Your immigrant roots...

Can only go back to 17th century , all sides Welsh

On all sides I seem to be English for a considerable time, mostly agricultural or artisan (blacksmiths and saddlers). However my maternal line via my maternal great grandmother has been traced back to lower Saxony (Anglo Saxons) living in East Anglia for hundreds of years. I only have one Welsh ancestor and that seems to be about it. I've thoroughly enjoyed finding out about my family's past lives; some skeletons in the cupboard but who hasn't?

As far as I know, my father's family were Irish and in the cotton trade. They came over to England but for some reason lost all their money. My mother's family had some Irish and some Scottish blood, but I don't know more than that.
Just another mongrel.

Paternal great grandparents Scottish, grandparents born in Aberdeen and North Yorkshire. Maternal great grandparents both Irish, grandparents both born in North Yorkshire. Late husband's family traced back to 19th Century and come from Russia (believe Lithuania, but so far cannot confirm) on paternal side. Maternal side from Durham area.

ayse- so interesting. But isn't it strange about the attitude to the past by members of the same family. A bit like 'glass half full or half empty'- some of our family find our mixed heritage as 'skeletons in the cupboard' and try to hide or ignore it and have no sympathy at all for immigrants of today. Others see it as 'jewels' in the cupboard- that make our lives so much richer for it, and have therefore much more sympathy for immigrants or refugees. Some of our families have been both, economic migrants and refugees from awful regimes.

My maternal grandfather came here to find work from Holland after world war 1.

I haven't traced my ancestry, but a cousin did and all Northumberland or Bridlington going back a few centuries. Except that Dad's side went to sea, and one took his wife with him and she gave birth in some Russian port
OTOH - husband's ancestors were Jews from ?Poland, and yet he doesnt seem to be in the least keen to find out more. His great grandad was said to be one of 12 children, so Husband must have a huge extended family somewhere.

I am an immigrant (Canadian living in London). My family (as far as I know) were from Northern Ireland (Protestants originally from Scotland and England but where from before that, I haven't a clue), Germany and the Netherlands. My husband had an English mother but he was born during WW2 and no one knows who his father was or what nationality (if his mother knew, she never said). The mixture has produced fair-skinned, mainly blonde and red hair, blue eyes. There is quite an extensive family tree for my father's side of our family researched by other branches of the family back to the home farm in Northern Ireland. I haven't done any research myself but a project I have started is a sort of memoir of my life growing up on a farm in Ontario that I'm writing for my children/grandson. I wish I had had such stories handed down from my own ancestors, especially of those who left their homes to immigrate to Canada to homestead the newly opened up land in southern Ontario in the mid/late 19th century.

My mothers grandparents were Jews who fled from Germany at the turn of century and my fathers father was Welch.

Welsh!!!

Not a mongrel here but a hybrid! best of all bits. I am the family genealogist having done the research, a very rewarding hobby but addictive once you get going. Father's side all English prob back to 'ag lab' for all. Some interesting names though such as Frisby (yes not just a toy) and Utton. The latter is from Norfolk so my mother suggests maybe dutch origin as in Huiton that perhaps came to Norfolk to sort the lowlying land from dutch experience. Another gr grandparent was a workhouse survivor where he ended up as a child but was trained to be a tailor. His son was killed in WW1 age 23 yrs but left a wife and baby. This baby was reared in his grandparents home and was my father.

My mother's side is all Irish back thru many generations tho first gr gr gr parents came to England as a coastguard officer in 1825 (great records for these in National Archives). Another came as a boy in 1830's to train as shipwright in naval dockyard and stayed til retirement when returned to Dublin leaving adult children in UK. Down the years the Irish married other Irish and other Catholics until my mother met my father during WW2 in London and broke the tradition.

7 generations of my English ancestors were hereditary rectors of a parish in Leicestershire. They were also the local squires. We believe our Celtic ancestors were members of an outlaw clan who removed the Mac from their name when they migrated to the mainland to disguise the fact that they might have been Jacobites.

Granjura, have you thought about writing it all down so it won't all get lost in the mists of time??

The landmass way back when was called 'Pangaea' and I would imagine that we all originated from there one way or an other.

Immigrants ... immigration ... what has to be remembered is that this country that was originally part of a larger land mass is but a small Island.

Some of my immigrant ancestors arrived at this Island during the 'Huguenots' periods. They as many immigrants helped to build this Island to what it was and is today.

What can be said of this Island future?

As I believe, all my folks were from central Europe for generations, so it was a surprise when years ago a blood nurse looking at my notes suddenly said, "Gypsy, Indian or Polynesian?" Blankly I asked what kind of Indian, and she said Blackfoot and Crow. :D
Apparently my blood group suggests descent from those ethnic people.
I'm still looking.... haven't come up with an answer yet, though I am assuming it was the former!!
What a story!! I only wish I knew the details.

I am lucky enough to have copies of a couple of letters written by my gg grandfather to his son my, great grandfather. I think this part of my family were from Alsace, but also some lived in Prussia. The letters were dated 1867 and 1870, and were written from France somewhere to my great grandfather who was living in London at the time. The letters were written in English and in one line in the 1870 letter my gg grandfather writes "this war has broken me". The Franco Prussian War was going on at the time, I don't even know what side he was on, although their surname was French. I have spent a lot of time pondering on what he meant whether the war had broken him in spirit or financially. I think Alsace was annexed by the Prussians during this brief war and became French again after the 1st World War.

Terri pm sent- if you could send me copies of those letters, I am member of a Society who is expert in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870/71- which ended very near to me. I wonder if he was one of those who sought refuge in Switzerland on Feb1st 1871.

There is a Museum in Luzern, with a massive panorama circular painting of the events- if ever you have a chance to go to Luzern- make sure you go and visit- it is fascinating:

www.bourbakipanorama.ch/en/

persistentdonor- sorry I had missed your post. Yes, it is so complicated- and you are so right. DD1 is very interested, and is now in contact with second cousins all over the world and we intend to visit some next year in South AFrica, Tasmania and Australia (last two on both my and his side- some of my Swiss ancestors went to Melbourne/Victoria in 1840s to plant the now famous vineyards- and I have a fascinating book with all the letters sent home, and the demise to Phyloxera in the 1870s).

GD had an unusual form of jaundice called ovalocytes as a baby- and the peadiatrician was totally baffled (very blond and blue eyes, British/Scottish/Irish parents) until DD1 explained she had a great grand mother who was Indonesian, and bingo! Turns out several of the cousins in South Africa have got it too.

My PGM was Palestinian from Nazareth. We have a copy of her family tree..done differently from Europe as it is done like tree rings..it goes back many generations..but all in Arabic and only for sons Not sure if Jesus is on there though but I was always proud as a child to know Grandma came from the same place as Jesus! However the 'tree' does not go back as far as the Crusades when the fair hair/blue eyed Palestinians got their genes from .. my grandma was that colouring.

My PGF came from Darlington. His GGF was a miller.

My MGM was also from the NE of England as was my MGF whose GGF was a sweep.
I think there was Celtic blood somewhere on mum's side as the bright red hair of my mother and her two sisters with their blue/green eyes was a bit of a give away.

On my DH side my BiL has done lots of genealogical research and paid about£100 for a DNA analysis to discover Persian (Iranian) genes. This may account for his two brothers' & his sister's dark hair, eyes and colouring but not DH's red hair and hazel eyes! Not sure if the Persian genes were from his mum or dad..suspect dad but not sure!

My two DDs appearance represent both these contrasting sets of GGPs and gene pools. One is red haired, fair skinned and blue eyed & the other dark haired, brown eyes and olive skinned!

Ancestry and tribal affiliation are central to Maori culture and we were having a fairly random discussion about our ancestry during the coffee break at my Maori language class last week. One friend, who has mainly Maori and some European ancestors and who is a little younger than I am, shocked us all by explaining how she was officially "categorised" when she was a school child. She was classed as – without any background research and to her complete confusion – only one-quarter Maori and thus not a "proper" Maori. This must have been in the late 1950s or early 1960s. The arrogance of those responsible defies belief.

She also shocked and amused us by describing a private visit to Te Papa Tongarewa ("The Place of Treasures of This Land), the national museum and art gallery of New Zealand in Wellington. She has what could be described as aristocratic Maori lineage and was given access to documents about her ancestors. Where cause of death was listed "eaten" was inscribed for at least two members of her family.

Penstemmon Your daughters are so beautiful!

absent That's horrible! I was going to say... Food for thought, but I won't!

Oh! that sounds really interesting to find ..if a little concerning... that someone/thing had consumed your ancestor.

My mother had surgery to correct her Dupuytren's, hildajenniJ, and was also told that this proved that she had Viking blood (also from North East England). Much to her disgust, Margaret Thatcher had her op for the same condition the same week - my mum hated the fact that they'd something in common! I also have grandfathers with the most Welsh and Scottish names imaginable, so know where else I'm from.

DH, we thought, was descended from a Catholic martyr and minor gentry in North Yorkshire. Till we discovered that his Great Grandfather was a foundling, one of two babies left together on a doorstep. DH and two of my children have black hair and my DD2 has very dark eyes. It'd be interesting to find out what their heritage is.

What an interesting thread. I've done a lot of family tree research and discovered that I have French ancestors (Huguenot, I think). DH, who has proud Cornish ancestry found that he also has Scandinavian blood, including a several times great grandmother who was a Swedish white witch and whose son founded Stockholm, with a statue in that city to prove it.

Maggiemaybe - I also had an op for Dupeytren's a couple of years ago and was told the same thing, ie about the Viking blood. Unfortunately (and off thread, sorry) my op (injection, actually) only lasted about 18 months and is now as bad as ever.