# Does your ancestry matter? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447 "2014-05-14T16:39:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447/41 "2014-05-15T02:16:04Z")
From my standpoint, I find the grand sweep of humans spreading out over the face of the earth from beginnings in Africa to be compelling. The process seems to be so human; find out what is over the next hill; we are different from them so they are the enemy. There is an echoing of the biological processes involved in speciation - of course we are talking about social/cultural evolutions rather that the small genetic differences that divide us. I like the way in which all of this process binds us together into a piece of fabric. In contrast my Mother dealt with (made up) tales of our ancestors. Raised to believe that I was part Indian on my Mom’s side - the tribe of origin shifted with time and styles - I corrected that when there was other evidence from a mRNA test done. Additionally, I find that my haplotype is one found most usually in N European Jews. I had been raised to believe otherwise. I am happy to find information on me personally and my relatives, but the greater picture of all human development is one that can join us in our differences. And it is interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Nikki\_Tikki\_Tavi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3da27b/32.png) [@Nikki\_Tikki\_Tavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nikki_Tikki_Tavi)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447/42 "2014-05-15T02:25:07Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > I know I am Polish on one side and that has mattered to part of my family a little bit. My other side doesn’t even know themselves what they are. My ancestry has very little impact on my life. Same here. I’ve got Pollacks on both sides, my maiden name suggests there might have be some German in there somewhere, but really I’m not too interested. My parents were born here, so were my grandparents, and so were my great grandparents. We don’t have any ethnic customs other than kielbasa showing up at pot lucks and making pierogis. And telling lots of Pollack jokes. I don’t think it’s a lame hobby, it just doesn’t interest me personally what someone in my bloodline did 200 years ago. I got my own problems, yo. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447/43 "2014-05-15T04:07:05Z")
> [@Maeganspop](#): > > Ok. As a hobby I understand . I have hobbies that in the grand scheme of things probably are unimportant . I just come upon people that seem to think knowing their ancestry makes them feel somehow superior to someone that doesn’t . They seem to think it is very important . I just don’t see it as terribly important other than the hobby thing . It could be important in some circumstances. I think if I filed the proper paperwork I could be eligible for Hungarian citizenship, based on my ancestry. Since Hungary is in the EU, if I obtain it, that would make me eligible to immigrate to Europe if I would ever choose to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447/44 "2014-05-15T04:22:58Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > There is a quote from Gilbert and Sullivan’s _The Mikado_, which unfortunately I can’t find right now, so I will have to refer to it from memory. The quote is from Pooh Bah, who is Lord High Everything Else in the town of Titipu. He makes a speech where he proclaims his innate worth because he can trace his ancestry back to a bit of protoplasm in the primordial ooze. This great, long ancestry makes him, he thinks, the most noble fellow around and gives him great personal pride. I found the actual quote: [QUOTE=Pooh Bah via WS Gilbert] I am, in point of fact, a particularly haughty and exclusive person, of pre-Adamite ancestral descent. You will understand this when I tell you that I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic globule. Consequently, my family pride is something inconceivable. I can’t help it. I was born sneering. [/QUOTE] So I’m guessing Gilbert was skewering excessive pride in one’s ancestry. I trust no-one here is guilty of that failing. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447/45 "2014-05-15T04:29:51Z")
> [@Maeganspop](#): > > Ok. As a hobby I understand . I have hobbies that in the grand scheme of things probably are unimportant . I just come upon people that seem to think knowing their ancestry makes them feel somehow superior to someone that doesn’t . They seem to think it is very important . I just don’t see it as terribly important other than the hobby thing . Some people are self important douchebags. This is not unique to genealogy. ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447/46 "2014-05-15T22:25:36Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > . > Like you and nearly every other researcher on the planet, I’ve hit brick walls also. Some I’ve managed to break through, but others will likely remain unbreakable forever. I found some “maybe” answers that lead me off in some pretty info rich branches, but I’m reluctant because how do you know if that’s really them or just coincidences. I wonder how many people get it wrong? ---
**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:** [May 15, 2014, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447/47 "2014-05-15T23:19:54Z")
Several of my ancestors founded a town in the Midwest that is now a fairly well known small-to-medium city. How did I end up a descendent of so many of them? Well, when you’re 18 and living the Little House on the Prairie life circa 1840, who are you going to marry? Ain’t hardly any choices but neighbors. It’s interesting to visit and see what my ancestors did, and maybe imagine myself to be an important person in town (lol). ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447/48 "2014-05-16T01:15:11Z")
By “matter”–does that mean I’ll come into money? Nope. My father died young & I was raised in another state than his family–we visited a couple of times but none of them ever came to Texas. A cousin married a guy into genealogy & he distributed some information to all of us. Now I know the Irish towns my grandparents came from. I cursory look at [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) revealed my _other_ grandmother was my grandfather’s second wife. She never mentioned that detail. I also discovered, late, that her estranged sister was married to that grandfather’s stepbrother. Will probably do a bit more checking, just for fun. Hey, some people down here are Astros fans. Or Texans fans… ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447/49 "2014-05-16T02:39:33Z")
It matters to me, because I like to know where I came from. I like to think of the ancestor sitting at home in his little Swiss house, never even dreaming I would appear way down the line. Or even the baker in Colonial-era Albany. (Or Sir Peter Warren, the richest man in New York in the early 18th century, none of whose riches reached down to me. That bastard!) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447/50 "2014-05-16T05:02:25Z")
> [@Maeganspop](#): > > This morning on my way to work I was thinking, “[Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com), who gives a shit?”. > > Does it really matter where your ancestors came from? I live in the US. I was born in the US and so were my parents. I can figure that out without tracing my lineage. Therefore I identify myself as being American. I know I am actually North American as well as my brothers from another mother in Canada and Mexico. > > How does it affect me that my past started from some dude in Ireland, Germany, or The Congo? I’m not sure what you think [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) is, but it primarily provides access to American records such as birth, marriage, and death certificates. For an extra $100 or so you can also access international records and I believe they do offer some sort of DNA testing service, but most people who use [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) are looking for more information about ancestors who lived in America. ---
**Author:** ![mage-girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@mage-girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mage-girl)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447/51 "2014-05-16T06:33:37Z")
I was on [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) for about a year. I had to quit due to money issues. Also, it was a lot of work trying to get information out of my mother, who is estranged from her family, and I am not in touch with my father. Before I started looking into my background, I thought my heritage was mainly English/French/Native American. From what I found at [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com), I’ve got a good bit of German ancestry as well. I never even realized that my last name was German. :smack: When I told a friend about it, she told me what my last name means (or, at least, what it originally meant). I feel a lot better about my last name now. It’s not just a name I got from my deadbeat dad, it actually means something cool! 🙂 I would say that if you’re not into investigating your background, don’t worry about [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com). Not everyone has to enjoy everything. It’s okay if you don’t “get” it! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447/52 "2014-05-16T13:58:18Z")
> [@PurpleClogs](#): > > I found some “maybe” answers that lead me off in some pretty info rich branches, but I’m reluctant because how do you know if that’s really them or just coincidences. I wonder how many people get it wrong? Yeah, that way lies madness. If you can’t provide citations for the link to a family branch, then it’s just speculation, and there is far too much of that on the internet. I was lucky on one family line, as I was able to contact a distant cousin who had letters from a mutual ancestor that cleared up the mystery. Most recently, I was able to clear up some history for my niece. The only information she had about her mother was her full name, date of birth and the city she was born in. I was able to find her grandparents and great grandparents for her. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447/53 "2014-05-16T18:05:35Z")
What happens in the past influences the future. Whether you learn about the people, places and situations which made you the person you are or not depends on how deeply you care to explore it. Whether you care to know or not depends on a multitude of factors. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447/54 "2014-05-16T18:42:02Z")
Currently in Spanish theaters there is a movie called “8 Basque lastnames”, a comedy involving a Basque bride and Andalusian groom to-be and their respective families; Basque folk have a notorious hangup about tracking ancestry. This hangup hails from that time when Phillip V made us search through centuries-old historical records in order to prove that our ancestors on all sides had been present in Parliaments (a requirement which he got out of his left elbow); if even one of your great-grandparents was from “outside”, you either needed to look in additional Parliaments’ records, or were simply up shit creek without a paddle when it came to asserting your right to address and question the monarch. Ever since, those families which were able to pass that goddamned test have tracked ancestry carefully, just in case another king decided to pull that shit again. If such a test was brought up right now, I wouldn’t be able to attend Parliament; I’ve got several ancestor lines which I know for sure didn’t attend any Parliaments anywhere unless you count kitchen personnel. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-ancestry-matter/688447.md?page=2)