Genealogy and Ancestry

[monalisa80]

My parents do genealogy, and the more they find out, the mroe cultures I know my ancestors were a part of. But since I haven't grown up knwoing these cultures I don't actually feel much attachment to them. I'm Scottish, Irish, British, Welsh, French, German and Native American. But I've only really felt attached to my Dad's English/Welsh Eastern Shore side, and my mom's Scottish/Irish Protestant southern side. Everything else is so far removed from me I feel like it isn't actually important that it is part of me. Like my one German ancestor was from 1566, so I never met him and I don't know at all what part of German culture he was a part of.

So, I guess my topic is about how everyone brags about being a part of a lot of cultures very frequently, but it is really only the direct family's culture that is a part of your life. Ever feel that way?  

[blue_lutra]

my great-grandmother never told where she was from, so i don't know a good part of my heritage. i know i'm British, Scottish/Irish (i don't know quite which) and maybe German.

at home we speak a spattering of languages and have souvenirs (from when we lived in Germany while my dad was in the army) to remind us of where we came from.  

[Dr. Awkward]

My father is Jewish, Scottish, Haitian Creole, and other things, and my mother is Irish, Scottish, and British. however, I have not been raised in any of these cultures. When I am around Irish people, I find that don't know any of the songs which they have known from early childhood; when I'm around Scottish people it's much the same. I have never worn a yarmulke, and I find little in common with my British and Caribbean ancestors. That's why I study so far into other cultures, I guess.  

[Tis Mutiny!]

Yea, I feel that way too. My mother is half German, a quarter Slovakian and a quarter Lithuanian; my dad is half Moroccan and half Algerian. But my grandparents and great grandparents, the ones who were actually born in those places, all eventually moved to Israel, and so the only culture I really feel I have is Israeli.

Of course there are two types of Israelis, if you want to generalize: ashkenazi (European) and saphardic (North African or from Arab countries). I'm half and half, and so I kind of get a mixed culture that way -- it's hard to describe specifically to those who aren't Israeli or Jewish, but the two different 'types' have a fair number of differences, especially in the way holidays are celebrated and such.  

[RebornAngelNer]

I'm basically a universal mutt. You name it I've probably got it. The only cultor that I really feel a connection to though is the Native Americans. I'm over 1/16, but like the rest of my blood its all mixed. You can't even really look at me and tell that I'm Native American. I look more like my Irish/scottish ansestors. And the only one of my ansestors that I really specifically know about and cn think of at the moment is Mary Queen f Scotts!  

[doodlebuggey88]

Interesting thought monalisa80.

If my ancestors had a family reunion they'd kill each other, again (or more clearly they'd try to make sure that the culture they hated died again). I'm German, Irish, Scottish, English, dab o' Indian, maybe French, and who knows what else. The direct culture in my life would be that of the Southern United States, especially on my mom's side.  

[SwarmyMarmy]

I really believe I am the generation, at least of my family, that has no culture. There's nothing passed down, no one really talks about the family, and I don't even speak my language. I've missed out.

Maybe my culture is just so engrained within me, I have no idea it's there. I sometimes speak with an out there accent that sounds like the tapes I am learning Dutch on, and I am insanely thrifty, which I guess is Dutch, but...I don't know. My culture doesn't feel so present in my life, I guess.

Oh, for the sake of the topic, I'm Dutch, Native American, German, Irish, and English.

 

[SwarmyMarmy]

lauray-chan

Interesting thought monalisa80.

If my ancestors had a family reunion they'd kill each other, again (or more clearly they'd try to make sure that the culture they hated died again). I'm German, Irish, Scottish, English, dab o' Indian, maybe French, and who knows what else. The direct culture in my life would be that of the Southern United States, especially on my mom's side.

Whoa. eek We could be related. My family came from the South...

 

[opaque rain]

i really wouldn't know, i cant brag like that. im finnish, swiss and greman so, not too much backround there. but i do brag that im finnish cuz thats cool to me.  

[lovecansaveyou27]

I'm everything. Portugese, I'm a quater, that's the most I am of anything, then...Italian, Irish, German, Polish, Canadian, British, and maybe a bit of other things.
I'm...an eigth Italian and the same of Polish, those are the ones I feel...sort of because of my grandfather. He's half and half and he just seems so....Polish and Italian....I guess. The rest is there...sprinkled in.  

[Medic83]

Lets see.....

My dads side of the family comes from Germany and England. My moms side of the family comes from Italy. I also have some cherokee in me but the amount is negligible. The running joke about part of my dads side of the family(the part from England) is that they were drunken highwaymen. Sadly i haven't really had the time to look that deeply into my families geaneology.







 

[x_Teratoma_x]

I AM A CROAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Verderbnis]

...hmmm...

actually I am german and fine with it, there's also some lithuanian and czech stuff, but that doesn't count, since it were my grandparents from mothers side...  

[Seiphira]

I know this thread has been quiet for a long time, but I thought I would respond. XD

Anyways our family (that I know of) has actually very few other nationalities in the lineage. I know my great grandfather survived the holocaust in Germany, and somewhere one of our relatives came from the Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union. Also there is some British and Irish on one side finally with Native American.

There is no Hispanic, Asian, or Mediterranean blood in any sides of the family, minus my cousin marrying someone Hispanic (can't remember which one) and an aunt marrying an Italian.