Your Mysterious Origins

[In My Memory]

I've been in the process of tracking down a geneology of my family, because for the most part no one really knows where my family came from. Heres what I've learned so far:

 

Back a long long time ago, my ancestors were Hungarians who immigrated to England, who later immigrated to Canada, who came down to the United States. My surname is anglicanized French, but my ancestors surnames were Slavic, so the surname seems to be a fairly recent (within 2 or 3 generations) origin.

 

I havent discovered any notably famous people in my ancestory, nor any famous soldiers (lousy Canadians never fought for their freedom), nor any famous inventors. My sisters claim that are family has some Cherokee Indian, although thats anyones guess.

 

 

Go ahead, share your ancestory

[insane_alien]

lets see, now, on my father's side my family started off in italy in a small village in tuscany called lucca. with the surname lucchesi you can see there are some obvious links(my ancestors founded it ). i can trace my family to the italian mafia but its far from close. on my mothers side it seems to be scottish through and through.

[herpguy]

I know that my family originated in Ireland (it has a family shield and everything). Later on, they immigrated to the New World and established Fort Kilgore in Virginia. That's all I know...

[YT2095]

mine is FAR TOO Diverse to go into in a single post, so I`ll not bother/bore you.

however having said that, I`m NOW at last (from 3 months ago) living in the epicenter (less than a few 100 yards away) of where my Mother, her Father, his mother, and I beleive her Father were all born

so yes, Finaly!, I walk the land of my Ancestors daily now, from My daughter right back through 6 Generations

[Genecks]

I'm Irish-American; I have Roman Catholic origins; I can hold down me liquor.

 

My brother talked to some people and he learned something:

The family name on my father's side means blood in German.

 

From my mother's side I have Native American Cherokee.

[bascule]

On my father's side my grandparents were Italians (a Calabrian and a Sicilian) who immigrated into this country after Mussolini made Italy part of the Axis. My dad was born shortly thereafter.

 

My mom's side is a little less certain. All I really know for certain is my great grandfather on my grandfather's side is a native born American of pure Irish descent. My grandmother's side is Scottish.

[scicop]

I traced my geneology and learned my ancestors were nothing more than a bunch of monkeys.

 

Not much has changed.

[JustStuit]

One side of my family came from Whales over on the Mayflower. I am related somehow to the child born upon the Mayflower. I'm also very distantly related to Ernest Hemingway (8th cousin I believe.) My mom does geneology. I had family members as soldiers on both sides of the civil war.

[Phi for All]

My family traces it's roots back to Renaissance French nobility. One ancestor, after an indiscretion no one has been able to ascertain, was given the fantastic opportunity to either travel outside of France on a permanent basis or leave his head with his political adversaries. His scions, landless and penniless, moved from France to England, and thence to Scotland and Ireland. The earliest member of my family that showed up in the US was around 1850 in Missouri.

 

I've written to France about trying to get some of our land back but they were rather rude about it.

[john5746]

We haven't been able to get past my great, great grandfather, directly, but we do know the surname has Scots/Irish roots. I was wondering, many Americans are happy knowing what countries their ancestors came from. How about non-immigrants? How far back is good enough?

[why?]

Well i know that both my parents sides are truly 100% indian blood. Well that might include Pakistani blood 2 coz it was the same thing back then. My last name is Jain and most of the people who follow Jainish ( a religion ) have the last names Jain. I know that my family wasnt really really rich but i know they were all brahmins ( uppermost class in Indian Society) and probably well placed. My mom tells me about her grandparents and funny stories and how they were the head of the villages etc. But dont know too many details and all.

[Nevermore]

My family has an unholy obsession with geneology, and because of this, I can trace my roots back to the, I kid you not, 900's. (On my mom's side at least)

My mother is purebred WASP, with a pinch of german. Her family did all the things commonly ascociated with Anglo Saxons. (Hastings, victorian England, stonhenge, ect.)

My dad's side is a little less clear. He is >90% Irish, with possibly a speck of french. His family grew up in Ireland, and did tpyical Irish things (Drinking, praying, drinking, fighting the English and drinking.)

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if my families have fought and killed eachother at one time or another, seeing as they were mortal enimies.

[Severian]

I only know as far back as my grandparents. To be honest I have never had any desire to delve back into my ancestry - I am who I am independently of where my DNA comes from.

[JohnB]

On my mother's side, the only English in Oz before us were the ones who beat us off the boat. Lt. Phillip Gidley King was an officer in the First Fleet and was later the first Governor of Norfolk Island. The ancestry then goes back to the Mc Leans of Duart in Scotland.

 

The first on my father's side to bear the family name was Gilbert de La Berri who arrived in England from Normandy in 1103. The Eagle on the family Crest wears the "Eastern Crown" which means he fought in the Crusades. The family somehow finished up in Ireland and then to Australia around 100 years ago.

 

We did look further back in our family tree, but found most of our relatives were still living in it.

[Glider]

One side of my family came from Whales over on the Mayflower.

So, you're part cetacean? Cool!

 

My father's brother is in to geneology. He has found that his (and obviously, my father's) side of the family are from North Wales from as far back as anyone can find. My mother's side are English, but no in depth search has been done on them.

[The Peon]

I came from Jesus.

 

 

Some of this is hear-say of course, but on my fathers side we are said to be descended from spanish nobility and one of my ancestors was a Knight of Santiago back in the middle ages. More recently (and this is more confirmed), my great great grandfather was a travelling musician who would go town to town playing the Mandolin for money and food. He met my great great grandmother while playing in a town in the Canary Isles. She heard his music and fell in love, they were married shortly after. My grandparents left spain at a very young age and went to Cuba. They had children (one of which was my father) and when my father was about 15 (1961) they fled Castros Cuba and arrived in Miami. They learned English in about 6 months and became citizens. Although they had to start from scratch upon arriving here they are doing fairly well now and love this country.

 

My mothers side is a bit more sketchy. My grandfathers origins are not clear as he was an orphan at a very young age. Is is certainly from eastern european origin but was raised in the U.K. My grandmother is of Lithuanian/Polish descent and was raised as a traditional Jew. They migrated to the USA in the early 20th century, but many stayed in Poland and were killed by the Nazis in WW2. By grandfather served in WW2 as an aerial photographer (he flew in the bombers and took pictures). Perhaps one day I will do some more research into my familys origins. This is a pretty cool topic!

[ecoli]

Some of this is conjecture on my part, but it's what probably happened. After the second Jewish diaspora, my family was kicked out of Jerusalem by our friendly Romans, and headed northward, into Western Europe. In the Middle ages, they got kicked out of there and travelled into Eastern Europe (Lithuania, Germany, Russia, etc.).

 

The earliest ancestor that I'm sure about was alive in the 1800's, in Eastern europe He was fixing something on his roof, and his neighbor didn't see him, and removed the ladder because he didn't think someone should just leave a ladder lying around. My relative didn't realise the ladder was missing, and he fell off the roof and broke his neck.

 

My great grandparents from my mom's side came to New York before WWII and most of their relatives who didn't moved were killed in the holocaust. Some of my dad's family came to Toronto and some went to Australia. My mother's father was a sniper in WWII.

 

The most interesting story is my cousin's grandfather (not related to me except through marriage). His wife and children were killed by the Nazi's when he was living in Poland. He escpaed into Russia and made boots for the Russian army (he was a cobbler in Poland). After the war he came to New York and remarried, and gave birth to my uncle. He's 95 now.

[herpguy]

I know that my family originated in Ireland (it has a family shield and everything). Later on, they immigrated to the New World and established Fort Kilgore in Virginia. That's all I know...

 

I did a bit more research and found that my family originated in a villiage called Kilgour near Falkland in the country of Fife. Fife is located in present-day Scotland, U.K. My family originated in the ancient times, before the 11th century.

 

As time went on, I am guessing that my family slowly moved into Ireland. In 1761, one of my anscestors went to Virginia and establish what is now Kilgore, Virginia.

 

Knowing that my family has fought off invaders from as far back as ancient times up until WW2 has made me very proud.

[GutZ]

How do you all look this stuff up?

 

I've tried so many times....TV shows make it seem so easy; just type in a last name...yeah right.

 

More importantly though I'd like to know my families psychological background...

[YT2095]

what you have to remember is that TV shows have quite a budget, and most of these sites that you "just type in your name" are both A) piy for searches, and B) Made that way for brevity.

 

they often Don`t show the reasearch that was done wekks or Months Behind the scenes (it simply doesn`t make good television).

 

as for your ancestral Phych history, well, that`s certainly a challenge!

One I doubt Very Much you`ll get a detailed answer to, unless they were Famous or something.

[The_simpsons]

i don't much where my fahter's side of the family originates, but i know alot of my mother's side. both my parents are portuguese (well, my mother is a quarter spanish). My mothers family originates from a count family named Andrade (i still carry that name, also in Portugal you can't switch your name, most of the people have their original inherited names) during the renaissance more or less, in a village (also named Andrade i think) close to O Ferrol in todays Galicia. My fathers side is all Portuguese now what i know of but we haven't researched so much of my fahters side.

 

It even exists in Wikipedia:)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrade