topic Re: Where do you come from? in Among Friends

Where do you come from?

Laura14 — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 12:50:19 GMT

So this morning I am awakened by a text from my mother who is striking a sexy pose near a naval base in southern France.

Why you ask?

It is where my great grandmother picked up an Italian sailor who became my great grandfather before they sailed for America.

Some families go on religious pilgrimages. My family finds the local street corner where we literally all began.

That pic is going on the front of the family album. Happy Wednesday all!

Re: Where do you come from?

happycat — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 13:04:03 GMT

Awww, I love it!

Re: Where do you come from?

aggravated — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 21:32:38 GMT

Great story!

My parents were introduced by their local parish priest who thought they were both getting too old to not be married at that point. I'm sure he meant well but the marriage turned to absolute, total and complete disaster - he should have minded his own business.

Edited to add: since everyone is talking about the ancestry - my father's family emigrated from Germany. My mother's family emigrated from Canada - they were French.

Re: Where do you come from?

Sweet Caroline 1 — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 13:58:22 GMT

Hot Cha Cha!!! I've always been a romantic. My parents met on a blind date, they went to a dance and photos were made. They were both beautiful, dad in his suit and mom in her dress. Love is where it's at baby!

Re: Where do you come from?

geezerette — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 14:05:07 GMT

Very cute! It’s sometimes hard to remember our parents and grandparents were young once too!

Both sets of my grandparents had arranged marriages. One grandmother was a mail-order bride. My parents met in a beer garden.🍻🙂

Re: Where do you come from?

StephfromIdaho — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 14:10:58 GMT

can you post it for us to see? I love those kinds of pictures and the history behind it

Re: Where do you come from?

Laura14 — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 14:19:37 GMT

@StephfromIdaho The pic is in a text and I don't have a 12 year old handy to show me how to move it from text to here. Below is a pic of the naval base from whence this part of my family tree sprung. My mother had the street view and of course herself.

Re: Where do you come from?

StephfromIdaho — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 14:50:42 GMT

Thanks for posting, just love it! My aunt Katie left CA for Hawaii to “waitress” she cam back with an Commander!

Re: Where do you come from?

jeanlake — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 14:59:20 GMT

(Thank you, family stories and Ancestry.com) Dad's family comes from British Isles, all countries associated with that area represented, but dad liked to think of himself as Scottish. He had an engineering mind and connected with a stereotypical Scots' personality. Mom's family was English - migrated with roots from Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece -- which explains her olive skin and dark, wavey hair. They met after WW2 and married in Asheville, NC.

Recently surprised to discover I am 20% Finnish and Scandinavian. Husband said that explains my minimalism and orderly ways. But he did it with an eyeroll. He has zero of those qualities. Ha.

So, we all come from somewhere else - so what's all the prejudice in the world about? Will never be able to process this.

Re: Where do you come from?

151949 — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 18:17:41 GMT

According to ancestry dna I'm 76%celtic - Irish & Welsh. The other 24% are spread all over western Europe.Just draw a big circle around all of western Europe except Spain & portugal and that's me. I have had ancesters in the USA since before the Revolutionary war - so that is probably how so many different countries got into the mix. As my DH said - you are typical all American mix.

Re: Where do you come from?

Vivian — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 18:45:18 GMT

I was born and raised in the NYC suburbs. My town was on the Atlantic Ocean beach, with a boardwalk that provided great summer memories. My ancestors came from the Baltic states, although 8% came from the British Isles. I’ve been to England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. I loved those trips but got no further in my discovery of that part of my ancestry.

Re: Where do you come from?

ALRATIBA — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 18:59:14 GMT

Born and raised in Queens, New York. Three ancestral lines are German, one is Irish. Germans came here between 1850 and 1880. Irish (from County Donegal) emigrated in 1891.

I now live in Manhattan ... within a mile of where German ancestors first lived when they arrived in US. The buildings they lived in are still here.

Our ancient ancestry is 99% European: mtDNA is haplogroup V8 and Y-DNA R-M259.

Re: Where do you come from?

shortbreadlover — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 19:18:20 GMT

i am a british mutt. i have it all ireland, wales scotland and england.

Re: Where do you come from?

blackhole99 — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 19:30:41 GMT

Polish, German and Austrian to my knowledge and without the benefit of external searching. We still have relatives who live in Poland and Austria, but no one to my knowledge in Germany. My aunts when they were younger visited my grandmother's sister in Poland and my cousins and their kids visit their family home in Austria every few years.

Re: Where do you come from?

redwingsgal — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 19:42:02 GMT

My grandparents all fled Armenia during the Genocide between 1915-1917. They came through Ellis Island individually and then ended up in the Detroit area. There was a very large Armenian poplulation in Detroit during that time.

When my Mom was of age, as is the Armenian custom, word was spread through the Armenian community. My Dad basically answered the ad, rode his bike nearly 40 miles to meet my Grandfather and get his blessing to date Mom.

The rest, they say is history.

Re: Where do you come from?

Laura14 — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 19:54:46 GMT

@151949 How cool. I have a similar result. Draw a circle around the Mediterranean Sea including the Iberian peninsula and the Middle East and you have me.

Re: Where do you come from?

LTT1 — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 20:56:31 GMT

@Laura14

Here goes:

My heritage is English. My grandmother’s uncle owned the cottage (Willie Lott) painted by Constable in “The Haywain.” will post later. She went to her “Uncle Willie’s” cottage with her sisters to paint this scene again in 1933. Her father (my great-great) was the first children’s dentist in England.

When my grandmother came over to the United States, she did so to marry my grandfather, sight unseen (from a picture) who was a rancher in Wyoming.

Brave lady!

My mom’s mother’s married last name was a German name, but my mom swears she had an Aunt Iantha who was American Indian!

I AM MELTING POT

Re: Where do you come from?

Laura14 — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 20:59:32 GMT

@LTT1 Beautiful!

Re: Where do you come from?

cotton4me — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 21:20:20 GMT

Laura, very sweet story.

Both sides of my family settled here before the revolutionary war, with some serving in that war.

My DNA results:

British – 45%

German – 39%

Ireland/Scotland – 7%

France – 3%

Norway – 3%

Sweden – 2%

Re: Where do you come from?

shoesnbags — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 21:20:54 GMT

Right after WWII my mom's neighbor invited her over to meet the neighbor's cousin, who had just returned from serving in the Pacific. Mom went to the house, and there was a handsome GI in his uniform. They were married about a year later lol. Both of them were of German descent, but Dad also contributed some French and Irish blood to the mix. I finally broke down and did the Ancestry DNA thing, and sure enough, I'm a product of northern Europe, mostly German and British Isles.