Where Do You Come From?

[Mr. MacPhisto]

Not sure how many people trace their family histories, but I've found it fascinating ever since talking to my great grandmother as a child and then later digging into the past by speaking with my grandparents. It could just be the historian in me.

I have a pretty good idea from where the four branches of my family come from.

Paternal Grandfather - His ancestors settled in Plymouth Colony from England in the 1620s or 1630s and gradually made their way south and west over the centuries, moving into New York and then Pennsylvania. As the west opened up they left Pennsylvania and settled in the Illinois Territory sometime prior to 1818. The family stayed around Peoria until my grandfather moved to Lorain County in Ohio in the 1940s.

Paternal Grandmother - Her ancestors also came to New England in the 1630s but settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, north of Plymouth. They would migrate down to near Hartford, Connecticut around the beginning of the 18th Century. From Connecticut, they'd move into Ohio in the early 1800s. The family name is Perkins and we suspect that one of our ancestors may have been the same Perkins that came with Heman Ely to Lorain County to help found the city of Elyria. Other ancestors also helped to found other cities like New Philadelphia. My grandmother still has a wedding certificate issued in Lorain County in the 1830s for her great-great-great-grandparents. I know other ancestors were greatly involved in the abolitionist movement and some may have helped the Underground Railroad as it ran through Lorain.

Maternal Grandfather - His ancestors came here from Brandenburg, Prussia in the late 1840s. It seems that they may have been fleeing the revolutionary impulse that went through Europe in 1948. They settled with other German immigrants in the small town of Hartsburg, MO. They stayed there until my grandfather left in the 1940s. He and his siblings were the first to marry outside of the German population in Missouri. They were also the first to not learn German in addition to English. My grandfather met my grandmother while stationed in Louisville during WWII and he moved back with her to her native Ohio.

Maternal Grandmother - Her ancestors came to Virginia in the mid-1600s and may have come here fleeing the Roundheads of the English Civil War. I think that they were Royalists, supporters of Charles I. They would eventually migrate inland and inhabit the western part of the state. I know my great-great-great grandparents were very much in favor of breaking away from Virginia at the outset of the Civil War and some of the family ended up fighting for the Union. My great grandparents would leave West Virginia in the Nineteen Teens and settle in Zanesville, OH. My grandparents, upon getting married, would move north and settle in Elyria.

[FUDU]

Mom's family from Ireland.

Dad's from Germany mostly.

I have no problems with others taking great pride in their family heritage, I personally don't look at it like most though, as in I'm "Irish" or "German".

I am far from either, although I drink as if I was 100% of both. I was born in the states, never been to Ireland or Germany, never overly celebrated either heritage or traditions just b/c somebody in my family I never met (outside of GGP when I was 2 or GP as a young kid) were from said places. I've never experienced anything other than normal doses of either culture (outside of St. Patrick's Day or some generic Octoberfest). I live the American culture, my experiences are through the life of somebody born and raised in the United States. Not to say I don't respect the lands of my ancestors, I know their histories, but in the end it isn't a "bloodline" that makes one an Irishmen, a German, a Frenchman, a Spaniard etc. IMO it has more to do with the lifestyle they live and the culture they experience on a day to day basis relative to the said country of ancestors.

I'm American.

[BDFD]

Great grandparents on mom's side both came from Italy. My father's side's great grandfather came from Poland and my grandmother was from Germany (and boy did she run that house like a Nazi).

[Mr. MacPhisto]

I live the American culture, my experiences are through the life of somebody born and raised in the United States. Not to say I don't respect the lands of my ancestors, I know their histories, but in the end it isn't a "bloodline" that makes one an Irishmen, a German, a Frenchman, a Spaniard etc. IMO it has more to do with the lifestyle they live and the culture they experience on a day to day basis relative to the said country of ancestors.

I'm American.

Very true.

One of the great things about the US is how people do come from different cultures and yet are able to blend together. Some do stay in more localized communities and hold to some of the ways from their homeland, yet they are able to mix with the larger culture while also contributing to it.

Think of all the great food from so many different places we have here. The cuisine is as varied as the people that live here, yet we all share so much in common despite are widely varying lineages.

And that's what is so great and so amazing. At not time in history have we ever seen a nation that is really quite peaceful (yes, we have some violence in cities, etc, but it is still largely calm) that ahs so many people coming from so many places, yet the ethnic diversity doesn't cause tension like it does in Europe, Asia, or elsewhere. It is quite unique to history.

Whether you're first generation or tenth generation, we're all equally American and all can claim the history here. I think we often lose sight of what has been accomplished here. It is, as Abraham Lincoln said, "The last, best hope for mankind on Earth."

It is the idea of America that we have all bought into, an idea that transcends culture and age.

[waborat]

"I was born a poor, black child. I remember the days, sittin' on the porch with my family. Singin' and dancin' down in Mississippi."
- Navin R Johnson (circa '79)

[WarAdmiral]

I'm Appalachian American.

[FUDU]

Whether you're first generation or tenth generation, we're all equally American and all can claim the history here. I think we often lose sight of what has been accomplished here. It is, as Abraham Lincoln said, "The last, best hope for mankind on Earth."

I disagree to a point with the part about we can all claim a part of the American history.

I personally do not feel I can equally claim the instrumental parts of our early 20th century history (though I was born and lived in the 20th century). Things like the building of this country, the efforts many of our elders put forth in the world wars, that kind of stuff. I feel I can talk about all of it with a bit of respect and reverence to a degree, but ultimately I feel I can only claim what I have contributed to first hand. For me that contribution comes in the form of what I can to to keep the dream of those before me alive and do my part to contribute positively to the basic foundations this country was built and founded on.

Much like I would feel new arrivals now and maybe forever could truly not claim something of our history like 9/11. Not to say they didn't feel sorrow for us and wish us all the best but kind of the "you had to be there thing" I guess.

YMMV.

[leadpipe]

"I was born a poor, black child. I remember the days, sittin' on the porch with my family. Singin' and dancin' down in Mississippi."
- Navin R Johnson (circa '79)

What's more American than enjoying pizza in a cup?

[waborat]

"I was born a poor, black child. I remember the days, sittin' on the porch with my family. Singin' and dancin' down in Mississippi."
- Navin R Johnson (circa '79)

What's more American than enjoying pizza in a cup?

Navin, it's your birthday, and it's time you knew. You're not our natural-born child.

I'm not? You mean I'm gonna STAY this color???

[Bill the Butcher]

I'm a first generation Filipino-American. Both my parents are from the Philippines, and I have a little Spanish in me (as most other Filipinos, thanks to the Spanish Rule back in the day). It's evident by my dad's middle name... which is always your mom's maiden name... which is Spanish.

Sigh... I wish I had a Spanish last name...

[Stu]

I'm a first generation Filipino-American. Both my parents are from the Philippines, and I have a little Spanish in me (as most other Filipinos, thanks to the Spanish Rule back in the day). It's evident by my dad's middle name... which is always your mom's maiden name... which is Spanish.

Sigh... I wish I had a Spanish last name...

El Butchero?

[Bill the Butcher]

Guillermo el Carnicero.

[jfiling]

Only a few years ago was I able to find out how much of a mutt I am, due to being adopted. Both of my parents are 1/8 Native American, which I think makes me 1/8 as well. The rest is a mix of German, Scottish, and FSM only knows what else. Basically, I'm that ugly stray dog you see on the street and ask yourself "What the fuck is that?"

[ThisIsNat]

"I was born a poor, black child. I remember the days, sittin' on the porch with my family. Singin' and dancin' down in Mississippi."
- Navin R Johnson (circa '79)

Hahahahahaha, GREAT movie!

[leadpipe]

"I was born a poor, black child. I remember the days, sittin' on the porch with my family. Singin' and dancin' down in Mississippi."
- Navin R Johnson (circa '79)

What's more American than enjoying pizza in a cup?

Navin, it's your birthday, and it's time you knew. You're not our natural-born child.

I'm not? You mean I'm gonna STAY this color???

"I'll guess you name, age, sex or color?"

[Madre Hill, Superstar]

"Lord loves a workin' man; don't trust whitey; see a doctor and get rid of it. "

[SteelersStillSuck]

85% German..like..15% English..at least thats what my folks told me.

My dads side came from Germany, and came in via Nawlins' ('Sup Bayou?), and then up to St. Louis, some of them going to Indiana, where my grandpa was born, and from there he went to Purdue and live in Lafayette (hence why I'm a Boilermaker fan, its in the blood.), he went off to the war, and married a german-english translator over there, dad grew up in Lafayette, moved to California, then moved to Akron (The Season where the drive happened.), met my mom, and here I am.

My moms side, I have no clue about.

[SteelersStillSuck]

"Lord loves a workin' man; don't trust whitey; see a doctor and get rid of it. "

THE NEW PHONE BOOKS ARE HERE! THE NEW PHONE BOOKS ARE HERE!

NAVIN...JOHNSON...R!

I'M SOMEBODY!

[Bayou Tribe]

SteelersStillSuck

My mom's side the family is of German descent. There was a massive migration to NOLA and towns West along the Miss River. Germans made up the second largest immigrant nationality in antebellum Louisiana. Over 20,000 people in the state in 1850, or 28 percent of all immigrants, had been born in Germany. Germans first arrived at the port of New Orleans when Louisiana was a French colony. Many settled just north of New Orleans in the Parishes of St. John, St. Charles, and St James (in an area known as the Côte des Allemands, or German Coast). A second wave of German workers followed the first wave of German settlers between 1820 and 1850.


Oh yeah, and....

Navin: Now be totally honest. You do have a boyfriend don't you.
Marie: Kind of
Navin: I know this is our first date but do you think the next time you make love to your boyfriend you could think of me?
Marie: Well I haven't made love to him yet.
Navin: That's too bad. Do you think its possible that someday you could make love with me and think of him?
Marie: Who knows maybe you and he could make love and you could think of me.
Navin: I'd be happy to be in there somewhere.