# How Long Has Your Family Been in the United States (or Canada)?



## Backwoods Presbyterian (Feb 8, 2009)

For those of you in the old country "4,500 B.C." will suffice. 


Anyway I am good old American Mut so it would be fair to say that "parts" of me have been here a long time, others not so much.

*Mom's Side* (all settled in what is now West Virginia)

Preston's came over from Ireland in the 1840's.
Sponaugle's came over from Germany in the 1850's.
Dempsey's (most direct ancestors) came over from Ireland in the 1890's.
Lewis' came over some time before 1700 from Ireland (via Scotland).


*Dad's Side* (all ended up in Colorado eventually)

Glaser's "appear" in Canada from Germany in the 1840's. No one knows how they got there or for how long they were they, came to America in the 1870's. We are pretty sure that the Glaser's were political refugees...
Helle's came over from Germany in the 1870's.
Palmer's came over from Germany in the 1850's.


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## LawrenceU (Feb 8, 2009)

A good portion of my family has been here since shortly after the cessation of work on the tower at Babel. 

Other family roots arrived in the western hemisphere during the 18th and 19th centuries for the most part.


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## Ivan (Feb 8, 2009)

*Schoens* --- 1850's, settled where most of them still live in Southern Illinois.
*Keelings* --- 1650's, first settled in Virginia, lived in Arkansas during the Civil War (WNA). Came to St. Louis at the turn of the 20th Century and shortly moved into the area where the Schoens settled. 

A branch of the Keeling family was Native American.


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## timmopussycat (Feb 8, 2009)

Ivan said:


> *Schoens* --- 1850's, settled where most of them still live in Southern Illinois.
> *Keelings* --- 1650's, first settled in Virginia, lived in Arkansas during the Civil War (WNA). Came to St. Louis at the turn of the 20th Century and shortly moved into the area where the Schoens settled.
> 
> A branch of the Keeling family was Native American.



We can track Horsefalls, Creswicks and Parnells, emigrating from the British Isles in the 1800's. Some other more distant names were United Empire Loyalists, (McLeod's, Church's). Cunningham's and Dayes we can't track beyond the beginning of the 190's in Canada.


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## DMcFadden (Feb 8, 2009)

Mom's side - I am fourth generation American with roots in Deutschland. Great grandparents came over from the "old country."

Dad's side - mix of German and Scotch/Irish. My ancestors climbed down out of the trees in Ireland and were in the Carolinas during the American War of Independence. During the American Civil War, my kin folks were whistling "Dixie."


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## TimV (Feb 8, 2009)

Dad's side were officers in the Confederacy, and grandma was DAR, which means fought in the Revolution. Mom's side were 120 year ago Welsh, and we still have an old Bible in Cymric that they brought over, with all the marriage, deaths, etc.. of the family recorded.


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## he beholds (Feb 8, 2009)

My one ancestor is John Alden, who came over on the Mayflower! And thus his wife, Priscilla nee Mullins, who also came over on the Mayflower. The Wiki article said that he may have been the first from the Mayflower to set foot on land. It also says that he was not on board for religious reasons
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is also a descendant of him (and my daughter is Evangeline!).
The latest of my ancestors to come is my Great-Grandparents, who moved here from Italy when my PapPap was an infant. 
Those are my mom's parents (her mother goes back to Alden and her father is the Italian).
I can't find out much about my dad's parents.


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## Theoretical (Feb 8, 2009)

Dad's side - Hookers - My grandfather originally immigrated from Finland in the 1890s. On my grandmother's side, the Swords, supposedly there's some relation to Virginia Dare and her family, one of the infants born with the Roanake colony, but I'm not sure.

Mom's side - Grandmother's side (Becks) at least 4-5 generations in the US, immigrating from Germany sometime in the 1800s I think. I'm the last of the Becks (only grandchild of my grandmother, who herself was an only child). My grandfather's side (Irwins) I'm not sure of, other than being thoroughly German.


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## ServantofGod (Feb 8, 2009)

Kemmerer's came from Germany and settled in eastern Pennsylvania in the early 1700's. We live about 20 minutes from their original settlement. We're Ronald Reagen's 7th cousin through my grandmother on this side who is a Naprovnik.

The Branning's came from England in the late 1700's and settled in Florida near Jacksonville. They then moved up to Pittsburgh after the Civil War. President Zachery Taylor is one of our descendants.


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## Zenas (Feb 8, 2009)

DeShazo is derived from de Chazaux, an obviously French surname. My ancestors were, oddly enough, French Huguenots despite any DeShazo in the States I've ever met being *Methodist. * :barf: 

Anyway. The first DeShazo came to America by way of Canada. His name was Peter and he had lived in Canada for some time, having moved there from France. He landed in Kings and Queens County, Virginia in the early 1600's, and we all spread out from there.


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## Guido's Brother (Feb 8, 2009)

1951 on both my father's side and my mother's side. Both came over from the Netherlands on the same ship, the Volendam, but on different sailings.


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## JBaldwin (Feb 8, 2009)

he beholds said:


> My one ancestor is John Alden, who came over on the Mayflower! And thus his wife, Priscilla nee Mullins, who also came over on the Mayflower. The Wiki article said that he may have been the first from the Mayflower to set foot on land. It also says that he was not on board for religious reasons
> Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is also a descendant of him (and my daughter is Evangeline!).
> The latest of my ancestors to come is my Great-Grandparents, who moved here from Italy when my PapPap was an infant.
> Those are my mom's parents (her mother goes back to Alden and her father is the Italian).
> I can't find out much about my dad's parents.



That's cool. My hubby is a direct descendant of Peregrine White who was the first baby born on the Mayflower, and they were Puritans.

My family--Mom's side, Norwegian, 1850s & Welsh/English 1830s--the Welsh family, the Powells trace lineage all the way back to a Norman knight who fought with William the Conqueror. That same Welsh family was Presbyterian. The Norwegians came over on the second boat of settlers who settled Norway, Illinois, the first Norwegian settlement in the USA. They were all Lutherans

Dad--? He was adopted and had his name changed. He was originally named William Henry Baldwin, the same as the Illinois railroad tycoon of the late 1800s. An illegitimate son was born to Baldwin's daughter in the same town and on the same date as my father. Was my dad that son? If not why does he share the same birthday as that child and carry the name of that child's grandfather? We'll never know for sure, but it's fun to speculate.


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## Kevin (Feb 8, 2009)

On my mums side, we claim 3 from the Mayflower. They were United Empire Loyalists. Also, the other maternal line, from Scotland 1706.

On my dads side we have been here since early 1700.

I can visit the graves & the homestead sites of both sides of my family for 200 years.


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## tcalbrecht (Feb 8, 2009)

Father's Side:

*Albrecht* - From Germany in 1888 to Scranton, PA
*Schmidt* - From Austria-Hungary in 1882 to Taylor, PA

Mother's Side:

*Carrozza* - From Italy in 1909 to Pittston, PA
*Musto* - From Italy ??? via NYC to Pittston, PA


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## JBaldwin (Feb 8, 2009)

Kevin said:


> On my mums side, we claim 3 from the Mayflower. They were United Empire Loyalists. Also, the other maternal line, from Scotland 1706.
> 
> On my dads side we have been here since early 1700.
> 
> I can visit the graves & the homestead sites of both sides of my family for 200 years.



My husband's family ended up in Canada after the Revolutionary War because they were United Empire Loyalists. I think there were over 200 who were exiled after the war was over.


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## LadyFlynt (Feb 8, 2009)

Some of my family is Native (aka, we didn't "come over" unless you count the crossing of the Bering Straight), some came over in the 1600s, some in the 1700's, and one as late as turn of the 20th century. We've been in all the wars. Some of our Native side has been on the Trail of Tears (hubby's side) and some managed to escape it (my side). Relatives from the Mayflower to writing the Star Spangled Banner to US Senators to infamous personages you blush when asked, "are you related to..."


Dad's side: Scot, Irish, Cherokee, and possibly French (Huguenot)

Mom's side: Finnish, Welsh, German.


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## JBaldwin (Feb 8, 2009)

LadyFlynt said:


> Some of my family is Native (aka, we didn't "come over" unless you count the crossing of the Bering Straight), some came over in the 1600s, some in the 1700's, and one as late as turn of the 20th century. We've been in all the wars. Some of our Native side has been on the Trail of Tears (hubby's side) and some managed to escape it (my side). Relatives from the Mayflower to writing the Star Spangled Banner to US Senators to infamous personages you blush when asked, "are you related to..."



LOL I have a few of those infamous personages in my family, too.


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## ericfromcowtown (Feb 8, 2009)

Father's side emigrated from northern England to British Columbia in 1908.

My mother's side emigrated to Alberta from the Russian Empire (Ukraine - they were "Volga Germans") in the 1860s.


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## ColdSilverMoon (Feb 8, 2009)

My father's side immigrated in the 1910's from Wales. 

My mother's side immigrated in the late 19th century from England.


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## TimV (Feb 8, 2009)

Jamal, on my Dad's side I'm afraid I resemble you! (no offence!) 

Off topic, but I got a kick out of Rushdoony saying that the American Indians were downgraded by trashy blue-eyed blood. He always said it with a comical glint in his eyes...

Ah, there's so much to be thankful for in Europe, with the long detailed family traditions.

You guys rock, and I'm thankful that so many of you are active on the PB. Continuity is precious, and I wish I had the same sense of continuity that many of you take for granted.


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## LadyFlynt (Feb 8, 2009)

LawrenceU said:


> A good portion of my family has been here since shortly after the work on the cessation of work on the tower at Babel.



 Long way of saying "Native", brother Lawrence 

-----Added 2/8/2009 at 09:04:17 EST-----



TimV said:


> Jamal, on my Dad's side I'm afraid I resemble you! (no offence!)
> 
> Off topic, but I got a kick out of Rushdoony saying that the American Indians were downgraded by trashy blue-eyed blood. He always said it with a comical glint in his eyes...



 None taken. Though, I gladly take after my dad's side on looks and attitudes and his mother in character. I think the Scot/Irish and Cherokee had a bit in common compared to other Europeans.


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## Backwoods Presbyterian (Feb 8, 2009)

I have some Native blood that "forced" its way into my bloodstream. I am 1/32 Arapaho Indian from my Dad's side.


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## Jon Lake (Feb 8, 2009)

I am 100% Bulgarian, we got here last week, please to forgive my not good English.


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## Theognome (Feb 8, 2009)

Dad's side: Cunningham- Came over from Ireland during the potato famine of the 1850's. Went to California to find gold and got stuck there.
Mom's side- Zapharatos- Grandma was born on the boat crossing from Greece in 1923. They settled in Virginia, though gramma left grampa in 1957, took my mom with her and married a Navy sailor. That branch also settled in California. 

Theognome


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## Rangerus (Feb 8, 2009)

John McKay (surname pronounced "MACK-ey") likely came to America in 1735 from Argyle Scotland. John moved to Tennessee from North Carolina about 1790. He was a Captain in the French and Indian war. McKay travelled to Tennessee with his Indian wife and their three sons Thomas, William and Alexander. Along with his sons Thomas and William, John owned land in the Franklin area. The third son, Alexander, lived in Spring Hill, Tennessee.


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## Neogillist (Feb 8, 2009)

My ancestors arrived in Quebec in the 1660s on both my dad and mom's sides. Unfortunately, I think they were all Romanists and not Huguenots, although it is highly probable that some going back before 1605 close to Paris would have been Huguenots.


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## Ivan (Feb 8, 2009)

Jon Lake said:


> I am 100% Bulgarian, we got here last week, please to forgive my not good English.



You remind me of someone...just can't put my finger on it.


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## Jon Lake (Feb 8, 2009)

ivan said:


> jon lake said:
> 
> 
> > i am 100% bulgarian, we got here last week, please to forgive my not good english.
> ...


who! You know 'nother bulgarian! I only bulgarian here! You no lie now!!!


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## kvanlaan (Feb 8, 2009)

Mom's side: 
Visser - 1930's, from Friesland.
Elgersma - 1930's, from Friesland.
(Mom was born here.)

Dad's side:
van der Laan - himself in 1970 from De Harkema, Friesland.
Land - with my grandfather and the younger children of my father's family in 1972.
(My dad still has the accent.)


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## lynnie (Feb 8, 2009)

Mine are very varied...England in the late 1600s, Irish, German in the 1850's, NH native American.

My most famous distant relative is John Brown the abolitionist....My Dad's Mom was a Smith whose Mom was a Brown. (John had 7 kids from his first wife who died, and 13 from the second...not sure which one we go back to).

There is much controversy about him, he was apparently a devoted Calvinist, and either a great man or a terrorist. I am not sure if I should be happy or worried about the genes I got from him... At least I got my new birth from the Lord


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## Zenas (Feb 8, 2009)

Fun notes about my family, so long as others are throwing them in:

I am a relative of Charles Dickens and Gen. (CSA) Nathan Bedford Forrest. The closest relative is Gen. Forrest.


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## Jen (Feb 8, 2009)

My mum's family came in 1981, and my dad's family came in 1977.

Mum's family are immigrants twice over: in the '20s her dad's family was exiled from the Ukraine to Switzerland (they had Swiss citizenships and were given the choice of Siberia or Switzerland) before my grandpa brought his family to the U.S.

Both of my parents came to the same town -- the one in which I was born and raised. We moved far, but we didn't move often!

I am excited, though. I moved this past week to live with most of the other seminary women (no, seriously, four of us are students, which means that we now have 50% of the female student population, including 100% of this year's incoming female students), and two of us are first-gen and like to cook. This has lots of potential.


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## No Longer A Libertine (Feb 9, 2009)

My ancestors escaped civil war and religious persecution in 18th century Germany and came to America in the 1760s, fought in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, moved to Texas in the 1830s and participated in the Texas Revolution in 1836, the Speegle name is Americanized from Spiegel but I'm not sure when that happened, possible in the late 1700s or early 1800s.


I am at least 10th generation American if not more and am considered a Son of the Republic of the United States and Son of the republic of Texas since my ancestors fought in both causes on the American and Texan side.


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## Kevin (Feb 9, 2009)

JBaldwin said:


> Kevin said:
> 
> 
> > On my mums side, we claim 3 from the Mayflower. They were United Empire Loyalists. Also, the other maternal line, from Scotland 1706.
> ...



200?..

More like 200 thousand! The population of New Brunswick TRIPLED in a few weeks after the revolution.


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## Blueridge Believer (Feb 9, 2009)

On my father's side, Thomas Farley and his wife Jane landed in Virginia in 1623 On my mother side I have only been able to trace back to my great great grandfather who was born in 1832 here in Virginia. Both of my great great grandfathers were Confederate soldiers. Had no family members in the revolutionary war that I can find but did have in the war of 1812.


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## TaylorOtwell (Feb 9, 2009)

The first Otwell in the colonies was Thomas Otwell, who arrived in Virginia in 1610. He was a tobacco farmer from England.


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## greenbaggins (Feb 9, 2009)

My grandfather has compiled a genealogy of about 2500 names extending back into the 17th century. One of my ancestors was Peregrine White, the first child born to the pilgrims in the New World (his parents were on the Mayflower). The Keister family, originally Kuester (u umlaut) came over in the 1700's from Germany. My ancestry is mostly German, but I have a fair bit of Scottish in me (which over-rides all other nationalities, no matter how little of it I have), a bit of English, and a bit of French.


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## BobVigneault (Feb 9, 2009)

My ancestor Paul Vigneau came to the New France colony 10 generations ago (1670). He was a soldier and one of the settlers of Acadia. The Acadians had their houses and land taken away by the British and they were exiled to Georgia (1756) for a time. They worked on plantations with the slaves and were persecuted up and down the east coast. As Roman Catholics they were unable to own property or even meet in groups and forbidden to worship.

They eventually settled in Quebec. My dad's family moved to New Hampshire during the textile boom (1920)


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## NaphtaliPress (Feb 9, 2009)

Coldwells I descend from have been here since at least about 1760, the earliest date currently known recording the presence of Thomas Coldwell, who became a captain in the militia during the war for independence. Another relative from my mother's side came over in 1739 and that family is traced back to the late 15th century in Bern.


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## Galatians220 (Feb 9, 2009)

Thomas Axtell, brother of Capt. Daniel Axtell ("the regicide"), came here in 1643. I'm directly descended from him; his descendant & my ancestor, another Thomas, was a Minuteman. The most recent arrival was my great-grandfather (mother's maternal grandfather), a staunch Presbyterian who came here from Glasgow as a young man. Came because he couldn't find work in Scotland; at least, that's what I was told. In between, Gallaghers, Quinns and McLeans came from Ireland, Dersés from France, Franks from Germany (we suspect that Jews converted to Roman Catholicism thought that America would be a better place for them, & they were right), among others.

Margaret


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## Iakobos_1071 (Feb 9, 2009)

*Mom's side*(Foster) I am 5th Gen, they moved here from Scotland
I am still working the genealogy on my *Dad's side*. I know they are from Ireland or Wales. Evidently no one on my Dad's side cares about Genealogy.. Could be hiding something.. My grandfather is a 32 degree Mason. The more I dig the more questions I get.


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## jwithnell (Feb 9, 2009)

My family, the English Satterthwaites, were Friends and settled in Bucks County, PA in 1733 -- although other parts of the family were here earlier and others settled in North Carolina. On my Mom's side, the Wilsons were firmly established in Pennsylvania politics and history. Interestingly, my Dad's family has a connection to the Burrs (his grandmother) but I haven't seen how it ties together yet.

On my husband's side, his father came here from England in the 1930s and was fighting for the US in the Pacific during the 1940s. His Mom's family dates from around 1900 with mostly Irish and English connections.


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## JBaldwin (Feb 9, 2009)

Kevin said:


> JBaldwin said:
> 
> 
> > Kevin said:
> ...



You are right, I stand corrected, I was thinking of a particular list of political exiles who were named specifically. If I can find a link to that list, I'll post. I can't seem to put my hands on it right now.


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## OPC'n (Feb 9, 2009)

I guess a long time. Some of my ancestors helped settle Arkansas. Some were native here. My great grandmother was full blooded Cherokee.


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## Scottish Lass (Feb 9, 2009)

I'm a Daughter of the American Revolution through my maternal grandmother, and the Camerons of my maternal grandfather have been here nearly as long. My father's side is Finnish, and I am second generation American on that side.


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## BJClark (Feb 9, 2009)

depends on the family line on when they got here. 

My dad's side..

The Odenbaughs came from Germany, and were here by 1812..
The Wilson's came from either Scotland/England and were here by 1672 (as one died in 1672 in Calvert County Maryland)
The Hilleary's (Hillary's) (England; Served as Lieutenant Colonel of the Calvert County militia before 1697. In 1696 was the "High Sheriff of Prince George's County)
The Spriggs (not sure)
The Kent's not sure
The Tennant's not sure
The Kennedy's sometime before 1834 from Mayo County Ireland..
McCurdy's sometime in the 1700's the first born in Ny about 1764
(but they went from Scotland to Ireland sometime in the 1600's)
The McGill's before 1800
McFeeters Not sure
Park's Not sure..
Tennant --1760 from Glasgow Scotland
Eddy
Heidelmeire (was naturalized in 1887)
Moore's not sure
Coen's not sure
Haught's (Holland in 1751)


(for some of these I'd have to locate my other family books)


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## jaybird0827 (Feb 9, 2009)

Father's side from Germany in 1886.
Mother's side from Ireland, probably 1840's.


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## Semper Fidelis (Feb 9, 2009)

On my Mom's side, since 1620 although I have both Irish and Finnish ancestors that came here well after that.


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## Ivan (Feb 10, 2009)

Jon Lake said:


> ivan said:
> 
> 
> > jon lake said:
> ...



Not Bulgarian...another Texan.


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## JonathanHunt (Feb 10, 2009)

On my Mother's side, my great great great grandfather was an american embassy official in Bombay. The name was originally Ballantyne (scottish) but somewhere the 'y' became an 'i'. I can only assume my diplomatic forbear was posted (back) to Britain and stayed here. Or something like. So my family on my mother's side is Scottish-American-English in that order.

My Father's side seems to be about as English as can be.


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## TimV (Feb 10, 2009)

What's with all the Finnish blood here? It seems rather over represented.


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## Seb (Feb 10, 2009)

Thanks to William Tecumseh Sherman and his ilk, we can't trace our family back further than the late 1800s.

All of my family was in mid-Mississippi at that time and when Sherman came through there he destroyed all of the courthouses along with their records. 

I'd love to be able to bridge that gap and know more of the history of my family and the stories of how they came here.


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## Timothy William (Feb 10, 2009)

I have Australian, English and Canadian Great-Grandparents, presumably all of English descent, but I don't know how long they had been in Australia or Canada. Based on my mother's maiden name we think one of her ancestors came across from France to England at the time of the Norman Conquest, or within a century or so afterwards, as the name can be traced back to some French minor aristocrats of the time.


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## Zenas (Feb 10, 2009)

Seb said:


> William Tecumseh Sherman



If I were related to him, I might hang myself out of a sense of duty and justice.


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## LawrenceU (Feb 10, 2009)

Zenas said:


> Seb said:
> 
> 
> > William Tecumseh Sherman
> ...



I know how you feel. 

When I was growing up a family moved from Indiana to our home town. They had a son who was my age. His given name was Sherman. After living for about three months in the South he chose to go by his middle name. Can't say that I blame him.


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## the particular baptist (Feb 10, 2009)

My family immigrated to America from Romania in 1979.

Petre - Mom's side is Romanian with Daco/Roman ancestry.

Deac - Dad's side is Hungarian/Romanian.


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## okcalvin (Feb 10, 2009)

My branch of Butlers? We figure sometime in the early 1700s in Virginia. Dad had a Denton grandfather who descended from a Denton who was a Presbyterian. preacher who moved from Mass Bay to CT, to New Netherlands (Dutch far more tolerant of reformed church polity than the folks in MA and CT).

My mother's families? Some of the names we have: Lamberts in 1630 in Mass. Bay; Mulkeys in New Sweden in the 1640s; Polhemus in New Netherlands in 1640s.


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## Backwoods Presbyterian (Feb 10, 2009)

Zenas said:


> Seb said:
> 
> 
> > William Tecumseh Sherman
> ...



Same thing for Phillip Sheridan.


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## Theogenes (Feb 10, 2009)

JBaldwin said:


> he beholds said:
> 
> 
> > My one ancestor is John Alden, who came over on the Mayflower! And thus his wife, Priscilla nee Mullins, who also came over on the Mayflower. The Wiki article said that he may have been the first from the Mayflower to set foot on land. It also says that he was not on board for religious reasons
> ...



WOW! We could have a MAyflower decendant reunion. My mother's family, Robinson, goes back to John Robinson, the pastor of the Mayflower congregation. He stayed in Leyden but his son, Isaac, I believe was on the Mayflower.

-----Added 2/10/2009 at 01:47:57 EST-----

Mother's side: English, Irish, Norwegian

Father's side: Irish, Scottish, German, Dutch and a little French

A Heinz 57 mongrel, but I have most of the Reformation countries covered!


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## toddpedlar (Feb 10, 2009)

TimV said:


> What's with all the Finnish blood here? It seems rather over represented.



Sorry to add to the mix, then...

Mom's side (50% Finn, 50% Irish) - 

Maki, from the west coast of Finland - similar situation; great grandparents moved here, prior to grandma's birth in 1918.

Dooley, from Galway - great grand parents moved from Galway to Seattle - 
grandpa born there, in 1912. 

Dad's side (100% Cornish, or corny as the case may be) - 

Thomas - great grandparents moved from Cornwall to Butte, MT, and grandma was born there in 1909.

Pedlar - grandpa was born in Cornwall in 1902, and moved with his family from Cornwall when he was a young boy (5 or 6) to Butte, MT

---

So, my four grandparents are all either first generation or immigrants. Guess that puts me out of being among the landed gentry here, but oh well.


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## BertMulder (Feb 10, 2009)

Am fresh off the boat, I mean plane...

immigrated here in 1976. My geneology on my dad's side goes back to the 1600's, and they all lived in roughly the same area till then...

My wife is second generation, her parents having immigrated from the Netherlands, as well


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## kevin.carroll (Feb 10, 2009)

My branch of the Carrolls arrived here aboard the British ship _Gallatea_ in 1647. My ancestor, Benjamin, received a land grant in Jamestown but abandoned it pretty quickly. I don't know why. He, his brother, and their families moved shortly thereafter to Salem, MA, of all places...

During the Witch Trials, one of my aunts, Hannah Carroll was accused, tried, and acquited of being a witch. Right after the trials the entire clan relocated to Washington County in Vermont where they remained until the Civil War. In the aftermath of the War, my GG Grandfather caught the "westward ho!" bug, and moved to Iowa, where they remained for the next four generations. I'm from all over. 

TMI, I know.


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## kalawine (Feb 15, 2009)

Zenas said:


> Seb said:
> 
> 
> > William Tecumseh Sherman
> ...


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## LadyFlynt (Feb 15, 2009)

TimV said:


> What's with all the Finnish blood here? It seems rather over represented.



Hey, my great grandmother, Sivia, came over from Finland....got a problem with that?  She was quite a woman, that one. Great sense of humour and fun loving. I remember her best for her red raspberry floats


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## Theognome (Feb 15, 2009)

I thought Finnish had something to do with ichthyoids. There's something fishy going on here...

Theognome


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## Galatians220 (Feb 16, 2009)

kevin.carroll said:


> My branch of the Carrolls arrived here aboard the British ship _Gallatea_ in 1647. My ancestor, Benjamin, received a land grant in Jamestown but abandoned it pretty quickly. I don't know why. He, his brother, and their families moved shortly thereafter to Salem, MA, of all places...
> 
> During the Witch Trials, one of my aunts, Hannah Carroll was accused, tried, and acquited of being a witch. Right after the trials the entire clan relocated to Washington County in Vermont where they remained until the Civil War. In the aftermath of the War, my GG Grandfather caught the "westward ho!" bug, and moved to Iowa, where they remained for the next four generations. I'm from all over.
> 
> TMI, I know.


 
Beg to disagree, Rev. Carroll, re: TMI. That's fascinating. Do you know much more about them? Sounds as though a book might be in order...

Margaret


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## kevin.carroll (Feb 17, 2009)

Thanks, Margaret. There is a good deal more. I have been doing heavy duty genealogical research for about two years. I hope to publish a Carroll family history, if for no one other than the family.

I have also discovered that Charles Carroll of Carrollton (signed the Declaration of Independence) and Daniel Carroll (signed the Constitution) are my first cousins, nine times removed.


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## Jimmy the Greek (Feb 17, 2009)

Father's side -- 1712 from Wales.
Mother's side -- 1910 from Greece.


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## wfl3 (Feb 17, 2009)

LeGrand's 1700 from Britian to Virginia.

Pierre LeGrand, his wife and 5 children came in the ship _Peter and Anthony_.

(The LeGrands spent some time in Holland as well.)


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## Brian Withnell (Feb 20, 2009)

ServantofGod said:


> President Zachery Taylor is one of our descendants.



My! You must be *old* and full of years if Zachery Taylor is one of your descendants.


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## Anne (Feb 20, 2009)

I forget the dates, but my family heritage in a nutshell is:

Dad's side: Scottish, as far back as we could find. John Robinson was on board the Mayflower...he married a Scottish bar maid. My clan is Gunn, dating back to the viking Sweyn Asleifsson. We're about as northern as you can get, with family roots in the Orkney Islands.

Mum's side: Scottish. Her clan is Wallace, yes, that Wallace =) We're not sure when her family came to America.

I have never set foot in Scotland. A fact that bothers me to no end, there are times I think I have never really been home!

Freedom!
-Anne
("Annie")


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## a mere housewife (Feb 20, 2009)

I don't quite know when we all came over on my dad's side: I know that on my mom's side I have some Jewish ancestry through my grandfather, and that within recent history they were in Europe: I was long ago told by my mom's grandmother that one of her ancestor's (but alas I don't remember what nationality? I _think _French) properties served as a headquarters for Napoleon on one of his campaigns.

Ruben's family were it seems German, and settled in Pennsylvania. They seem to have been Lutherans but he had relative, Rev. Rufus Calvin Zartman, who appears to have been a Dutch reformed minister and who authored several books, one on heaven and a book on the Zartman family history which I only found online typing this up (it seems one can read a sermon by him, preached at the second family reunion August 1909, p 412: The Zartman Family - Google Book Search) I don't know when the reformed part dropped out of R's heritage but his dad grew up in Brethren groups, and who knows what before that: Ruben was the first of his known family to 'return' to the reformed faith (now several other members of his family are 'almost reformed' . Here is an excerpt from the family history:

When our ancestor in 1728 in Philadelphia took the oath of allegiance toKing George the Second he signed his name in German as Alexander Zartmann. When he purchased 179 acres of land in Lancaster COunty, Pennsylvania, Thomas Penn and Richard Penn gave him a deed in which they wrote his name eight times in English as Zartman. 



And another, from this webpage about a Lutheran church's history: Pennsylvania Dutch History, Genealogy and Culture



*Since Zartman was an important personage in the founding of Emanuel, it behooves us to become more acquainted with him. He and his wife, Ann Catharina Zartman, and son Jacob, aged five, came to America from the province of Wuertemberg, Germany, in the Summer of A. D. 1728. They made their way down the Rhine river to Rotterdam and from there on June 22, 1728 sailed for America, arriving at the Port of Philadelphia on August 31, 1728. While they were at sea, a child was born and the parents wanted him to be baptized. Zartman was asked to perform the sacrament and he recorded the act in the record of the Muddy Creek Lutheran Church. The event is mentioned because it reveals the outstanding character and spiritual quality of our charter member. He became a citizen on September 4, 1728. *


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