highland_lass

I was just reading on the European forum about all these lucky people who can speak more than one language . A few were from the US and had roots in Europe from way back. I love history and just wondered if anyone had family who came to the US from other countries due to famine/ persecution/ looking for a better life. I'd love to hear from anyone who has a story to share. ( I'm new here so if I've asked a taboo question just ignore me ) I love the " Little House on the Prairie" books and the Ingalls had roots in Europe . Caroline Quiner/Ingalls ancestors came originally from Perthshire here in Scotland , just north from here and they settled in Boston. Anyone else ??

endo213

All of us in The USA, except Native American Indians, are descended from other countries!

aileen679

And all of them came looking for a better life. All of my people were here before the Revolutinary War. They came for England, Scotland, France and the Neitherland. They all ended up in South Carolina and Georgia. My husband's came from England and Scotland in the late 1800s. They moved about with his mother's people ending up in Georgia and his father's in Nebraska and Washington State.

Anonymous

The Native Americans (AKA Indians) got here first, but even they have ancestors who migrated here from elsewhere.

nytraveler

Agreed - we're all from somewhere else - you just have to go back far enough.

I read somewhere that there are more americans of german (partial obviously) descent than any other nationality - perhaps because they were some of the earliest immigrants in large numbers.

My ancestors all came for political reasons in the 1870s and 1880s - to escape oppression by the British (Irish), Prussians (from northern Germany) and the Austro-Hungarian Emperor (Czech).

alya

There was a good show on PBS a couple of weeks ago where they took the DNA from bones found in Africa from thousands of years ago - I think they said 40,000 yrs

They then they took DNA from other people from around the world and a man in Afghanistan had a link that showed he was descended from the bones in Africa but every other person who gave DNA had the same link to the donor in Afghanistan - we all have this DNA fingerprint.

They then showed how the migration from Africa happened and it showed how the migration into the USA happened.

It was a very interesting program that shows that we are all descended from a group of people in Africa.

bbqboy

On my mother's side, we know of English heritage back to the banks of the Ohio, then westward to Arrow Rock, Mo. and on to Kansas. All I know of my father's side is him being born in a small Texas town in 1909, (no idea of how they got there, though I fantasize)then coming north to KC post war, where he met my mom. She built landing craft in WWII, my father served in the South Pacific. I ended up in Oregon in 1989. Things are transitory in the US, aren't they? that's our strength, I'd imagine

jamaltay

endo213,

Even the native Americans are from somewhere else. They migrated from Asia.

8-)

fdecarlo

Absolutely correct. And did you see the Nova episode on China's mummies? Not even the Asians are "native" to Asia; their ancestors looked European!

bobrad

An interesting sidelight is that America was discovered but there were people already living here for years. Were they lost ???

Yes America was "discovered' but all the other places were conquered.

schmerl

As far as we can trace back, my father's side of the family was in Austria. In fact there is a street sign there with out last name on it! Something about a great, great, great, great uncle being active in the government back then. My mother's side of the family came here from Russia. Both my parents were born in the USA.

irishgirl71

my mom and dad both came to Michigan from Ireland in 1960.

AnnMarie_C

My father and step mother's families came to America from Ireland; mother's family from Poland; step father's family from Italy.

Growing up, neither the Polish or Italian speaking family members taught the nieces, nephews, grand children the language--I believe they delighted in the fact they could carry on a conversation around us without reservation.

aileen679

Just a little sidelight. When the revolution was in it's planning stages, there was quite a discussion about whether the language of the New Country would be English or German. There were so many people from both countries, and many people spoke both languages.

I don't know what the deciding factor was, I expect it had a lot to do with English shipping and ports being more accessible than the German ones. You can't help but wonder what would have happened with WWI and WWII if we had been a German speaking country.

bennnie

Like Irishgirl - my parents both came here from Ireland - my mom in 1946 and my dad sometime in the 50s. My maternal grandfather was an interesting guy. He left Ireland to live to Buffalo NY where his sister had established a rooming house. He fought in WWI for the US and became a citizen. He then returned to Ireland to fight for Ireland's freedom in the 1920s while married to my grandmother and with a few small children. He had to leave the country to avoid arrest, so he returned to the US and traveled around the East Coast working on construction sites. He would return to Ireland on occassion and my grandmother would end up with more kids. Then WWII broke out and he ended up in Boston working at the Charlestown Naval Shipyard. The family was reunited after WWII in Boston - they were able to immigrate as they were all US Citizens through my grandfather. But of course my grandfather couldn't settle down for too long so in the early '60s he and my grandmother moved to California when my uncle got a job in the aerospace industry. My great uncle (grandfather's brother) had similar wanderlust. From his own start in Buffalo he ended up in Montana. His grandson is Patrick Duffy the tv actor. On my maternal grandmother's side there were sisters who married and moved to Australia as well as some first cousins of my mother's who became missionary nuns in Ethopia and Kenya.

On my dad's side, most of the family including my brother is still in Ireland or England.

GoTravel

I'm half Hungarian and my mother is full blooded Hungarian.

JJ5

I have no ancestor in the USA before 1928. My Sicilian grandparents came to Chicago just in time for the depression. He was a fruit peddler along the water front in Hyde Park until they built their first store at 51st & Wentworth. All the houses on the other side of the street on Wentworth are now the Dan Ryan Expressway. I can see my Grandma's store still standing today when driving down the D. Ryan. It was called the Blue Goose and I lived there until I was 3. We had at one time about 11 people living in the 3 rooms behind that store with 1 bathroom. The yard I played in was all dirt and about 6 feet by 10 feet and I shared it with a huge German Shepard. I can remember waiting on customers when I was less than 4. I learned to read by the canned imported tomatoes etc. that I would go get for the customers.

My German ancestors, including my Dad came from Idar-Oberstein Germany in 1931 when he was 12. I have the picture of them getting off the boat, and he ran ahead and didn't even stay with the others. He was the skinny little blonde kid who went ahead and climbed the pole by the disembarking ramp. OSHA would pale at this picture. My grandfather came to Chicago to work at Swift Meatpacking Plant as a mechanic. He was hired from Germany and came to a job in a city where almost all of the men were unemployed. And they all spoke no English. They were egged and fire bombed 3 times the first few years they were here. One time the porch was burned down and they barely got out.

My father started grammar school in 3rd grade in a seat that didn't fit him. No German books, no translator - nothing- and in 7 months he was in his correct grade, spending about 2 or 3 weeks each going up in class. He was valedictorian of his High School class at Tilden in Chicago- but he couldn't go to college.

He returned to his home town as an American soldier in 1945 and they all ran from him but his one auntie. He headed a re-patriation camp in Northern Italy for 2 years '45-46.

I have meet many German relatives but no Sicilian ones. They all left or died. They were all from Fellini, a small town within walking distance of Palermo. One of my grand-uncles was a painter in the Vatican but died very young.

I'm putting together a book of my parents Chicago stories, circa 1920-40. Almost anyone would be interested in hearing their tremendous memoires.

My parents never let me speak anything but English. They (especially the German half) did not want to bring any legacy with them, and did not want us to have any accent. My father today has absolutely no accent. They all had good reason. My Sicilian Grandmother died very young and I do remember her crying several times over wanting to see Sicily again and her "fruit."

highland_lass

Thank you so much for sharing your stories, I'm fascinated by it all . Keep them coming !! I dont have anything to tell . Ancestors all from the UK and we're all still here .

wagonwheel2

My grandmother ( Scottish )met my grandfather ( Canadian who's parents immigrated from England )while he was stationed in England during the war. She came from Scotland to Canada as a war bride. She still tells the story of coming over with one suitcase, which was not filled with household goods, but pretty underwear ! Still have lots of relatives in Greenoch Scotland today.
Father's side is harder to trace, but we know they were German, and possibly came through Lunenburg NS in the late 1700's.

JJ5

Many of you might want to do some research within the Ellis Island records. They have good help there to assist you. You will find ship names and much else, especially from German ports which required complex documentation.

After hours spent looking, I find out that not one of my ancestors had to stay overnight or go through the inspection processes there. They all had relatives or sponsers here already. But they all did disembark NYC. But my Grandmother was rejected twice at the German side, they would not let her leave/board. She had extremely bad asthma and was underweight. They said she would not survive the trip and disallowed her. She did get here eventually and she's the one that lived to be 99- and never once had an asthma attack in the USA. She was the oldest of 9 children- 5 of her 7 brothers were killed in the wars- two in WWI and the rest in WWII. I know each of their histories and have a picture of her entire family taken in 1899- they were all lookers. She was the only one with dark hair and they called her "swartzie".