Do you know your ancestry?

Discussion in 'Discussion' started by Ars Nova, May 18, 2014.

  1. Ars Nova Just a ghost.

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    I know next-to-nothing about my distant family. Kinda sad really :'D But I was wondering if anyone else on the boards ever thought about it or bothered to learn more about where they came from. Or have you known loads about your ancestry since you were little?

    This can be anything as recent as your great-grandparents or as far off as the first of your family to immigrate to your home country. Whatever's significant to you.
     
  2. . : tale_wind Ice to see you!

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    I know that (if you round the numbers), my ancestry is about half-British and half-Swiss-German, though both sides of my family have been in America since the nineteenth century.
     
  3. LARiA Twilight Town Denizen

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    Yes, I've bothered to know a bit. My great grandfather on my mother's side was an Irish immigrant. We do not know anything about my maternal grandmother's heritage, for she was adopted (but it has been speculated she is partially Italian, dunno mostly guesswork). I even know a thing or two about mental statuses, my mother's paternal grandmother (the mother of my mother's father) was schizophrenic. I strongly suspect my maternal aunt is Histrionic.

    The only [distant] side of the family I've really "connected" with is my paternal grandmother, I did not speak her native tongue before I moved in with her but now we speak solely in Macedonian. Although she has lived in Macedonia ever since she conceived my father, she lived in Serbia prior and is of Bulgarian ethnicity; her parents were probably Bulgarian. Both my grandfathers are dead, so I do not possess the opportunity to ask them about their lineage. But I believe my paternal grandfather's parents were Serbian.

    It's interesting to muse about long-off relatives, unfortunately info pertaining to ancestral lineage can be difficult to track even with aid of the Internet. I tried a couple years ago to conduct such a search but was met with few results.
     
  4. Te Deum Hollow Bastion Committee

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    Absolutely.


    I know next to nothing farther than both my maternal and paternal grandparents. From there on, it’s just a guessing game and a brief mentioning of what they were like when they were still alive. From my mother’s side, there‘s a large amount of Venezuelan heritage, and the large family comes from a line of landowners and farmers. They hold their terrain (or whatever bit of land they have now due to the dictatorship) with a vice-like grip. That’s all I know about that side.


    My father’s side hails from Russia, supposedly more to the Southwest, near Kazakhstan and the Black Sea. Huge Russian Jew family. Also, they seem to be all dead.


    I’d kill for more information on my ancestry and heritage.
     
  5. Llave Superless Moderator

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    My family has extremely detailed and maintained records on both sides of my mom and dad's family tree. My mom has records of her maternal lineage, and I haven't perused through the files, so I'm not entirely certain how far that goes.

    As for my father's side, I have records of my surname lineage all the way back to my 7x great grandfather (Jacob), so basically 10 generations. My paternal side is German, and Jacob had immigrated to the United States back in the 1750s. Lots more info but all of it is personal so lol.

    Also I have a heraldry from my dads side, and I've been meaning to revamp it @_@

     
  6. Patman Bof

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    I' ve actually known my great-greatparents on my mum' s side. Mostly my greatgranny, since her husband died when I was a wee kid. He' s been decorated twice for his role as a leader in the resistance and has been the mayor of Figeac, which now has a street named after him.

    Further back along the line is abbé Carnus. Spelunker, pioneer, scientist, eclesiast, martyr, beatified by pope Pie XI. There' s a couple of streets and a school named after him in the town I live in, and his character has been used in a couple of French movies. My granny knows loads about him, she' s got a bunch of old lithographies of his montgolfier (hot air balloon).

    I don' t know much about my dad' s side though. Seems my name is of Spanish roots, that' s about it. However one of my uncles researched the archives once and gathered as much of the family tree as he could in one place. That was ... interesting.
     
  7. Ghost King's Apprentice

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    Currently, my mom's side of the family lives in Wisconsin and the first ones to get there where my great great great grandparent. They each came from Germany and Poland but I know the entire side of my mom's family is German, Polish, Yugoslavian and Czechoslovakian. My grandmother said that there's a chance we could be Prussian too.

    My dad was born and raised in Nigeria, Africa so that makes me half African. So, as far as I know I'm only African from his side of the family.
     
  8. Fellangel Bichael May

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    Besides my mom, dad, aunt, and uncle, I know nothing else of my family. Sadly, my Mother's family which is basically her mother and father were left behind during the Korean War and my Father's parents already passed away before I was born. Kinda sad, but I don't mull over it too much.

    Not to mention I don't know much about my parents either. All I know is that my father was in military and my mother was in college. Besides that, nothing much else in their lineage.
     
  9. muff monkey Twilight Town Denizen

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    My sister has found out our ancestry from my mom's side of the family, but we know next to nothing about my dad's side. But it's fairly interesting, because both my mom's parents came from Czechoslovakia, so it's funny how american we are even though the majority of my family JUST came from Europe.
     
  10. Peace and War Bianca, you minx!

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    Mainly English stock, with Irish and Italian ancestry. Want to know more, but I think i'm going to be disappointed i'm not a mongrel.
    Puritan stock, Llave? So original.
     
  11. Sara Tea Drinker

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    My mom's side came from Australia, so I have a huge diversity of races for half of my family. It doesn't go back far, just a few greats back because one of my ancestors was an Aborigini who was given to a white family as a slave as was common then. (Rabbit-Proof Fence is a great movie talking about it.) But yeah, I have a huge melting pot of different races, Native American (Eskimo), Aborigini, African American, and god-knows what else... The other half is Irish, on my dad's side.
     
  12. Calxiyn Keyblade Master

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    I know a lot of people from my mom's side of the family, which is mostly in Canada. We also have a lot of family in Italy since that's where my Nonni lives before coming to Canada. I haven't really met a lot of the ones that live outside of Canada though, so to me it's just names. I don't really know anything about my dad's side, other then he's part British, Irish and Scottish, and that I had a great-grandmother who gave me a teddy bear I still sleep with XD It's kind of sad really, my Nonno tells all these stories about back when he was a kid, but on my dad's side I merely get some names in hush tones. I'm a little bit curious, but maybe some stuff is better left unknown.
     
  13. Amaury Legendary Hero

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    Not really.

    Personally, I don't find that stuff too important.
     
  14. LadyAzura Hollow Bastion Committee

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    Both sides of my family lives comes from Central America! My mom's side lives in Guatemala and my dad's side lives in El Salvador!
     
  15. Sebax Avatar by Xerona

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    I know it quite well, actually.

    My Great-Grandparents, who were my Maternal Grandmother's parents, were Italian Immigrants who met in the United States of America (Arranged marriage). My Maternal Grandfather has the most mixed heritage. He's got lines of French, Irish, and one Mohican around Civil War times (As far as I know, there are two notable details: It was between a French descended individual and not an instance of sexual molestation, which was common to take advantage of the indigenous peoples.) My father's side is just as interesting to me. His mother can trace her lineage back to the Mayflower, as many can, but either her grandmother or her mother still had the last name of the original settlers. My father's father was descended from Canadian Catholics who were actually criminals of England who had left Scotland and were Protestants before moving. Converting was a part of losing notice, and they shortened their names, taking the "Mc" out. I carry that very name, even though my parents never married.
     
  16. ShibuyaGato Transformation

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    I've really only heard about my ancestry from my parents. As far as I know, my mom's side of the family came from Cuba and my dad's from Italy. I don't have any family -- at least, that I know of-- outside of the US.
     
  17. A Zebra Chaser

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    I know my ancestry is basically a mashup of everywhere in Europe, with a LOT of Welsh, but that's about it
    I'm also vaguely related to Alexander Graham Bell
     
  18. Makaze Some kind of mercenary

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    I know a little bit. I know that my family has always been at odds. They have split evenly between the sides of every civil war in our history. Brother fights brother, for centuries.

    Okay with being rid of the name.
     
  19. Railos Hollow Bastion Committee

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    I don't really know much. At most I can only tell about my grandmothers and grandfathers. I don't even know their siblings. My uncles and aunts from my dad's side migrated to Canada except for my dad, and one of my uncles. My mom's side stayed here in the Philippines. I also have a cousin in Japan, and another somewhere in America. I had one in Italy but he moved back to Canada. That's about it.
     
  20. Ienzo ((̲̅ ̲̅(̲̅C̲̅r̲̅a̲̅y̲̅o̲̅l̲̲̅̅a̲̅( ̲̅̅((>

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    My mum has done extensive research into our family history so I know that the majority of it is incredibly boring and not overly exciting. I come from a family of English/Irish people who didn't do anything overly interesting and they live all in the same sort of area. Of course, I still find it fascinating because I came from all of that and this is only my mum's side, I don't know much about my Dad's.