We look back at our ancestors who risked everything to come here, and how little the world has changed. Yours and mine go back far enough to have avoided being thrown out by imbeciles, but my heart is breaking for those about to be harassed, abused, and possibly killed. The arc of history is long and I hope to live long enough to see this hideous trajectory change.
Don’t know much about my ancestry as most records from my father’s side of the family were lost in two World Wars and my mother’s side in Japan is also pretty muddled through another war and intermarriage with other families. It’s really complicated but let’s just say my grandparents all emigrated to the U.S. to escape starvation or forced conscription into imperial armies. When I asked my father if he ever wanted to go visit where Grandpa came from, he said “Nope, if it was such a great place, he never would have left it in the first place.” The U.S. offered hope and opportunity, something that wasn’t there in my grandparents’ home countries.
Your impressive account makes me think of the story of the member of the First Families of Virginia who says to the immigrant, "One of mah' ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence."
"Dot's nice," replies Isaac. "Von of mine signed the Ten Commandments."
And, as I've said for a long time, unless you are a full-blooded Indigenous American, we are, all of us, descended from, or are, immigrants! My hat is off to you Tom, for having all that information. My husband and I, both immigrants, watch Dr. Henry Louis Gates' program religiously. He has had only a few guests whose family lines go back as far as yours in the US. Bravo to someone who can truthfully claim to be a true American!
Good stuff. I've done the same, finding, among many others, that my 8th GGrandfather, one John Gole, served under Mile Standish at Plymouth Colony. I also have Mortons and Harts, connected to John Morton and John Hart, two Signers of the DOI.
My family tree is a shrub: both my grandfathers left home at 14 and neither ever went home or even tried to reconcile with their families. Both married schoolteachers, had small families and died young. One of my (four) cousins did some research and discovered that our ancestors were deported from Ireland (and excommunicated from the Catholic Church) in 1829, and apparently came to America to pursue their interest in digging canals, mining coal and skipping catechism. They decided, for reasons that remain unclear, to settle in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. Thank God for birthright citizenship and interstate highways.
I’m a first generation immigrant knowing my family back a mere three generations. My parents left under duress; few documents. So it was delightful to read the account of your extensive history. We owe so much to such people who made this country great!
How FABULOUS! You are really fortunate these documents were gathered and saved through the years. What stories are embedded in all these names and places.
Wait till I put up the story of how my maternal grandmother and grandfather met. Right out of a romance novel. Until his failure to get out from under his father (Patient Zero in the multigenerational dysfunction) ended things though they stayed together. I also know now who the first person in the family was to ID Patient Zero as what he was (and boy did she get flak for so doing). Also, the story of Patient Zero is pretty interesting (of course it would be).
Sounds like a great premise for a good story from a stellar author. Apparently, based on the history my husband compiled for my family, my mother's ancestry goes back far enough in this country that I can claim to be a Daughter of the Revolution...
Interesting, Tom. You're right, it is good to know your family roots. A part of my family on my father's mother's side traces all the way back to Somerled, Lord of the Isles (Scotland) in the 11th century. Fun, to know, but sort of meaningless as not much happened with the McDougall Clan after the 14th century.
Agreed, Judith, but then I only think really intelligent people (which doesn't include me) who perform great things for the betterment of Planet Earth are worthy of high esteem. In which group I personally include Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan, Jesus of Nazareth, Francis of Assissi, Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King Jr. among many others.
Those I exclude, besides that lowlife trump are Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Adolf Hitler, Sadaam Hussein, Benjamin Netanhu, Erdogan, Putin, Atilla the Hun, The Crusaders, among many others.
When I went to Scotland, I asked if my maiden name (Bell) was an abbreviation of Campbell. The owner of the tartan shop looked as if he was going to stroke out and shouted, "Ye are nay of the Campbell Clan, ye are of the McMillans and ye are of the UNRULY CLAN OF THE BELLS!" So that's why I've always been unruly!
Thanks TC, for this very interesting family history.
My Grandmother did an lot of family genealogical research and had a family history printed up for all of us grandkids...I believe I probably have the only surviving copy as my cousins and my only sibling never really caught the genealogy bug. I thought it was fascinating and my Gran and I spent many hours driving around through old, old farm roads to forgotten family cemeteries and trying to locate this or that person listed in the family genealogy. Lots of happy memories of rides with my Gran!
She discovered that although our direct antecedents didn't come over on the Mayflower on the voyage from Plymouth, England...some of of the family married into families that had done so.
Tom, thank you for this very timely post. Plus:-) I need to travel to Buffalo…not now thank you.. and Cleveland, where my great great great father founded shipping on the Great Lakes. That was his second career. My direct ancestor came to Plymouth after his brother who arrived on The Mayflower. He was quite a character, a carpenter who obviously had a temper, but helped found Marshfield where he’s buried along with many generations with the same first name Kenelm.
Etc…. My mother’s family came from the Western Highlands; she was the first child born here in CA.
There must be a history-loving gene in all this. Years before maga an aunt and I did a long-term study. After she passed I made copies for my seven sibs. Four of them said they weren't really interested, so I gave all the info to my brightest nephew, a history guy. Those four are the magas in my family. Not proof, just an observation.
What a wonderful reminder of others who stood guard.
My family came from Ukraine on one side and Hungary on the other. My grandfather knew only that he was born near Kiev "the winter the bridge burned down." I wondered about that and sat up one night in bed, whacked my forehead, and said, "A pogrom, you idiot." I'm named for a cousin who died fighting Nazis. And now we are fighting them again.
Parts of my father's family go back in this country at least to the late 1700's, when they settled in East Tennessee. and my mother's father immigrated from Ireland. My husband's family is similarly mixed, including native ancestry on his maternal side. I love that our children have roots that are so deep and so broad in this land.
You’re so lucky, Tom. On my mother’s side all I have is a story of two brothers who floated down the Mississippi on a raft long before the Civil War. One got off in Arkansas territory, and the other decided to float on down to New Orleans and was never heard from again. They claim to be Irish, but the name was Scottish (Cummings) so maybe they were Scots-Irish. On my father’s side I’m sure there are ship manifests from Germany somewhere (around 1870’s?) but never tried to dig for them.
That is very cool, TC. My lineage dates back to the American Revolution (and back to Germany and France). One of my ancestors (Wm. Chinault) signed the Albemarle Declaration of Independence. We seem to have to keep taking on kings and assholes.
We look back at our ancestors who risked everything to come here, and how little the world has changed. Yours and mine go back far enough to have avoided being thrown out by imbeciles, but my heart is breaking for those about to be harassed, abused, and possibly killed. The arc of history is long and I hope to live long enough to see this hideous trajectory change.
Amazing.
Amazing that you have all those details.
I know very little about my ancestry, it's like I fell out of a coconut tree.
Don’t know much about my ancestry as most records from my father’s side of the family were lost in two World Wars and my mother’s side in Japan is also pretty muddled through another war and intermarriage with other families. It’s really complicated but let’s just say my grandparents all emigrated to the U.S. to escape starvation or forced conscription into imperial armies. When I asked my father if he ever wanted to go visit where Grandpa came from, he said “Nope, if it was such a great place, he never would have left it in the first place.” The U.S. offered hope and opportunity, something that wasn’t there in my grandparents’ home countries.
Your impressive account makes me think of the story of the member of the First Families of Virginia who says to the immigrant, "One of mah' ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence."
"Dot's nice," replies Isaac. "Von of mine signed the Ten Commandments."
You made my day with that. Thank you!
And, as I've said for a long time, unless you are a full-blooded Indigenous American, we are, all of us, descended from, or are, immigrants! My hat is off to you Tom, for having all that information. My husband and I, both immigrants, watch Dr. Henry Louis Gates' program religiously. He has had only a few guests whose family lines go back as far as yours in the US. Bravo to someone who can truthfully claim to be a true American!
Good stuff. I've done the same, finding, among many others, that my 8th GGrandfather, one John Gole, served under Mile Standish at Plymouth Colony. I also have Mortons and Harts, connected to John Morton and John Hart, two Signers of the DOI.
Why wouldn't a pair of shit-disturbers like us come from a long line of shit-disturbers, Carl? :-)
My family tree is a shrub: both my grandfathers left home at 14 and neither ever went home or even tried to reconcile with their families. Both married schoolteachers, had small families and died young. One of my (four) cousins did some research and discovered that our ancestors were deported from Ireland (and excommunicated from the Catholic Church) in 1829, and apparently came to America to pursue their interest in digging canals, mining coal and skipping catechism. They decided, for reasons that remain unclear, to settle in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. Thank God for birthright citizenship and interstate highways.
Very interesting!
"Skipping catechism," yea.
I’m a first generation immigrant knowing my family back a mere three generations. My parents left under duress; few documents. So it was delightful to read the account of your extensive history. We owe so much to such people who made this country great!
How FABULOUS! You are really fortunate these documents were gathered and saved through the years. What stories are embedded in all these names and places.
Wait till I put up the story of how my maternal grandmother and grandfather met. Right out of a romance novel. Until his failure to get out from under his father (Patient Zero in the multigenerational dysfunction) ended things though they stayed together. I also know now who the first person in the family was to ID Patient Zero as what he was (and boy did she get flak for so doing). Also, the story of Patient Zero is pretty interesting (of course it would be).
Sounds like a great premise for a good story from a stellar author. Apparently, based on the history my husband compiled for my family, my mother's ancestry goes back far enough in this country that I can claim to be a Daughter of the Revolution...
Interesting, Tom. You're right, it is good to know your family roots. A part of my family on my father's mother's side traces all the way back to Somerled, Lord of the Isles (Scotland) in the 11th century. Fun, to know, but sort of meaningless as not much happened with the McDougall Clan after the 14th century.
McDougalls were definitely there at Culloden.
oh, yes, they were. Also there was at least one King, but I certainly have NO Royalty about me.
You don't need it, Fay.
Agreed, Judith, but then I only think really intelligent people (which doesn't include me) who perform great things for the betterment of Planet Earth are worthy of high esteem. In which group I personally include Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan, Jesus of Nazareth, Francis of Assissi, Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King Jr. among many others.
Those I exclude, besides that lowlife trump are Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Adolf Hitler, Sadaam Hussein, Benjamin Netanhu, Erdogan, Putin, Atilla the Hun, The Crusaders, among many others.
When I went to Scotland, I asked if my maiden name (Bell) was an abbreviation of Campbell. The owner of the tartan shop looked as if he was going to stroke out and shouted, "Ye are nay of the Campbell Clan, ye are of the McMillans and ye are of the UNRULY CLAN OF THE BELLS!" So that's why I've always been unruly!
Thanks TC, for this very interesting family history.
My Grandmother did an lot of family genealogical research and had a family history printed up for all of us grandkids...I believe I probably have the only surviving copy as my cousins and my only sibling never really caught the genealogy bug. I thought it was fascinating and my Gran and I spent many hours driving around through old, old farm roads to forgotten family cemeteries and trying to locate this or that person listed in the family genealogy. Lots of happy memories of rides with my Gran!
She discovered that although our direct antecedents didn't come over on the Mayflower on the voyage from Plymouth, England...some of of the family married into families that had done so.
My nephew is planning a long vacation trip this summer to take his sons to all the places mentioned in the history.
Tom, thank you for this very timely post. Plus:-) I need to travel to Buffalo…not now thank you.. and Cleveland, where my great great great father founded shipping on the Great Lakes. That was his second career. My direct ancestor came to Plymouth after his brother who arrived on The Mayflower. He was quite a character, a carpenter who obviously had a temper, but helped found Marshfield where he’s buried along with many generations with the same first name Kenelm.
Etc…. My mother’s family came from the Western Highlands; she was the first child born here in CA.
That is a great way to connect and make great memories for both of them!
I love that...I hope he can make it interesting for them!
They're very knowledgeable young guys and very interested in the history.
There must be a history-loving gene in all this. Years before maga an aunt and I did a long-term study. After she passed I made copies for my seven sibs. Four of them said they weren't really interested, so I gave all the info to my brightest nephew, a history guy. Those four are the magas in my family. Not proof, just an observation.
What a wonderful reminder of others who stood guard.
My family came from Ukraine on one side and Hungary on the other. My grandfather knew only that he was born near Kiev "the winter the bridge burned down." I wondered about that and sat up one night in bed, whacked my forehead, and said, "A pogrom, you idiot." I'm named for a cousin who died fighting Nazis. And now we are fighting them again.
Parts of my father's family go back in this country at least to the late 1700's, when they settled in East Tennessee. and my mother's father immigrated from Ireland. My husband's family is similarly mixed, including native ancestry on his maternal side. I love that our children have roots that are so deep and so broad in this land.
You’re so lucky, Tom. On my mother’s side all I have is a story of two brothers who floated down the Mississippi on a raft long before the Civil War. One got off in Arkansas territory, and the other decided to float on down to New Orleans and was never heard from again. They claim to be Irish, but the name was Scottish (Cummings) so maybe they were Scots-Irish. On my father’s side I’m sure there are ship manifests from Germany somewhere (around 1870’s?) but never tried to dig for them.
Very likely Scots-Irish in that part of the country.
That is very cool, TC. My lineage dates back to the American Revolution (and back to Germany and France). One of my ancestors (Wm. Chinault) signed the Albemarle Declaration of Independence. We seem to have to keep taking on kings and assholes.
From 1777 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-02-02-0042