much closer to Mexican culture than I am to any of the European ones (Okay, I have a soft spot for the old IRA-Provo songs, especially after a few pints of Guinness). Still, doesn't the rest make me a "Mexican-American"?

Sometimes our "home culture" is something you can choose for yourself.
 
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On dad's side, we originated in Ireland, then moved to England. My grandmother's maiden name was Andros. It turns out, ol' Sir Edmund didn't always play well with others. But at least I know my family was here back in the 17th century, for whatever that's worth.

On mom's side, we came from Colesano, Sicely. Carlo Cottone, my ancestor and prince of Castelnuevo, was an advocate of the Sicilian Constitution of 1812. He was quite wealthy, but donated his wealth because he was fed up with his family and wanted to ensure they didn't inherit it. That's good for me, because my great-great-grandfather moved here with my grandmother in 1914. But after a couple years, they decided to move back to Italy. My grandma was having none of that - she liked the U.S. - so she got married at the ripe old age of 16 in order that she could legally stay in the U.S.

Obviously, that marriage didn't last, but she worked hard and built her own business as a seamstress on her own up to the point she could travel the world. That's exactly what she did: every year, she would go visit some far-off land for at least a couple weeks. She vowed that my mom, her only child, would go to college to get an education; she realized that education was the way up and out of poverty.

Mom got her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of Rochester. That's where she met my dad, who had done likewise, both majoring in English.
 
Old Whatshisname said:
Our colleague Mr. Canon29 says "I think it ceases to matter when you become an American and adopt our values". I would agree that such is important, but like most in the USA, I consider "our values" to be a lot more varied than that;
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Where do people think "our values" come from? Is the rest of the world a bunch of heathens but when they come here and breath the air they are miraculously turned into virtuous beings? Nobody is a native American. Not even the Native Americans. They immigrated too (from Asia). They just immigrated a little earlier than others. Nobody spontaneously appeared here. Everybody brought "their values" with them. Values are not part of the soil, water and air here. The values that are common everywhere - mostly the good ones I would hope - merged and mixed over time to become "our values".
 
Old Whatshisname said:
My father's parents were both from southern Germany -- south enough to be Catholic rather than Lutheran. They were both the first generation born here in the US. Both of my mother's people were from the Emerald Isle, coming here in the 1870's.

Dawn's dad was 100% Cajun; her Mom was 100% Swedish. Dawn is baking Pepparkokar and ground almond spritz, Rosenmunnar, and Chokladbiskvier; none of which I can pronounce, but taste great, all of 'em.

But it's Culture and values that make us what we are, not the fact that some old dude from country we've never been to or language we can't understand is my 6-great grandfather

Our colleague Mr. Canon29 says "I think it ceases to matter when you become an American and adopt our values". I would agree that such is important, but like most in the USA, I consider "our values" to be a lot more varied than that; and our values are not going to exactly like anyone else's, just like everyone else.

My entire family is bilingual; we all like to cook and eat Latin (mostly Mexican) food, play and sing Mexican songs (not all the time!), and my son drives a Ford hecho en Mexico. I am much closer to Mexican culture than I am to any of the European ones (Okay, I have a soft spot for the old IRA-Provo songs, especially after a few pints of Guinness). Still, doesn't the rest make me a "Mexican-American"?

Sometimes our "home culture" is something you can choose for yourself
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Thank you for that point of view! 😊
 
bkt said:
On dad's side, we originated in Ireland, then moved to England. My grandmother's maiden name was Andros. It turns out, ol' Sir Edmund didn't always play well with others. But at least I know my family was here back in the 17th century, for whatever that's worth.

On mom's side, we came from Colesano, Sicely. Carlo Cottone, my ancestor and prince of Castelnuevo, was an advocate of the Sicilian Constitution of 1812. He was quite wealthy, but donated his wealth because he was fed up with his family and wanted to ensure they didn't inherit it. That's good for me, because my great-great-grandfather moved here with my grandmother in 1914. But after a couple years, they decided to move back to Italy. My grandma was having none of that - she liked the U.S. - so she got married at the ripe old age of 16 in order that she could legally stay in the U.S.

Obviously, that marriage didn't last, but she worked hard and built her own business as a seamstress on her own up to the point she could travel the world. That's exactly what she did: every year, she would go visit some far-off land for at least a couple weeks. She vowed that my mom, her only child, would go to college to get an education; she realized that education was the way up and out of poverty.

Mom got her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of Rochester. That's where she met my dad, who had done likewise, both majoring in English.
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And then they had YOU!! But where do the muppets come in to play!🤔♥️
 
bkt said:
On dad's side, we originated in Ireland, then moved to England. My grandmother's maiden name was Andros. It turns out, ol' Sir Edmund didn't always play well with others. But at least I know my family was here back in the 17th century, for whatever that's worth.

On mom's side, we came from Colesano, Sicely. Carlo Cottone, my ancestor and prince of Castelnuevo, was an advocate of the Sicilian Constitution of 1812. He was quite wealthy, but donated his wealth because he was fed up with his family and wanted to ensure they didn't inherit it. That's good for me, because my great-great-grandfather moved here with my grandmother in 1914. But after a couple years, they decided to move back to Italy. My grandma was having none of that - she liked the U.S. - so she got married at the ripe old age of 16 in order that she could legally stay in the U.S.

Obviously, that marriage didn't last, but she worked hard and built her own business as a seamstress on her own up to the point she could travel the world. That's exactly what she did: every year, she would go visit some far-off land for at least a couple weeks. She vowed that my mom, her only child, would go to college to get an education; she realized that education was the way up and out of poverty.

Mom got her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of Rochester. That's where she met my dad, who had done likewise, both majoring in English.
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Of course they went back to Italy. The food here can’t hold a candle to that. Also the Irish must be where you get your carrot top like in your profile pix/avatar 😂
 
Patchouli said:
Maybe one of those men was the father!
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Never even thought of that. Evidently back then and there it wasn’t entirely uncommon for a baby to be left on the door of someone who was wealthier. It never occurred that it might be one of the workers.
 
Patchouli said:
@LadyLocust we never really know the mysteries of some of our ancestors. Or even our parents.
I still haven’t used DNA testing for ancestry purposes. I don’t know…23andme was hacked lately.
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I have decided I don't want 23andme for no good reason save having a negative waves.



My DNA is between me and God.

Ben
 
Morgan101 said:
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 jsut wondered because there is a new boy in my class, and he said he came from Chicago." :confused2:
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My dad and I never really had "The talk" Grandpa handed me a Hustler and said,
"Here boy, you'll figure it out."
No wonder all my relationships ended crappy.
 
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