Complicated American Ancestry

[kevin_standlee]

My mother wrote to me today (Hi, Mom!), having read my entry of a few days ago in which I professed not having any Irish ancestry of which I was aware. She informed me that I do in fact have some Irish ancestry on my mother's father's side of the family, in the form of an Irish great-great-great grandfather. She told me (references to specific people removed), "Your heritage, from my side of the family, is English..., Irish & Cherokee..., German & possibly Cherokee..., and Scotch Irish.... Your father told me that he was also part Cherokee. More than that I do not know."

Some of the reason for my confusion is that my ancestors migrated to America mostly before the American Civil War or even the American Revolution -- and of course a lot longer before than in the case of my Native American ancestors. So the records are sometimes a bit muddled, you might say.

Comments

Genealogy

[lindadee.livejournal.com]

I have a subscription to Ancestry.com if you want me to look anything up for you. If you have names and possible locations, I can do a Census search and see what comes up.

Linda

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

Having been around that long, I'd say you can claim everything that has ever migrated to the USofA is in your background somewhere, and just leave it at that.
Interesting for my husband, the Heinz 57 part of the family is the Harrigan side, they've been here a while, his father's mother was German! But Harold's Mother's parents were both off the boat Irish. So that's where we claim the heritage from.

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

Same thing for me with about 5/8 of my family is like that. For all we know about some of them there could be Africans and Indians in there.

The other 3/8 are 1/8 clearly from Sweden in the late 19th century and 1/4 from Poland at the start of the 20th century. And even though my Polish grandfather was born in America he spoke no English until sometime after he was seven because of growing up in a very Polish ghetto in Detroit. We're told that even in Poland our ancestry would be a bit confused since our ancestors were partially Russian-ized Tartars who settled in Poland as indicated by our last name and where they came from in the south.

[yourbob.livejournal.com]

Disney, in one of it's dog movies, called a mutt a "flugelhound". I've always proudly noted I'm one of those. A true American melting pot. Out biggest mystery is the affiliation of our Native American ancestry.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Ah, some "Scotch-Irish", eh? As I understand it, that's code, in some genealogical circles, for "convicts sent to the Penal Colony of Georgia". But it also seems to have been used, sometimes, for ordinary Irish peasants fleeing the results of the potato blight, in the "no Irish need apply" era when Americans preferred not to mention any Irish lineage they might have. (My paternal line seems to have been largely English, mostly here since c. 1750 in New England, though my paternal grandmother's grandfather settled there after serving in the British Navy during the War of 1812, and her mother had some "Scotch-Irish" ancestors in Pennsylvania. My maternal line seems to have been solidly & dully Swiss/German, of comparatively recent immigration.) Now I think I'll go and finish up the last of the corned-beef hash.