help settle an ongoing debate...ancestry related

[ncmickeyluvr]

I have to side with your husband as well, but there is a caveat.

If your DH's family also married people of English and French ancestry while living here, I don't see how that makes his blood more diluted than yours based solely on the argument of time since immigration. The caveat: Now if they married outside of their ethnicity, I would say that those nationalities would also have to be included when discussing his ethnic heritage.

I'm currently taking a genealogy certification course and hope to become a board certified genealogist. When people hear me talk about it, I usually get asked my ethnic heritage. Normally I say I'm from late 19th century immigrants of mixed European ancestry. Or that my Dad is 1/4 French Canadian, 1/4 English with possible Dutch thrown in, 1/4 Swedish and 1/4 Irish and my Mother is 1/2 French Canadian (Acadian) and 1/2 Northern Italian via the Marche region.

My point....dh's ancesters DID NOT necessarily marry people of the same nationality. The original ancester came over as a servant with no family. His children married a who's who of Eastern/ Central North Carolina.

 

[minkydog]

I consider myself primarily Welsh-American because my mother's parents emigrated from Wales at the turn of the 10th century. She was first gen American by virtue of being born in the U.S of Welsh parents. My father's family came to the U.S. from England in the early 1700s. I understand that there is some Irish back a few generations too. I don't really count that side of the family because they have been born/bred Americans for nearly 300yrs. My moms family, less than 100.

 

[disykat]

Your husband is right. His heritage is no less important than yours. You are just as Americanized as he is. Your kids as well.

I don't get this at all. I'm guessing with Portugese grandparents on one side and Italian grandparents on the other, the OP might have learned many of the traditions, eaten the food, maybe even spoken the languages of her ancestors. While she is American, she is probably way more in touch with her heritage than those of us whose relatives have lived in this country for 100's of years.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I think it's important for our national (American) identity for us to remember that we are (those of pure Native American ancestry aside) a country of immigrants. My children will be born and bred Heinz 57 Americans- Mexican, Scottish, German, Russian, Austrian, Irish and French (in decreasing concentrations). They will laugh with me at their 2nd generation Mexican father's complete inability to speak Spanish. They will be taught the traditions their great-great-grandparents brought over from Russia just before the revolution. And they will benefit from the detailed ancestry research of their great-aunt, when they trace their relatives in this country back before our revolution.

That's what makes this country great, you don't have to be just one thing.

 

[N.Bailey]

Your ancestry isn't based on time, it's based on origin. So, your husband is correct here. The only people who can say they are truly American, would be Native Americans. The rest of us are just a bunch of mutts.

 

[Magic Mom]

I think you're both wrong. You're American. If you feel the need to qualify then you're American of fill in the blank descent.

 

[mickeywho?]

In our family - I was born in Ireland, DH was born in Canada to parents who were both born in Italy - we are all Canadian citizens. My boys like to say they are 1/2 Irish, 1/2 Italian and ALL CANADIAN. Works for me!

 

[si-am]

For everyone saying "American" at what point is it nothing but American? My husband and I are both born here but our parents were not. Can we lay claim to a little bit of European blood honestly, or are we "just" American?

Just curious.

Same here. My dad was born in Germany, as was my mom's grandfather. So I've always considered myself at least half German, even more. It is a part of my ancestry that I don't want to deny or ignore!

 

[dislaney]

Sorry OP I agree with your dh on this one.

 

[WDWBarb]

I've been researching my family lineage and have discovered that I'm 100%....... human.



... no matter what anybody says!! ....

 

[NHdisneylover]

I think your DH can say he is english/French. When acncestors came over really does not matter. For all you know your Porteguese or italian ancestors had ancestors from other parts of Europe before immigrating too.

I generally say I am a mutt, but if pressed I will say as far as we know it breaks down to:
1/4 English
1/4 French
1/8 Spanish
1/8 Cherokee
and 1/8 unknown

That 1/4 English dates back to an ancestor who came to the US aboard the Hercules in 1635--so that is going back quite a bit further than your husband. We have every reason to believe (a couple of people in the family are big on geaneology) that the mojority of marriages up until at least the eayl 1900s were within hte same ethnicity. I think that was pretty common for the time period--people wanting to be with others with smiliar backgrounds and beliefs and all that.

 

[diznygirl]

I've been researching my family lineage and have discovered that I'm 100%....... human.



... no matter what anybody says!! ....

Not according to the pic in your avatar!

 

[BCV513]

I don't get this at all. I'm guessing with Portugese grandparents on one side and Italian grandparents on the other, the OP might have learned many of the traditions, eaten the food, maybe even spoken the languages of her ancestors. While she is American, she is probably way more in touch with her heritage than those of us whose relatives have lived in this country for 100's of years.

That's not necessarily the case at all. Many families are able to retain traditions and pass them down throughout generations. My mother's family immigrated to this country from Ireland in the early 1800s. Their traditions, food, customs, etc., are much stronger than that of my father's family who came here after being exiled from Poland by the Nazis in the 1940s.

 

[WDWBarb]

Not according to the pic in your avatar!

I get my big nose from my grandfather!

 

[englishteacha]

My husband's family on both sides are British. My family on my mother's side is Norwegian and British, my dad's is entirely British. So if we have kids, they will be American with British and a bit of Norwegian ancestry. If my family geneology is right, if something like 500 people die, plus all my older siblings, I might be in line for the throne of England...or at least some spiffy title.

I think your husband is right...but if I were unsure of my heritage, I'd just say European. My husband jokes about my pride about my Norwegian heritage. (I believe I'm 1/8 or 1/16 Norwegian...I'm unsure about which generation came here from Norway) Of 8 kids in my family, I'm the only one with blonde hair, green eyes, and fair complexion. I figure the Norwegian must have been passed straight to me!

 

[minkydog]

. Many families are able to retain traditions and pass them down throughout generations. My mother's family immigrated to this country from Ireland in the early 1800s. Their traditions, food, customs, etc., are much stronger than that of my father's family who came here after being exiled from Poland by the Nazis in the 1940s.

THat has been the case in my family. We had tea every afternoon until i went to college. I didn't know that other people didn't do that until my roommates started gagging at me putting milk in my hot tea!

DH is 2nd gen Greek-American. His grandfather came over on the boat without a word of English and no U.S. connections. And he was 17--brave kid~! But this was during WW1, a time when it was extremely important to conform to the American way of life and of course, that way of thinking got much worse by the 1940s & 50s.. He married an American girl and gave up his religion for her(but not his faith!) They raised 4 children to speak only English and maintain only American holidays and culture. He was a cook, but mostly cooked American/Southern food. Kinda sad, to me.

However, DH became very interested in his heritage. He bought a cookbook and we both learned to cook Greek. We celebrate Dec. 25 and Jan.6. We occasionally go to the Greek cathedral and our daughter has taken some Greek school and Greek dancing classes. All of our children have Greek names, plus they all carry their father's name as part of their own(a very Greek tradition.)

Getting in touch with DHs heritage has been fun &, enlightening. It has broadened our children's cultural education. It doesn't matter whether they are Greek, Welsh, American or a percentage of all three.

 

[bumbershoot]

So at first I was confused. And then I kept thinking about it.

There's one person who came over on a boat from...somewhere. He might be French, might be English, might be...who knows.

He then married someone already here, they had kids, kids married someone already here, they had kids, etc 13 times down.

As much as I hate the "you're just American thing" (I'm not the most patriotic person in the universe), I gotta say...his claim is pretty sketchy!

But it wouldn't be THAT hard to find out where the other people that married into the family came from. And then he can add it all up and figure out his percentages, so that he can discuss his ancestry.

The true americans in this equation are Native Americans if you are talking cultural heritage.

Ayep. And even they seem to have come over on a land bridge. If you go back far enough.

Your ancestry isn't based on time, it's based on origin. So, your husband is correct here.

It's the intervening generations of marrying people already in America that's throwing things here. And he doesn't know where this boy came from.



Genealogy is interesting (though what most Americans get into is pretty Euro-centric, IMO). My grandmother's maiden name was very British. Then my cousin dug down, and found out that that person came *through* England, but was *from* Scotland. When they stopped in England, they dropped the Mac from their name. So then my spirits lifted b/c I'm mainly Irish, a bit Scottish, and only a touch British. Once I learned that, my being could stop warring with itself so much, b/c surely the Celts would finally win over the ONE person from England in my ancestry.

It's when you get into the Korean stuff (hubby) that it gets both difficult and intriguing! Dh's mom's family is descended from the Khans up in Mongolia, and they KNOW this, but on the other hand, DH doesn't even know the first name of his aunts! Confusing.