Who Are You People?

[Toughy]

Thanks Jo .....laughin.....I think the 'whatever that means' certainly holds true.........

Arwen........by connection I meant my family has been in the US for generations....I am 300+ years removed from Europe. It's hard to think of my family as immigrants to this country.....I am a US American.....hard to see any connection other than family members LEFT Europe. I've been to Berlin and Amsterdam and felt no connection to the land or people. My connection is to this land.....mostly to New Mexico and west/panhandle Texas.

Since I am mostly Scot-Irish, perhaps I might feel a connection to Ireland/Scotland if I ever go there.

[firie]

I grew up with the understanding that my grandfather's family (maternal) was "Black Irish." Interestingly, most of the people in his family were/are blonde and blue-eyed and "Black Irish" was always discussed as a condition of poverty, like so poor you were constantly dirty, and so blackened by dirt/soot, and my grandfather was quite ashamed of that because he grew up quite poor.

I have read a bit about it, because it has always intrigued me. No one, apparently, can quite pin down exactly where it started or why, and it is sometimes pejoratively linked to poverty and so a classist slur (association to the potato famine (black potatoes/black death)) or to shanty towns, or to the very poor immigrants coming into the US as a result of the famine, but also to phenotype (African, Native American, French, Jewish, Caribbean, and even Spanish), and with the exception of the "Spanish/Irish" phenotype, was generally thought to be a racist slur, and a product of the entrenched racial discrimination carried over from English sentiment to the US toward the Irish as "savages" along with Africans and Native Americans--some Irish were enslaved and shipped to parts of Africa by the English (there is some speculation that the name came from the Irish that actually stayed on the continent, but it also seems unlikely). Most of what I have read seems to suggest, however, that the actual usage of "Black Irish" is a purely American phenomenon, and that the Irish don't really use the reference, and that it might have connections to where the Irish found themselves in early African and Native American slave history in the US.

There are very romanticized stories that "Black Irish" came from a mix of Irish and elite Spanish blood, an attempt in folklore by the Irish to step up in the world a bit, and so perhaps they actually fabricated a very glorious event at one point in history, where a ship in the Spanish Armada wrecked into the coast of Eire and Irish ladies felt awful for the worn Spanish warriors, and so nursed them, and then had their children, and thus you have the link to darkened hair and eyes so associated with these mythical phenotypes of "Black Irish"; this, and other variations of the Spanish connection, to most scholars, is complete myth.

The whole topic is something I have been interested in for some time. Here is a neat look at some of the theories out there, link here.

I am now going to read the links about "Black Dutch" because I have never heard of that before and must know if this phrase is as curious in history as "Black Irish."

[Rockinonahigh]

When I was growing up I found out that in my grandpa lineage was a story about the black italians in our family,many pictures of gramps show him as very dark.I ask once when I was a kid about that cause one of my play mates made comment about it,then I was told we had moorish line of decent from the 600's ad on his side of the family.

[Arwen]

Originally Posted by Toughy

Arwen........by connection I meant my family has been in the US for generations....I am 300+ years removed from Europe. It's hard to think of my family as immigrants to this country.....I am a US American.....hard to see any connection other than family members LEFT Europe. I've been to Berlin and Amsterdam and felt no connection to the land or people. My connection is to this land.....mostly to New Mexico and west/panhandle Texas.

Gotcha. I tell people I am hopelessly Euro-centric in my genetics. Nary a Native American aka Aboriginal in my background.

I can point to a Cole Younger in my tree but have no proof that he was the actual bandit.

My great-great-great grandfather helped found the Democratic party of Travis county (this is not something to be proud of if you know political history) and I am apparently a part of the Austin pioneer families. W00t.

Okay, so that does tickle me a bit because it's kinda cool to be able to drive somewhere and see the ruins of his home.

[pajama]

Great thread Arwen.

I'm not that into the geneology, but my Dad sure was. He traced our lineage back to the 1500s in England. Apparently Bartholemew S. came over as an indentured servant and is the only registered S. to come through Elis Island.

[Arwen]

Originally Posted by pajara2

Great thread Arwen.

I'm not that into the geneology, but my Dad sure was. He traced our lineage back to the 1500s in England. Apparently Bartholemew S. came over as an indentured servant and is the only registered S. to come through Elis Island.

That's awesome! I love hits like that. It's a rush when you are researching and you find someone else's tree.

The other cool missing link is that there are a bundh of Herman Conring men in my line. We might be related to THE Herman Conring who is considered the father of German law. Huh!

[JustJo]

Some of my friends in the kitchen thread were talking geneaology and looking for this thread, so I came in to give it a big BUMP!

[Arwen]

Currently HOOKED on "Who Do You Think You Were" (Friday nights on NBC) and still diving into Ancestry.com. I found a 4th great grandfather who died at the Battle of the Wilderness. He fought for the Union and had also fought in the Mexican-American war. He immigrated here from Germany.

[lipstixgal]

My family is greek on my father's side and italian on my mother's side but according to relatives in Greece my lineage goes back to Alexander the Great, I am a converted Jew by choice though!!

[Arwen]

Originally Posted by lipstixgal

My family is greek on my father's side and italian on my mother's side but according to relatives in Greece my lineage goes back to Alexander the Great, I am a converted Jew by choice though!!

I'm researching via ancestry.com and highly recommend it as a useful tool if you really want to get deep into it. Fascinating.

[Passionaria]

My family is Scandinavian. Swedish and Finnish. We are in contact with relatives in Finland, but not Sweden which is my Dads side. My Finish relatives live near Lapland. My cousin is doing the genealogy for the whole family on my Moms side. Our family goes back and forth visiting between Finland and the US. Now I know where my love of Coffee and Tango come from. lol. You would not believe it but the Tango is the most popular dance in Finland. We are know for being HOT BLODDED. There is also a huge Gypsy population in Finland. My Mom was raised speaking Finnish, but us kids never learned it. LOL, it was saved for secret conversations between my Mom and Grandma.

There you have it!

[Rockinonahigh]

Hi everyone,how ya been?Hear lately I have been geting some emails from my life .com...seem like a whole bunch of folks are looking for someone with my name..even my x.Bad vibes with that one.Anyone ever hear about mylife .com?
I havent till they poped up in my emails.

[Arwen]

Originally Posted by Rockinonahigh

Hi everyone,how ya been?Hear lately I have been geting some emails from my life .com...seem like a whole bunch of folks are looking for someone with my name..even my x.Bad vibes with that one.Anyone ever hear about mylife .com?
I havent till they poped up in my emails.

Never heard of it. Sounds fishy if they are sending you emails and you didn't sign up for it.

[Linus]

My family (both mother and father side) are Acadian. On my father's side they traced back to the first Acadian settlers in the 1600s in Grande Pre, Nova Scotia. And farther back to France. We've survived the Grande Deportation and I believe I have some distant cousins in Louisiana (Cajuns).

[Arwen]

Originally Posted by Linus

My family (both mother and father side) are Acadian. On my father's side they traced back to the first Acadian settlers in the 1600s in Grande Pre, Nova Scotia. And farther back to France. We've survived the Grande Deportation and I believe I have some distant cousins in Louisiana (Cajuns).

That's very cool, Linus. Tracing backwards, to me, is fascinating.

[Rockinonahigh]

Originally Posted by Arwen

Never heard of it. Sounds fishy if they are sending you emails and you didn't sign up for it.

Nope I didnt sign up or ask for then to contact me,but on the first email it had on it my xhubby(nut case) was looking for me,this thing is comeing from yahoo.com.If the old fart really was looking for me all he has to do is go to the place my son works then sugest J get me to call...not that I would.

[Jess]

So, I've recently become aware of a couple of those "skeletons".

We are somehow related to ( maternal grandmother's side) the White's of West Virginia. ( re: The wild and wonderful white's of west va). I am also the great great neice of Devil Anse Hatfield ( yes of Hatfield/McCoy feud).

I joined ancestry.com for the free membership to see what else I could find, but will try to hook up with my Aunt who has been tracing at least my maternal grandparent's roots and see what all she has dug up. I know part of my grandmothers family are Melungeon, and part I may never know as her parents were killed for being a "mixed" couple. I will hopefully find more of my grand dad's family and then I will begin looking more on my Dad's side.

What I do know so far on my Dad's side, is his father is Scot with lines back to Robert the Bruce and his mother was Dane and Polish. It may take a few years to track them and I may never be able to find them all, but it should prove very interesting!

Cool thread idea!

Thanks!

[wolfbittenpoet]

When you want to try ancestry I recommend your local library. Most libraries also have geneaology groups that will help you get started. My father is a geneaology nut. To the point of our trip to London was spent in the reading room of the British Museum and a couple of private libraries. But then again my family was started by a minor noble getting a holding courtesy of William the Conqueror. Now we are delving into my mother's side which is full of skeletons and founding families. A good way to search family records is through the Latter Day Saints and if you transcribe census or draft cards you get unprecedented access to their extensive records for free.

[Martina]

Originally Posted by Jess

I am also the great great neice of Devil Anse Hatfield ( yes of Hatfield/McCoy feud).

i am supposedly related to the Hatfields. My geneology is all appalachian all the way back on both sides. There is one family member who was an early settler of Perry Co, Kentucky. i love this story about him that i found on the internet. This is in the 1790's when he was scouting around to find a place to settle in Kentucky:

Hunting and Exploring expedition to Kentucky with Gideon Ison, on horseback. Camped at mouth of Beech Fork on Big Leatherwood. To explore, one headed up the stream and the other down. Gideon found an Indian camp of the previous night, returned to his camp. He decided that if William hadn't returned by the first star he would head home. When that time came, he mounted his horse and saw William approaching far off, carrying a deer. When William asked why he had been on his horse, he told him. William said he had seen an Indian peeking over a log and pretended not to see him until he passed him, then he bagan running and turned to see the Indian running in the other direction. They stayed up until first light, then headed home.

i love the brave explorers, one about to leave without his buddy and the other -- my ancestor -- running from the Indian he spotted. i just love it that this is the only story that survives about him.

[Jess]

Thanks Martina!

I love those stories also.

Thank you for sharing that!