I’m another American mutt. Generally an even combination of English/Scottish/Irish, French and German. Some branches of the ancestors have been here hundreds of years, and some have only been here since about 1830 or so.
We have no idea where the family last name comes from- geneaology sites indicate it could be Norman French, Welsh or just English.
I can’t say that I really have any particular ancestral culture, so I kind of think it’s a bit silly for people to say “I’m Irish” or “I’m German”, when all they have is an Irish or German last name, but the rest of the family is like mine.
I’m also a proud USA mutt, with four distinct groups I’m descended from. Three aspects of my heritage have always been celebrated by my family. The fourth aspect of my heritage, the Scottish side, was curiously absent. The only sign of it was a strange looking emblem my father kept on one of his bookshelves - a silver rendition of a funny looking man standing behind an upright X. My father said he thought it might be some kind of coat of arms.
Curiosity drove my father to research further. The only thing we know about my Scottish Great Grandfather is that he was a taciturn and unpleasant man who emerged from Pennsylvania sometime in the late 1800’s headed for the lumber camps of upper Michigan. He had only the clothes on his back and this silver emblem, which turned out to be a tartan clip - but not just any tartan clip. The funny looking man behind the upright X is the `symbol of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, and this particular clip was awarded to the veterans of the battle of Waterloo.
So what led my ancestors from their proud heritage to a quiet, hand-to-mouth existence on the American frontier? Why did they choose not to celebrate or pass down their clan heritage? As I grow older, the questions haunt me more and more. That’s what drives me - heck I may even go to the clan reunion a couple years from now.
I think this describes my family, as a group we identify as Irish-American, but it’s been fairly consistent, with relatively recent immigration, and didn’t skip any generations. Granted, it’s very Irish-American, but we like it that way and don’t presume to be actually Irish.
HOWEVER (here is where I actually address the OP), I have one set of great-grandparents who emigrated from the Ukraine. They settled in an Irish-American immigrant neighborhood, because the Irish had the Catholic church while the Russian immigrant neighborhood had an Orthodox. There weren’t enough Ukrainians to have their own neighborhood, so they had to slum it with the Irish. All their children married Irish-Americans, and so as an extended family, any Ukrainian heritage was eclipsed. This was aided by the fact that they participated in plenty of neighborhood Irish-themed associations (football club, dancing school, church groups, etc) and nothing similar was available for Ukrainian culture.
My g-grandfather was long dead when I was born, but my g-grandmother was alive throughout my childhood and she was really an amazing lady. Somewhat recently, a few of us cousins have gotten more interested in learning about Ukrainian culture – I’m not sure we identify with it, but it feels like a kind of personal tribute to our great-grandmother. I don’t think I’d be as interested if I hadn’t actually known her as a person (as opposed to a dead ancestor on paper). There are some neat things we have learned that we had previously assumed were her individual quirks, and never realized had a wider cultural meaning, like weird expressions and stuff like that. Ha, there was one thing she used to say to us that we always chalked up to the combo of her being 1. old and 2. not so great with the English, and it turns out it’s an actual Ukrainian proverb.
I honestly can’t say why it fascinates me. I’ve always been more interested in the distant past than the near or present, so I guess the notion that my “people” were in Scotland in thus-and-such year (whatever year I’m reading about this week) is appealing.
Our family joke is that oh, OK, now her thing for all things tartan makes sense!
As I overheard an Irishman say to an American at a Bavarian bar here in the United States, “You’re not Irish you’re a fucking American!”
Incidentally, I don’t really get it either. I suspect at some point it might have had something to do with seperating us from the new immigrants (Italians, Jews, Eastern Europeans, etc) but I don’t think that’s the case with most people these days.
Marc
Got to love the tartan, so I want to give a shout out to all the Scots out there!
I have always been very proud of my Scottish ancestry. In elementary school I always introduced myself as, “First Name, Last Name of the MacKintosh Clan” in my best Scottish brogue. I would learn any Scottish fiddle tune I learned on my violin. In High School I started wearing a Kilt in my clan colors (MacKintosh). My senior research paper was 30 pages on the Highland Clearances. Once I got to college, I decided the tartan was a little gaudy and bought a utilikilt. I started participating in the Highland Games and hung around with the people who played with wooden swords on the Quad (always accompanied by the lascivious pleasing of the lute, of course). That year I celebrated Robert Burns day for the first time, and had a Burns Dinner with haggis, neeps, and tatties (everything but the whiskey–I don’t drink). That night someone asked me when my family came over to the states from Scotland. I didn’t know. I had to call my parents. What they told me, remains one of the greatest disappointments of my life.
I had exactly one Scottish ancestor.
My great great grandmother, Hannah Macombe immigrated with her family in the 1860’s. I am only 1/8 Scottish. The rest of the blood in my veins comes from the vile English vermin.
This provoked an identity crisis. Eventually I decided the English (no offense) were not colorful enough to REALLY be related to me. I am still Scots because we are so much cooler than our relatives to the South.
Maybe I should start a new thread–what part of your ancestry are ACTUALLY descended from. None of this genealogy crap. What’s the coolest part of your ethnicity?
I’m Spanish… Navarrese (100% Basque blood inasmuch as we can tell and barring a lying ancestoress) on the paternal side, Catalan mutt on the maternal (which includes ancestors from Asturias, Leon, Aragon, Catalonia, an Italian lastname and a French one which is actually German).
It’s unusual for me to run into someone Hispanic who doesn’t have an ancestor from the same area as one of mine But those of Basque-Navarrese ancestry usually have the opposite politics from mine, so it’s a subject best left aside, eh? Let’s just sing jotas and play jai-alai and not bring the nasty subjects out, eh, healthier this way! Specially since both their reason for “delving into history” and mine are politics… leeeeeet’s leave arguments about whether Carlos III el Noble was noble or a sonabitch for when there isn’t anything at hand that can be used in a physical fight…
But those of Basque-Navarrese ancestry usually have the opposite politics from mine, so it’s a subject best left aside, eh? Let’s just sing jotas and play jai-alai and not bring the nasty subjects out, eh, healthier this way! Specially since both their reason for “delving into history” and mine are politics… leeeeeet’s leave arguments about whether Carlos III el Noble was noble or a sonabitch for when there isn’t anything at hand that can be used in a physical fight…