What is your ethnicity?

[IndigoErth]

Why does it need to do anything? No one has to be interested their family history, but some people are.

All it "does" for me is fulfill a fascination with family history, a hobby and challenge to work on, and something I can pass down and keep that knowledge going of who we are as a family. Genealogy is a puzzle and some people enjoy the hunt for clues and trying to find unknowns. I finally last year after SO MANY years found a little more info for one of my tough dead ends and got one step further. That it took so long was worth that feeling of finally finding that breakthrough I was so sure was there somewhere.

There were also a few names I found and added to the tree last year of kids who died as infants. Rather sad to see and find out one of my sets of great grandparents dealt with losing an 11 month old baby, but I like being able to add these kids names to keep them in some way from being entirely forgotten.

I suppose those of us who do care about this stuff are probably likewise people who don't want to be forgotten either.

[AT-Man]

I'm white.

[Jester]

Surname's Scots-Irish, but I'm an American Mutt...so who knows what might be in there a few generations back. Debated taking one of those 23&Me tests to map it out...if it weren't for the money.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I mean you don't know your great grandparents. So if I find out mine were Russian farmers or bankers or worked in the steel mill, what does that do for me?

It doesn't do anything for you, but isn't it nice to keep them alive in a way by acknowledging and being aware of their lives?

(Incidentally I actually met both of my great-grandparents on my dad's side multiple times; they lived for a long time!)

[plastroncafe]

Some people are fascinated by history, and some aren't.
I fall into the latter category. I think it's fascinating to look back and see what we can glean from the past.

Especially since so much of that past can have strong influences on our present.

But as a point of order, Ethnicity isn't the same thing as Nationality.
Ethnicity is about culture, Nationality is just country you live in.

I could easily say I'm Yankee New Englander as well as what...part third-generation Sicilian American.
Which means I pronounce Italian words differently than someone from New York or New Jersey, who'll in turn pronounce them differently than someone from Sicily today.

Why? Because my ancestors came over before Italian was standardized, so those regional accents hadn't been merged yet.
How Capicola Became Gabagool: The Italian New Jersey Accent, Explained (atlasobscura)

[Katie]

I do like history and I have enjoyed learning some of the neat stories. I have an ancestor who was arrested for helping people communicate between the colonies and Swiss relatives. Some wierd law.

Just neat stuff. I like knowing the people that made me who I am today.

[ProactiveMan]

I'm Australian. All of my grandparents were born here, and some of their parents and grandparents were too. I'm genetically European, and mostly Anglo Celt I guess, but one of my grandparents is ethnically Slav.

I have very dark hair and I can tan, but my skin is quite pale by default.

I couldn't even begin to explain Australian culture; it isn't very well defined, so I don't really understand what it's like to identify with one's ethnicity. The closest reference point to me personally would be Catholicism I suppose, even though I don't practice, and don't agree with a lot of it, it still feels like it's part of me.

[Jester]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

Some people are fascinated by history, and some aren't.

I (or rather my wife) found a book about a group of vigilantes from the Branson, Mo area....one of whom was my Great x3 Grandfather. He's quoted in the book...though to be fair the quotes are gleaned from an interview he did for the Branson Historical Society, which I read BEFORE we found the book.

My wife was able to trace her linage back to Robert the Bruce.

[DarkFell]

I'm mostly an American mutt with some European, Native American, and a little side of Hispanic.

A lot of California and Minnesota customers that I talk to over the phone, are usually convinced that I'm a Southerner. Funny thing is I (IMO) have a light Southern accent, compared to a majority of the Southern folks that I also talk to.

[IndigoErth]

Pretty awesome about that book, Jester.

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

I've got people who fought battles alongside and had close relation to big names in Scottish history

Originally Posted by Jester

My wife was able to trace her linage back to Robert the Bruce.

And there's one of them now. And I believe the man by which the Boyds were rewarded some of their lands and estates for their loyalty, etc.

My grandmother was always very proud of that heritage, having been born a Boyd herself. Still trying to trace her exact line though.

Kicking myself for mostly missing out on the free UK records Ancestry was allowing this past Fri. though Monday night. Just wasn't ready to dive into it with any direction and spend enough time on it to get much out of it. Hope they offer it again.

[CyberCubed]

I bet some of our great grandpappies were slave owners or mass murderers or sired 15 children among multiple women. Seriously, knowing how people lived prior to the 1900's is not a good thing.

Everytime I think about people born prior to say...1920 or so, I think about what sad miserable lives they must have had. Not because of the lack of technology, but because of how ignorant the world was, how there were wars every year, diseases that killed people young, crime and mass murder, women and minorities had no say and were treated like slaves or dirt, etc.

Thank god we were born in the right time period, as well as our parents to a lesser extent. Some of our grandparents even didn't live such good lives, I know both of my grandparents were in World War II, who knows how many people they killed.

[Jester]

True...ish...

I know that same vigilante grandfather fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War...but was captured and was a POW for most of the war.

[Utrommaniac]

I'm white.

Most recent ancestry that I know of came from Germany/France in the 1700's and settled in Ohio, which was on my paternal grandfather's side. The earliest I know of was a little girl who was targeted in the midst of the Salem and survived. This was my maternal grandmother. It's pretty neat. There was a poem written about her, but my cousin has all the information about that. I think her name was Providence?

There was a little bit of marrying Indigenous Americans (my great-great-great-grandfather was 1/4 Cherokee). I would only be slightly surprised if I have a Black grandmother somewhere down the line. It's unlikely, but given how I had family living through the Salem Witch Trials, it probably happened at some point. I'm told somewhere there's a grandfather who was a slave trader, which would go back SUPER far.

I'm also descended from John Quincy Adams on my maternal great-grandmother's side. Which is pretty cool.

So it's extremely strong German/French on my father's side (we're REALLY sure it was German), and a hodge-podge on my mother's. Welsh is what I recall the most.

[Machias Banshee]

Our family is a delightful mess of several things.

I've got French, German (mom said her family goes back to the Huguenots), Portuguese...

Have a relative who was an officer under Napoleon, wrote The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask... and his mother was Haitian.

[Coola Yagami]

I'm Mexican mixed with Dominican. All American though. People usually just think I'm 100% Mexican especially since the Dominican Republic isn't exactly all that popular.

[CyberCubed]

Also whoever said being white gives you a better chance at getting a new job than minorities....they lied.

[Utrommaniac]

Originally Posted by Machias Banshee

Have a relative who was an officer under Napoleon, wrote The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask... and his mother was Haitian.

Woaaaaah that's awesome ! What sort of relative to Alexandre Dumas? Cousin? Grandfather? Uncle?

I knew someone who said he was a nephew to one of the Three Stooges.

[Redeemer]

Now i know who to be racist against

joking, joking

[ssjup81]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Also whoever said being white gives you a better chance at getting a new job than minorities....they lied.

Tell that to minorities looked over for jobs and promotions.

[Candy Kappa]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I bet some of our great grandpappies were slave owners or mass murderers or sired 15 children among multiple women. Seriously, knowing how people lived prior to the 1900's is not a good thing.

Interestingly, my dad do family research and he found out that we are related to one of the biggest slaver traders during the time Denmark-Norway joined the transatlantic slave trade. She took over after her husband died (iirc) and became one of the riches persons in Norwegian history, but her son or grandson who inherited the fortune drank and gambled it all away.