[funniecow]

All I know is that we came from Vietnam and China.

 

[skullguise]

I can only date my paternal grandparents as far back as the late 1800's; they were from (what was then called, at least anglicized) Old Constantine, in the Ukraine.

My last name is actually a derivative of where they were from. And just about anyone in the US with my last name is family. There is also a chain of hotels in China with my last name - though AFAIK I have no Chinese ancestry. There MAY have been some of my family that went to China in or around WW II.

My maternal grandfather we believe was born in Whitechappel, England. He was very young whent hey moved, and a fire destroyed records apparently. His parents died when he wasn't too old, and the memories didn't stay.

It's fascinating and a bit sad. When my maternal grandmother passed away, we found a whole bunch of pictures, of people we didn't recognize and had no idea who they were....

 

[jayehs]

We can trace our family all the way back to 900's. The first person with our family name is Shin Soong Kyum (?-927) who was "knighted" and given the last name Shin (申) by the king of Korea (obviously wasn't called Korea back then). We have a book at home with the family tree that traces us all the way back to him and everyone in between.

Most korean families can trace back all the way to the original "founder". I'm pretty sure it's the same for Chinese families too.

 

[Dzjudz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not remotely. On that note, supposedly Tony Horwitz's A Voyage Long and Strange [review: NYTimes] is a great read on that any many misconceptions.

I know, I tried to come over as sarcastic with the quotations marks.

 

[ingwe]

Well, my family is eastern European Jewish...Romania, Hungary, etc.

My sister is the only one in my family with blond hair and blue eyes. (She has my father's ears and nose--so don't go there.) I figure some distant relative was ravaged by a cossak way back when...

My father's great uncle was Edward G. Robinson. I do a decent impression...

 

[Lazarus Short]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ingwe /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, my family is eastern European Jewish...Romania, Hungary, etc. My sister is the only one in my family with blond hair and blue eyes. (She has my father's ears and nose--so don't go there.) I figure some distant relative was ravaged by a cossak way back when... My father's great uncle was Edward G. Robinson. I do a decent impression...

No need to posit a Cossak in the woodpile - blond hair and blue eyes are not unknown among eastern European Jews. Along with all the genetic studies going on these days, it has come out that blond/blue becomes more common the closer you get to the Baltic Sea [a sub-arctic Mediterranean]. Your people were not too distant.

Laz

 

[scompton]

Supposedly, someone has trace my family back to the 1600s in Virginia, but I haven't seen it.

My wife's has an interesting ancestor. Only 2 brothers with the name Sigl came to North America. One settled in Canada, and the other in Wisconsin. My wife is descended from the one in Wisconsin, who had 16 kids, and all survived.

 

[ingwe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lazarus Short /img/forum/go_quote.gif No need to posit a Cossak in the woodpile - blond hair and blue eyes are not unknown among eastern European Jews. Along with all the genetic studies going on these days, it has come out that blond/blue becomes more common the closer you get to the Baltic Sea [a sub-arctic Mediterranean]. Your people were not too distant. Laz

But...its so...romantic to think otherwise!

 

[MetalGeek]

My mom and grandma do genealogy. They found out that we're related to King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella as well as to the explorer Jean Nicolet.

 

[kjpmkjp]

I can only trace back to Grandparents sadly. My family doesn't seem to have a good age track record. Including Parents and Grandparents, only one has made it past 65.

As for what landmass they came from, both of my parents are from Canada, as am I. My Mother's Mother is from Japan, and moved to BC as a young girl. I never knew her, she was gone before I turned one. As for my Mother's Father, he was from Ireland, and wasn't particularly well liked by most of his kin, so knowledge of his past is close to non-existent. I only knew him as a little kid, and those were the last things I'd have ask him. I was more concerned with the odd smell in his apartment.

As for the Father, his Mother is still around and kicking (at an impressive 84, I might add). She is from England, and I haven't had a long talk with her since my Father passed away. I've been meaning to ask about our history, and I'm making darn sure I do. His Father was also from England. Both served in WWII, the former as a nurse, and the latter as a Communications Staff-Sgt. I'm not sure of branch, nor specifics. All I knew is that he drove a lot of those awesome motorcycles with them fancy sidecars. He died from some sort of arterial clog at 63, I believe.

I really do wish I knew more about my ancestry. My Mother doesn't have too much information that she can recall on her parents, besides that a descendant on her Mother's side was a Mid-Wife to an Emperor of some sort. Even weirder was when I read an article in High School about such an event, and when I pressed the teacher to get a surname of the midwife, it matched her surname (Matsuo). I really wish I had a copy of that article, it probably got torched alongside the rest of my HS work. I'll have to bug her (as well as the Grandmother) the next time I visit/call either one.

 

[appophylite]

All I know is that my family is all from India, and my ancestors were mostly all farmers from India. Beyond that, I really can't say much and the farthest that I, personally, can trace back the family line is my Materal Grandmother's parents.

 

[-=Germania=-]

Yeah, I get the whole kin thing.

My grandmother on my father's side was part of a well to do family and basically cut her off when she married my grandfather. The family thought that he was below her stature, even though he went to Cornell - but his family owned a very large dairy farm.

My grandfather went on to become a college prof. and now is retired with emeritus status. My grandmother on my mothers side thought my mom was marrying below her stature at the time. They love my dad, but every once in a while the background thing shows up with my grandmother making a refernce to my dad "growing up on a farm". He grew up in Jersey and Columbia, MO. Their Columbia house was hardly a farm. My Grandfather had 10acres with a horse stable (usually 2-3 horses) and dog pens where he kept his prize-winning hunting dogs. (He hunted Quail).

My grandmother on my dad's side died about 7 years ago (lung cancer). My grandfather remarried 3 years later (he was 65). The woman he married was the widow of his best friend and neighbor. We really like her because she keeps him active. They recently built a very nice house near the downtown area on a large piece of land that she owned.

As of right now, I have one Grandmother (blood) and one Grandfather. I admit that I am very close to my grandmother on my mother's side and just to her side in general. Moms side is very, very close and my father's is not.

My Father's Mother's side of the family has more recently been trying to reconnect and we have found out that they have since fell from their former NY glory. .....karma....

 

[blubliss]

Does it count if i know who i was in a past life?

 

[KYTGuy]

Traced our surname back to 1300 in England, and since it is a Viking spelling, suspect that it was the result of Invaders from about 600 or so, but cannot make any connection certain. Two different Coats of Arms show that both were in the Crusades.

Interestingly, have made contact with a relative with the exact spelling of our name who still lives in the original area of England (BlackPool) - we have names of the same number of letters, and start with the same letters! We have become great friends, swapping houses and going on same vacations. They hope to retire here in the U.S.!

Geneaology is interesting and fun!

Branch names:

Dugan (Ireland)
Bush (Germany)
Horney (Germany)

One ancestor was a Robber Baron in Arizona Territories!

One was a Ferryman in Pennsylvania.

Another was a Publican (Bartender) in West Virginia.

Several fought on the Confederate side in the War of Northern Aggression.

Also turned up an ancestor who was a travelling salesman in Ohio/Pennsylvania, and had families in both! Surname +s in one place, without the s for my branch!

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KYTGuy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Several fought on the Confederate side in the War of Northern Aggression.

Do people still call it that or are you using the historical name he used (kinda like The European War, War to End All Wars or World War v. WWI)? Just curious.