OT: I'm Canadian! Sort of!

[SLY]

Memorized and stored.

I have that memorized, but thats not a definite origin, thats why I wrote "I believe", smart ass.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

nothing exciting, we have been dirt farmers for as long as there has been dirt. But it was neat to run into a long-lost relative from the homestead.... and get some beer, too.

A couple years ago my wife traced back my fathers family as a gift for him, and for something for her to do at a boring job. She traced his family back to the early 1800s in Wales where it became very difficult because my last name is one of the major ones in Wales. What she found was that there were generations of my family who worked in coal mines. Then in late 1800s my great grandfather moved to Ohio and for years they appeared to move around Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and finally Maryland where the mill jobs were.

Nothing exciting, in some ways the typical immigrant story. It was eye opening but not unexpected to see the boys that were older than 12 or so listed as colliers too. I cannot imagine doing that job back then (or now) and couldn't imagine doing it as a kid.

no matter how typical, immigrant stories are all very interesting to me. Theyre always stories of sacrifice and really not many of us are capable of truly appreciating the magnitude of said sacrifices because we all have it pretty good in comparison

my grandpas (who was lower than a dirt farmer in his early life - if thats possible) rough timeline was:
fight in WW1 in Ethiopia
return to Italy and knock grandma up 7 times
doesnt want to fight in WW2 so leaves for USA (... by himself )
works clearing forests in Northern Cali
returns to Italy after WW2 ends
buys "abandoned" land & properties
becomes large scale dirt farmer

 

[pixburgher66]

Wow. Finally looking into my father's side of things (trying to trace back my surname) and my 3rd Great-Grandfather (I believe) came over from England with a young family, was a miner, and at the time of the census I just ready over (1910) he was living widowed with 3 of his many sons and a nephew. Ages: 19, 17, 16, 13. All working in the mines. Gosh.

 

[pixburgher66]

I think my grandpa on my dad's side was the first to go to school and break away from the coal mining thing. A big thanks to him for wanting to be educated, because who knows where I'd be otherwise. Not where I am, that's for certain.

 

[KillerVee]

no matter how typical, immigrant stories are all very interesting to me. Theyre always stories of sacrifice and really not many of us are capable of truly appreciating the magnitude of said sacrifices because we all have it pretty good in comparison

Yeah, I love hearing stories about my grandparents. My grandpa immigrated from Sicily as a nine year old and went straight to work as a fruit vendor (so stereotypical!). He didn't speak any English but he had to help his dad support that family of eight so he worked with him in the day and went to night school to learn English.

Eventually he went on to become a San Francisco police officer (on horseback! He was one of the officers who led the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge) and an American citizen. We he died, my family buried him with an American flag because he was just so damn proud to be an American.

My only regret is that he was so proud that he and my grandma wouldn't speak Italian at home so my dad and my aunts didn't learn any. It would have been nice to have the language around when I was growing up. Cause I'm trying to learn now on Rosetta Stone and it's a little rough.

 

[SLY]

Yeah, I love hearing stories about my grandparents. My grandpa immigrated from Sicily as a nine year old and went straight to work as a fruit vendor (so stereotypical!). He didn't speak any English but he had to help his dad support that family of eight so he worked with him in the day and went to night school to learn English.

Eventually he went on to become a San Francisco police officer (on horseback! He was one of the officers who led the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge) and an American citizen. We he died, my family buried him with an American flag because he was just so damn proud to be an American.

My only regret is that he was so proud that he and my grandma wouldn't speak Italian at home so my dad and my aunts didn't learn any. It would have been nice to have the language around when I was growing up. Cause I'm trying to learn now on Rosetta Stone and it's a little rough.

At least it is latin based. I tried learning German,

 

[KillerVee]

Oddly enough, I can speak more German than I can Italian. My dad was stationed there for a few years. And my brother is going to be stationed in Germany as of next month. And I watch a lot of German movies.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

My only regret is that he was so proud that he and my grandma wouldn't speak Italian at home so my dad and my aunts didn't learn any. It would have been nice to have the language around when I was growing up. Cause I'm trying to learn now on Rosetta Stone and it's a little rough.

im first generation canadian so I got a hybrid english/italian language growing up ... ie "voi un poco de chocolate milk with dinner" it was all very confusing

when we would go back to visit family in the summers and Id talk with my cousins ... they couldnt talk to me with a straight face because I spoke the old regional dialect that my parents spoke at home as opposed to proper italian they were learning in school ... theyd say it felt like they were talking with a 70 year old

 

[pixburgher66]

Ich liebe Deutsch, oder, es ist sehr scwierig zu lernen.

^^That right there is 5 years of it...and I could care less about sentence structure. Love it, but gosh I hated genders and all of that stuff. Ugh.

 

[elocomotive]

Eloco's Family Tree - Male Pattern Baldness Since 1839

 

[flyersfan4706]

Well, after a few...hours of research (not proud people), I finally hit the jackpot. I'm the 11th great-granddaughter of John Turner, who died in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621 after riding over on the Mayflower...that is after signing the Mayflower Compact. BOOM! AMERICA!

This is gonna sound kinda crazy, but my dad told me one time that we could have also been an original on the May Flower.

*Thunder Stolen Again*

 

[KillerVee]

This is gonna sound kinda crazy, but my dad told me one time that we could have also been an original on the May Flower.

So many white people in here!

 

[pixburgher66]

This is gonna sound kinda crazy, but my dad told me one time that we could have also been an original on the May Flower.

*Thunder Stolen Again*

It wouldn't surprise me at all. When you think about the number of people on that ship, and their kids who survived to procreate, along with those left behind in assorted countries, there are LOTS of people related to them. It's just cool to actually see the lineage.

 

[flyersfan4706]

Oh, I was thinking it was some kind of elite club.

Still cool to know though

 

[SLY]

So many white people in here!

That a problem?

 

[pixburgher66]

Oh, I was thinking it was some kind of elite club.

Still cool to know though

Well...I'm not sure how the numbers could ever be concieved really. However, for those able to prove they are descendants you CAN be part of the elite Mayflower Society. The relative I'm related to isn't on the list of acceptable ones because he died so early and the lineage isn't as easy to confirm as the others. But hey, he was written about in a letter from William Bradford. And that's cool enough for me.

 

[flyersfan4706]

All that really matters is that you know anyway.

 

[KillerVee]

That a problem?

My friend and I left a bar on Saturday because there were too many white people in it.

 

[SLY]

Im part of an elite society...

 

[Darkstone42]

So many white people in here!

So here are my hometown's demographics:

8,341 people
8,113 White
136 Two or more races
103 Black
67 Hispanic
13 Asian

It happens.