What's your ethnic heritage?

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I am Native American and English. My people were here to greet my people. My father was 50% Indian from Maine. My mother was an Adams as in John, Samuel. Her family owned a farm here in East Boston. Her mother died when she was nine and her father when she was ten. The farm was sold and the money was used for her medical care. She had polio. Now the farm (after two other owners) is a housing development. And it is ironic that two of my children have lived there. Son #1 is still there.

The tribe is rather wealthy now. They sued the Federal Govt. and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to get back their land. Every one who is registered with the tribe and over 21, gets a monthly check. I am entitled to register. But the only thing Indian I have ever done is open a can of corn. I don't feel I am entitled to anything. My youngest son is a quarter Cherokee on his father side. So he too is entitled to registered. But he feels as I do. Had he gone through the trouble to register, he could have gotten all his college for free no matter how many years he attended.

A friend of the family did a tree and traced our family back to the early 1700's on my father's side. She is now working on my mother's side. My grandfather was full Native American from the Passamaqqody Tribe in Maine. He migrated to Nova Scotia to find work, then down to Massachusetts. I always state the Native American first and check it off when asked about my background. The English side? Well they were rabble rousing trouble makers and disloyal to their King.:LOL: If you saw a picture of my mother, she looks exactly like John Adams.
 
latvian - 100% on both my mother's and father's side. of course, latvia itself was conquered and occupied repeatedly by germany and russia, crisscrossing the small baltic nation at will, back and forth, over the course of a millenium or more....
 
I am Native American and English. My people were here to greet my people. My father was 50% Indian from Maine. My mother was an Adams as in John, Samuel. Her family owned a farm here in East Boston. Her mother died when she was nine and her father when she was ten. The farm was sold and the money was used for her medical care. She had polio. Now the farm (after two other owners) is a housing development. And it is ironic that two of my children have lived there. Son #1 is still there.

The tribe is rather wealthy now. They sued the Federal Govt. and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to get back their land. Every one who is registered with the tribe and over 21, gets a monthly check. I am entitled to register. But the only thing Indian I have ever done is open a can of corn. I don't feel I am entitled to anything. My youngest son is a quarter Cherokee on his father side. So he too is entitled to registered. But he feels as I do. Had he gone through the trouble to register, he could have gotten all his college for free no matter how many years he attended.

A friend of the family did a tree and traced our family back to the early 1700's on my father's side. She is now working on my mother's side. My grandfather was full Native American from the Passamaqqody Tribe in Maine. He migrated to Nova Scotia to find work, then down to Massachusetts. I always state the Native American first and check it off when asked about my background. The English side? Well they were rabble rousing trouble makers and disloyal to their King.:LOL: If you saw a picture of my mother, she looks exactly like John Adams.

lol, addie. you're too much. :ROFLMAO:

i'll bet your mom was quite the looker after a few sam adams' lagers...
 
"Never ask a man where he is from. If he is from Texas he'll let you know, if not, don't embarrass him." - Top Gun ;)

Family history shows both Scottish and English relations. Our family name has a crest associated with it dating to around 1066 if you believe in that sort of thing. According to the heraldic legend, the ancestors were bow makers.

I'm at home in the Lone Star State and always will be.

.40
 
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My mom was 100% Swedish (both of her parents were born in Sweden and they met in Illinois).

My mom said my biological father was German. She didn't know if he had anything else in him, but she didn't think so.

I am half Swedish and half German. :cool:
 
All of my ancestors on both sides came from Germany. My father's side has been here for a very long time(Penn. Dutch), and my mothers side came to Michigan when my Great-Grandfather was a teenager.
 
Mostly Swedish, other part Norwegian. My dad's great-grandfather fought in the Civil War and then returned to Norway to be the first Consul General when Norway was granted its freedom from Sweden. My mom's family came to the US when there was a need for pharmacists from Sweden in MN. One of her ancestors was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Sweden. A first cousin was responsible for mapping Lapland and establishing Kiruna. February 23rd is named after him in Kiruna. And another first cousin was a well-known Swedish artist in the late 40s and 50s.

If my dad's great-grandfather hadn't died in Norway before the Titanic sailed, my great-great grandmother and great-great grandfather would've been on the Titanic because they already had passage booked. However, it wouldn't have made a difference, because my grandma was already born before the Titanic sailed. My great-grandfather was President McKinley's press secretary and served in the MN state legislature. He also was one of the first people to drive the Yellowstone Trail. My grandfather was one of the civil engineers who worked on the Hoover Dam and also the dams on the Mississippi in Mpls. The rest of us are just mutts. We haven't accomplished what they did.
 
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Hey everyone, just registered today (been browsing the forums here for a long time). This looks like a fun way to introduce myself :)

My dad's side is 100% Irish (Ulster Scots Irish). My father immigrated to Canada from Northern Ireland as a teenager. I can trace my paternal lineage with names and birth/death dates into the 1600's. And I know they came from Scotland in the 1300's. I have a few relatives that worked on the construction of the Titanic, and I am related to one of the wives of US President Woodrow Wilson.

My mother's side of the family are Canadian Mennonite (a group that fled to Canada from Russia, escaping religious persecution). My grandmother's family has been in Canada for generations. My Grandfather's family was part of a small group of Mennonites that left Canada (over a disagreement with the Government's requirement to teach English in their schools), and settled in Mexico, and formed a colony. My great-grandfather was exiled from the colony, so my grandfather grew up in a town called Cuauhtemoc. He and his father eventually retreated back to Canada, with no money at all, and earned enough money picking fruit in Southern B.C. to pay for his mother and sisters to immigrate.

All history aside, I grew up learning alot of Mennonite cooking, Mexican cooking, and a little bit of Mexican-Mennonite cooking (yes, it exists). I'm gonna post a few of my favorites here next time I cook up some of them.
 
Mostly Swedish, other part Norwegian. My dad's great-grandfather fought in the Civil War and then returned to Norway to be the first Consul General when Norway was granted its freedom from Sweden. My mom's family came to the US when there was a need for pharmacists from Sweden in MN. One of her ancestors was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Sweden. A first cousin was responsible for mapping Lapland and establishing Kiruna. February 23rd is named after him in Kiruna. And another first cousin was a well-known Swedish artist in the late 40s and 50s.

If my dad's great-grandfather hadn't died in Norway before the Titanic sailed, my great-great grandmother and great-great grandfather would've been on the Titanic because they already had passage booked. However, it wouldn't have made a difference, because my grandma was already born before the Titanic sailed. My great-grandfather was President McKinley's press secretary and served in the MN state legislature. He also was one of the first people to drive the Yellowstone Trail. My grandfather was one of the civil engineers who worked on the Hoover Dam and also the dams on the Mississippi in Mpls. The rest of us are just mutts. We haven't accomplished what they did.

In the fourth grade many many moons ago, the very first subject we studied in geography was Lapland. I was so fascinated by the subject matter, that I learned to love geography from that day on. And I would have to say that you have accomplished just as much. After all, you are the Mother Chicken of them all! :LOL:
 
In the fourth grade many many moons ago, the very first subject we studied in geography was Lapland. I was so fascinated by the subject matter, that I learned to love geography from that day on. And I would have to say that you have accomplished just as much. After all, you are the Mother Chicken of them all! :LOL:
It was Kipling who nicknamed my ancestor the uncrowned King of Lapland:LOL:. I have a pair of those slippers/shoes!
 
My heritage isn't as interesting as some folks here...
English and French on mothers side
Irish, English and possibly Swedish on fathers side. I have been researching my ancestry for many years, but have concentrated on my father's side for the last few years. The reason that I say "possibly" Swedish is because of my family surname ending in "son", some of us assume that it is Swedish. I just cannot find anything proving that "my people" originated there. I can trace my father's side back to the 1700's but can't figure out how they got here, they just seem to have appeared out of nowhere! An interesting side note is that during my research I discovered that in this country my family is from Maine. I also discovered many 2nd and 3rd cousins still living there and was able to become acquainted with one and his wife via Ancestry and Facebook. We realized that we were both going to be visiting Yellowstone Nat. Park at the same time in September of 2010. So we were able to meet up with them for dinner at the Yellowstone Lodge. That was cool! Just goes to show how small the world really is!

BTW, supposedly on my mothers side we are related to Jesse James (notorious "old west" bank robber) but, then who isn't? Lol!
 
I hope all of you know that the Church of Lattter Day Saints (Mormons) in Salt Lake City has family records and archives going back a number of centuries. Researching is free if you wish to trace your family. And there is also your States records of births, deaths, marrieges and divorce. These records are public and also free. :chef:
 
hello life, and welcome to dc! we look forward to hearing more from you about this mexican-mennonite connection you mentioned--sounds fascinating for sure! :)
 
Many years ago, soon after the "iron curtain" fell, we were able to go to Slovenia (part of the old Yugoslavia) to visit places my husband had heard stories about for most of his life. We were sitting on a terrace in his paternal grandparents' birthplace (a small village called Metlika) and my husband joked that I had a crush on our waiter. It was really funny. The village square was actually circular, and the waiter would fill his tray with wine, beer, and shots, then go to various stores and offices around the town center, bringing happy hour libations to shops and offices.

Then he stopped when he had a few minutes, and asked us if we were Rus. Yes (last name has been anglicized at Ellis Island, like many). "I am Rus, too. My mother." It isn't a common name in Slovenia, and husband doesn't really look like the Slovenes. There was an old lady, sitting on a straight-backed chair soaking in the late, unseasonably sunny and warm, weather. Didn't think too much of it. The young man (we learned, 19) worked nights at the (only) hotel, and was the one who was asked to take care of our passports, do the checking in that was necessary. It was almost impossible that he wasn't at least a distant cousin, it wasn't a common name, and the clan is still small and disappearing. The next morning, our last there, he got off shift, and made sure we had a good breakfast, then escorted us to the bus stop and gave us a bottle of the locally made wine. Then asked if we remembered the old lady sitting in the sun. "She is Russian Martha, the last of your family to have the family home."

To this day we regret not turning around and staying for another day or two. Our next destination was Venice, and we didn't want to miss it. SO we got on the bus. Of course everything going to Venice was totally booked for days, so didn't get to go there, and really regretted not spending time with these tenuous relatives of my husband.

Oh, the waiter was truly adorable. Maybe a little crush!
 
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