# Americans: When did your earliest ancestor come to what is now the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 16, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203 "2011-07-16T00:55:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/21 "2011-07-16T05:52:44Z")
I picked between 1700 and 1800 because I know one of my ancestors was born in Connecticut and was a signer of the declaration of independence, but it’s possible that his ancestors came over during the late 1600s. That’s my dad’s side of the family. On my mother’s it’s only been 100 years since anyone left Ireland, Bermuda, and the Azores. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/22 "2011-07-16T06:08:17Z")
I have no idea and since there is no option for that I can’t/didn’t vote. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/23 "2011-07-16T06:43:58Z")
Whoa, we got a lot of DAR members here. 😃 Mine came over in the Jewish migration from Russia in the 1880s - before Ellis Island opened. My wife can trace hers back to the early 18th century - we even have a book giving the ship they came on. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/24 "2011-07-16T08:31:04Z")
All 4 of my grandparents came here shortly after 1900. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/25 "2011-07-16T09:33:41Z")
I don’t know. but I can guarantee you he/she was an alcoholic & had a pint in their pocket that they were willing to sell… ---
**Author:** ![CWN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@CWN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CWN)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/26 "2011-07-16T10:54:36Z")
My Irish GG grandparents come in the 1850’s and settled in the lower east side of NY. Gramps was 50 in 1862 when he enlisted in the Union army and died of “disease” in Baton Rouge La. in 1864 leaving behind a wife and 9 children The Italian side came over in 1901 through Ellis Island and also settled in NY and am still researching them ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/27 "2011-07-16T10:58:19Z")
> [@KinkiNipponTourist](#): > > John H. travelled over on the Mayflower, toppled off (drunk as a lord) just before landing at Plymouth, and was hauled back up on board. Former presidents Bush are also descendants. I’m interested in seeing where you read that he was drunk - I rarely ask for cites but I’ve never read anything of the sort while doing Mayflower research. According to this, it appears he fell off due to a storm: > **[Aboard the Mayflower, 1620](http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/mayflower.htm)** > > An eyewitness account of the Puritan passage to Amreica \*And in one of them, as they thus lay hove to, in a mighty storm, a strapping young man (called John Howland) was, with a lurch of the ship thrown into the sea; but it pleased God that he caught hold of the ropes which hung overboard. He held his hold (though he was many feet under water) till he was hauled up by the same rope to the brim of the water, and then with a boathook and other means got into the ship again, and his life saved. \* At any rate, I’m descended from John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley. Her parents came over on the boat too but died the first winter. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/28 "2011-07-16T11:39:51Z")
I’m a descendant of William Bradford on my maternal grandmother’s side, so 1620 here. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/29 "2011-07-16T11:51:29Z")
> [@moejoe](#): > > On a nice ship called the Mayflower 🙂 Also. This is the earliest that my family can establish to reasonable genealogical proof. Though, there is an unproven allegation that I have Native ancestry (1/64th or less), which, if established, would push it back before 1492. ---
**Author:** ![KinkiNipponTourist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/30 "2011-07-16T12:26:09Z")
> [@PandaBear77](#): > > I’m interested in seeing where you read that he was drunk - I rarely ask for cites but I’ve never read anything of the sort while doing Mayflower research. > > \ > > At any rate, I’m descended from John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley. Her parents came over on the boat too but died the first winter. Thank you for that info, **PandaBear**. I admit, it’s always been presented as gospel in our family, with no factual evidence to back it up. And in our family, it seemed especially fitting. 😃 I stand corrected. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/31 "2011-07-16T12:39:08Z")
> [@ataraxy22](#): > > Around 1630. Then a few years later they got into practicing witchcraft and were kicked out of the New Haven colony and had to resettle in Westchester. Hey, my earliest ancestors arrived 1630, my 9 x great grandma got hung for witchcraft in 1692 in Salem. How american! ---
**Author:** ![Landshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/77aa72/32.png) [@Landshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Landshark)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/32 "2011-07-16T13:29:37Z")
I also had an ancestor on the Mayflower. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/33 "2011-07-16T15:00:30Z")
From my maternal grandmother - late 1600’s Conneticut. They moved to Canada in the 1760’s (apparently to take over Acadian farm land). They moved back to the US in the 1840’s. All my other grandparents were the first generation born in the US. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/34 "2011-07-16T15:10:19Z")
1600-1700. According to my mother’s rather extensive research, we had an ancestor on the _Sea Venture_ who stayed. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/35 "2011-07-16T15:13:14Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > I have no idea and since there is no option for that I can’t/didn’t vote. Concur. ---
**Author:** ![Lilacs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Lilacs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lilacs)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/36 "2011-07-16T15:18:41Z")
My grandmother’s family were here prior to 1700 but I don’t know the year. Dad’s family came over in the late 19th century. ---
**Author:** ![Suse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Suse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suse)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/37 "2011-07-16T15:22:48Z")
The earliest ancestor that I can find was a Massie who came over sometime during the 1600-1700s (I don’t have my notes with me). I mention the name because apparently the Massies were rather fond of huge families and their descendants seemed to be also - I could well be related to someone here. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/38 "2011-07-16T15:23:27Z")
On one side, pre Columbus (pre Viking even!), on the other, c. 1875. As with most Americans, tho, there is a lot of mixing of who came from where. Depends on who you actually know to count as your (extended) family. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/39 "2011-07-16T15:24:13Z")
My eight-times-great-grandfather, John Tillotson, arrived in Massachusetts in 1692 or 1694. (I don’t remember which.) This is John Tillotson the Immigrant; not his second cousin John Tillotson the Archbishop of Canterbury. 😛 Interesting guy, my 8XGGF. He was sued for killing a neighbour’s horse, fined for not going to church, and admonished for chaining his wife to the bedpost to keep her indoors. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203/40 "2011-07-16T17:06:57Z")
Father’s side came in 1737; he sailed from England but doesn’t appear to have originated there – possibly German or Swiss. Maternal grandparents both came from Russia in 1917 – met on the ship and married later in the US. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-when-did-your-earliest-ancestor-come-to-what-is-now-the-us/589203.md?page=3)