MCB

Those who are, are very defensive about it. LOL

I seem to remember some studies that Americans who identify as native white American without specifying where their ancestors came from are more likely to be racist. Might have something to do with the longer your ancestors have been here, the more likely you are to actually be mixed. It took me a long time to achieve balance in my own acknowledging of my mix.

Deafness

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dogmom

I enjoy learning about geneology/heritage.
Jewish/Roma/Russian/Romanian as far as I know
and a lot I don't know

MCB

Excuse me for my Ameri-centricity. Point made.

jazzy

Just curious, none of your parents' ancestors came from Spain or just 100 percent native people alike Indian? I mean your mom's side.

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dogmom

jazzy

I researched my ancestory and find some thing weird for me. It showed my ancestors came all way back to Roman time, I may had some drop blood of Italian in me. Dunno. Now I wonder if I have some blood goes back before Roman time to middle east area? There is no such thing as white pure in my blood. I may look white but I may have all kind of colors in me.

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dogmom

how long did it take you to research what you found, Jazzy?
history and heritage is very interesting to me-

jazzy

I took history when I was young. Spainairds came to America and settled all over America. For instance here in California, native people took Spainard's name. Our friend who is 100 percent native and took Spain's name because they came here first before English or Russia. It goes same for Perv, Spainaird came to Peru and other countries. That is their ancestors but then again I had a friend who was born in Argentina and her family came from German which it explained why she has blue eyes and very blonde hair. I asked Alex, if his ancestors from Peru 100 native or some hint of Spain in the blood.

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jazzy

It is in ancestory online but I am not sure if they are 100 percent accurate. Many Jewish people lived in Italy during Black plague and they were being torture because they did not die from horrible disease and they escaped Italy to go to German or Poland. They settled there. Till Hitler came. All those are remain mystery to me still.

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MCB

The hygienic protections of the OT law gave them a certain degree of protection. Others blamed them for plague because of this. Strange logic, when hatred kicks in.

Peruvian--- many Hispanics are so mixed, that appearance is the best measure. The mixing goes too far back to trace. The Spanish generally mixed with the Natives very easily. Just like the French in Canada. Catholicism has something to do with it, I think.

Reba

Interesting. I never heard that before.

Reba

Well, "white" is neither an ethnicity nor an ancestry. (Of course, no color-related word is an ethnicity or an ancestry.) It's just a descriptive adjective.

I guess using German, Irish or Native American provides more information about culture and history than a word that provides only a skin color.

Reba

I've traced my family tree back to each ancestor's departure point before coming to America. I have records that go further back but I don't fully trust their reliability beyond that.

On both my mother and father's side, I'm descended from one of the Mayflower Pilgrims. (This creates a very convoluted family tree at one point, ha, ha.)

On my father's side, I'm also descended from early Dutch families who settled in New York.

A few of the New England ancestors were Loyalists during the Revolution and moved to Nova Scotia for a while. They eventually moved back to New England.

My most recent immigrant ancestor arrived in Boston from the Azores (Portugal) in 1860.

One of the former Nova Scotians married the immigrant from the Azores. Those were my great-great-grandparents on my father's side.

I haven't finished all my research yet. It can be overwhelming. So far, the basic print out fills an entire wall in my house (lots of adhesive tape involved, ha, ha).

AlleyCat

I have been doing a lot of work for my parents in regards to their ancestry, so I use a lot of different websites. It has been fun. Anyways:

My father's side: 100% Swedish as far back as we have been able to trace it

My mother's side: about 50% Swedish; the rest Norwegian and Danish as far back as we can trace it.

So I'm very Scandanavian!

Trying to do more research on my Dad's side -- we are far back enough that all records in the 1700's are in Swedish, so none of us have been able to translate it. But I am learning Swedish now (YAY!) that I hope to be able to translate some of those records eventually. We did learn of a very interesting name change. What my maiden name is now changed just 3 generations ago when my paternal great-grandparents immigrated to the US from Sweden.

S0rceress0

I like the Genographic Project
https://genographic.nationalgeograph...hic/index.html

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souggy

Wirelessly posted

Read here:

Do you have an ethnic identity?



In anthropology, ethnicity refers to cultural upbringing-- not necessarily where one's ancestors came from.

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Reba

In that case, I'm strictly Baby Boomer American.

souggy

Yeah, I have a hard time seeing Jiro passing himself off as a Mongol even if he has Genghis Khan in his blood.

His Korean and American upbringings clash with the cultural norms of the Steppes.

Edit: I want to poke my eyes out after seeing my own grammatical errors in the linked topic.

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MCB

The New Amsterdam Dutch stayed to themselves for a long time, at least in my family.

Reba

Claes Cornelissen Van Cats (Cott) was born in Holland in 1641, and died in Boswyk, NY, in 1692. His son was born in Long Island, NY, in 1671. That family line stayed in New York state, various communities, and married other Dutch until the American Revolution. Then, during that time, a Dutch woman descendent of Van Catts, and a non-Dutch New Yorker (moved from CT), moved with their families to Nova Scotia. They met and married each other there.

MCB

I don't have the papers, but until my g'grandfather married my (probably half) Winnebago g'grandmother, it is pure Dutch, or at least the book says so. Once they moved to Illinois, there just wasn't much Dutch around. That was about 1860. The immigrant ancestor was a Cornelius Van der Veer.

Yeah-- they did their best to stay out of the Revolution.

TheOracle

Exactly. But American is. And yes, I could say German...but is my family really German American? That kind of died out when my grandmother aged. So I may have German-American memories, but this isn't the faderland. And...all of this 'pure white' talk here is kind of weird.

I can't tell the difference between my friends who say they are "Irish", "German", "Swiss", etc...they're all pretty much Americans who love to wear green on March 17th. Even the Jewish ones.

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S0rceress0

I think you've really hit it on the nail for me.

I don't remember my fathers family, so I don't identify with being German. I don't know my mothers family, so I don't identify with being Irish. I used to have some red hair, it's gone silver already. I speak a bit of German, but not very well. So I identify as far back as I can go. I am an American, and my whole line started out in Africa. Opinion-wise, I am African-American.
When I am asked on surveys, on applications, on requests, what I am. I pick "Other" and for write-ins I put down human. It's what I really am. Because of my roaming, my broad experiences, and my interest in just about everything and everyone, I feel more connected to everyone on Earth, than just a few particular areas that my close family may have had history with.

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MCB

When it comes to the old lineages, I agree with you. Anything older than g'grandparents that is not truly Native is just plain American, because of the cultural assimilation. Unless they were something like Amish or New Amsterdam Dutch, or Mormon, who self-isolated. I think then we can see some parallels with the "Peruvian," where immigration after the initial invasion is not such a big issue.

My m grandfather was born and raised in England, although the family had previously lived in the US. My p grandmother's mother was an immigrant from Ireland, although we can't find any records. My p grandfather's parents were born in Germany.

Reba

I just realized this topic is under the Debates section. Why?

MCB

Maybe because the OP expected a heated debate about racism.

jazzy

I watched history channel about Black plague and learned where those people were immgrant ( misspelling) to north. Boiled water saved them, but then how non-Jew people knew? Thank god we have science to help us with those problems we have today.

French in Louisiana too but none of my husband's family had any native in their blood and they were very Catholic. I wonder if any of them were slave owner? Can not find it their history but my English ancestors (protestants) were slave owners and I am shame to know this. I found some information about my great-great-grandparents owned few slaves on their farm in Tenn back in 1700's and early 1800's. English people back then in east USA were mostly slave owners than Irish people. I have some Irish in me and my Irish ancestors were not slave owners. Why English, why French, why Spainards, why Portgual people , those were the one who hurt most people. Still long way to go to heal the scars of today.

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KristinaB

I do know that my Great Aunt (who has since passed away) spent about 5 years or so doing the family tree on my Maternal grandfather's side. I mentioned it in a previous thread and with JClarke before. My mother's family on her father's side is basically all in Australia. The tree goes back to 1571 and Galway, England. (I think that's it.) She did not use a computer and it is all written out in longhand. I am the last person she wrote on the tree as I was the youngest that she knew at the time. She did not have the fact that my brother's and I had married and had children. Sha also did not have the info of my mother's brother's and all their divorces. (1 had 3 and is currently single and the other is on wife #4)

deafsmogtech

Father = Hawaiian, his parents from Sendai, Japan
Mother = Mexican

Reba

Are your dad's parents still living in Sendai? If so, have you heard from them since the earthquake?