Cooknn
macrumors 68020
Funny the first thing that comes to my mind with that comment are trappers and traders in the early 1800's 😛 Most likely that's how my GGGG Grandfather met his Cherokee wife...
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What's Your Heritage?
- Thread starter ErikCLDR
- Start date
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Opps, my bad. Your quoted post should've appear toward the top of my post with the others to which I posed the question: So when did all move to the US?, going by your locations.
I understand the concept, it's just a pet peeve of mine that, particularly Americans for some reason, people claim to be 50% one thing, 50% another thing and ignore that they're born yet another thing.
You say you're 50% German, 25%Swedish and 25% Austrian; why? Why settle on those exact percentages? What's your formula? I'm really not picking on you specifically, I'm actually interested to hear.
I myself don't claim any heritage, by nationality or religion, I think of myself as the sum of my own experiences, but if pushed I'd say:
Facetious 25%
Bovvered 25%
Dirrty 25%
Liberal 25%
Just 25%
Dyscalculic 25%
Veritas&Equitas
macrumors 68000
Well, if you're actually interested, here you go:
My father is 100% German. In that, both of his parents, and in turn, their parents moved here from Germany in the early 1900's. Hence, an entirely German citizenship/heritage.
My mother, on the other hand, is 50% Swedish, and 50% Austrian. In that, her father (my grandfather) is 100% Austrian, as is his entire lineage of family. Her mother (my grandmother), is 100% Swedish, both of her parents immigrated directly from Sweden as Swedish citizens.
Hence, I would be of 50% German ancestry, 25% Swedish, and 25% Austrian. That's how it works. I'm not "settling" on any one percentage; that percentage is pretty much the exact percentage that makes up my blood.
Dr.Gargoyle
macrumors 65816
100% African.
perhaps a stupid question... but just how far back are you suppose to go really?
I guess I am 100% swedish looking back 20 generations or so... but then something strange happens. Suddenly all my ancestors where danish without immigrating (This part of sweden was confiscated from danes 1658).
To make things worse, the danish king had bit of a financial problem 1332 which lead him to hand over this part to the Sweden until 1360, when he apparently sorted out his financial problems.
Not to complicate things further, we also have the problem with the ice age. This part of sweden (?) was under a permanent ice cap until 14000 BC, which should make me me 100% indian or somewhere around the black sea dependent on which theory you support. (indo european).
However we also know (?) that the first humans came from Africa...
Doesn't that make me 100% African if I am going to follow the logic of this thread?
perhaps a stupid question... but just how far back are you suppose to go really?
I guess I am 100% swedish looking back 20 generations or so... but then something strange happens. Suddenly all my ancestors where danish without immigrating (This part of sweden was confiscated from danes 1658).
To make things worse, the danish king had bit of a financial problem 1332 which lead him to hand over this part to the Sweden until 1360, when he apparently sorted out his financial problems.
Not to complicate things further, we also have the problem with the ice age. This part of sweden (?) was under a permanent ice cap until 14000 BC, which should make me me 100% indian or somewhere around the black sea dependent on which theory you support. (indo european).
However we also know (?) that the first humans came from Africa...
Doesn't that make me 100% African if I am going to follow the logic of this thread?
Electro Funk
macrumors 65816
miloblithe
macrumors 68020
Fair enough. To some degree, it's all in how we choose to define ourselves...unless of course you're talking about one of the many situations in which others have a definition for you whether you like it or not.
Examples: people with some Jewish heritage convincing Nazis that they weren't Jewish. Some Americans convincing anti-immigration folks that they aren't Mexican, or Indian, or Chinese.
Dr.Gargoyle
macrumors 65816
Still in this case it is you that actually make this definition and most people here seem to chose a totally arbitrary date where from you define you origin.
I am curious about how many of you guys that claim to be partly e.g. swedish that actually know any swedish or know anything about the country.
Furthermore, several studies has shown that the alleged father in 10-25% of the cases isn't the biological father. Now add some simple probability to that and you will see that ancestry tree are more or less a complete waste of time.
I still claim we are all Africans 🙂
polishmacuser
macrumors 6502a
miloblithe
macrumors 68020
Well, I think it's usually not that arbitrary; people go back as far as they can, and stop there. I know my great-grandmother on my mother's father's side was from Ireland. I don't know anything about her parents, nor do any of my living relatives as far as I know. (I could try to research it, but I'm lazy.)
True enough there are people for whom being Swedish amounts to little more than hanging an orange horse somewhere in their house, but if someone finds their ancestry to be important to them, odds are they'll probably go at least a few steps beyond that. But hey, there's a lot going on in the world and no individual person can be responsible for knowing everything.
As for an ancestry tree being a complete waste of time, you're certainly entitled to your opinion. I don't really see why the issue of "alleged fathers" not being actual biological parents (and 10-25% sounds high) makes interest in one's ancestry a waste of time. Don't adoptive parents count as people? So what if one of my ancestors got a little extra on the side; her husband still raised that kid.
Leareth
macrumors 68000
Father side :
25% Sudenland - so German/Czech by todays standards
12.5% Carpathorusin
12.5% Hungarian
Though my father was born in Slovakia
Mother side :
25% Slovak
25% Bulgarian < but both grandparents while born in Bulgaria are of Slovak cultural group...
Mother was born in Czech Republic
I was born in Slovakia but raised in Austria so tell me what does that make me?
25% Sudenland - so German/Czech by todays standards
12.5% Carpathorusin
12.5% Hungarian
Though my father was born in Slovakia
Mother side :
25% Slovak
25% Bulgarian < but both grandparents while born in Bulgaria are of Slovak cultural group...
Mother was born in Czech Republic
I was born in Slovakia but raised in Austria so tell me what does that make me?
Dr.Gargoyle
macrumors 65816
That per definition is arbitrary
I got these figures from studies here in sweden where children have been DNA tested. (not for parenthood specifically) Still, one shouldn't put too much trust in these figures since these are from small sample studies.
But most people (perhaps my own prejudice beliefs?) drawing family charts do so to show ancestry with "nobler blood". Given the uncertainty mentioned above, this is complete and utter nonsense. You might be able to say with 75% confidence interval I am related to this or that person....But that really doesn't sound as cool, does it? 😉
I personally see the parents as the ones that actually raised you, not the donors. However, it becomes a bit absurd to claim that XX was my great great great great grand father, due to the uncertainty and the fact you or any one you know most likely haven't had any personal relation with this person.
miloblithe
macrumors 68020
I agree that attempting to trace one's lineage back to famous people or wealthy classes is a bit absurd--and doing so to make oneself out to be somehow superior is repulsive. My grandmother, who is the kind of person who is very into that kind of thing, has often mentioned that I'm descended from the same family as Martha Washington! I kind of roll my eyes (discretely) when she mentions this. First of all, I doubt that it's true. Secondly, even if it is, I don't particularly care if I'm related to some famous person. On the other hand, odds are, given how many relationships and branches get formed over many many generations, everyone is related to any famous person you want to mention.
Still, for me, I find it safe to assume that my great grandfather (who my grandfather certainly knew, and I knew him) wasn't lying in the family tree that he drew in 1911 that I have on my dining room table. I find it interesting to think about who these people were, and how their lives influenced, in the twists and turns of decades and centuries, who I am.
None of us come from nothing.
Also. I like charts. And diagrams. And statistics.
AlexH
macrumors 68020
I don't think Americans ignore the fact that they are born in the States, but the United States of America is, after all, a melting-pot of cultures, heritage, religion, and history. Because it's a melting-pot, I never want to lose my family's history, because it's much older than America as a nation.
Family history and heritage didn't "reset" when my family landed in the States, they didn't erase their past. I still have a lot of family in the U.K., and a few in Spain.
~75% Irish 😱
~25% German (although they were originally in Eastern France and were kicked out)
~??% other things, including pure French, Welsh, Danish, and others.
~25% German (although they were originally in Eastern France and were kicked out)
~??% other things, including pure French, Welsh, Danish, and others.
If you took one person from every country, put them in a box and shook them until a baby came out.
That baby would be me.
BTW I have red hair and i'm white, fair skinned.(but I tan)
That baby would be me.
BTW I have red hair and i'm white, fair skinned.(but I tan)
iBlue
macrumors Core
I'm kind of a mutt. So many things no one in my family really knows for sure.
I've heard: English, German, and Italian.... and other things which don't really add up to much. I'm white but I tan easy and I was born in the US. <shrugs> Doesn't make a lot of difference now.
I'm Californian is my usual answer.
I've heard: English, German, and Italian.... and other things which don't really add up to much. I'm white but I tan easy and I was born in the US. <shrugs> Doesn't make a lot of difference now.
I'm Californian is my usual answer.
siurpeeman
macrumors 603
i'm 100% korean, though i've never actually stepped foot in korea. born in san francisco and lived in california since. i mostly consider myself american.
dukebound85
macrumors Core
kinda a tangent but i think its interesting how people identify themselves. Like iBlue, I identify and take the greatest pride in the state im from.
for me, the order of how I identify myself is so:
Coloradoan>American>City>Part of City and waaaaay down the list is county
Heritage is usually the last thing i identify myself by to be honest