Where Californians came from-by region? (Albany, Greenhorn: high school, live, best)

[KC6ZLV]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Don't know what cemeteries you're referring to but that's not normally info found on a tombstone. It's generally a name, birth and death dates and perhaps an epitaph.

The older tombstones quite often included information about where they were from.


"A native of Ireland."
"Born in Ohio in 18##"

Such as this one.

[KC6ZLV]

Many of the communities in California were settled by immigrants from the same region in other parts of the country, or by immigrants from other countries forming ethnic towns and neighborhoods. With the exception of the Dustbowl immigrants, they didn't settling over vast regions. Initially people from some town someplace came to California during the Gold Rush. Mariposa had a fair number of Irish at one time. Jackson had a large percentage of people from Spain, Serbia and Italy. Later on immigrants settled in other areas. Some of the towns in the San Joaquin Valley (Merced, Los Banos, Gustine, Hanford) had a large number of immigrants from Portugal. The group of Russian immigrants I'm a descendant of settled in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles, Kerman, Madera, Sacramento, Elmira, Wheatland, Sheridan, Santa Rosa and Potrero Hill in San Francisco. Kingsburg is known for their Swedish heritage. Solvang is known for their Danish heritage. Armenians settled in areas of Los Angeles and Fresno.

The "Okies" weren't only from Oklahoma. It is a generic term for people who came from Oklahoma and adjacent areas (Texas, Missouri, etc) which were affected by the drought at the time. The Central and Southern San Joaquin Valley is known as the most notable areas they settled in. Especially Kern County. They came as migrant workers, with migrant being the keyword. They traveled up and down California looking for work. As soon as they heard of job openings they made a mad dash to that location. This included lumber yards in the Los Angeles area, digging ditches for the City of Los Angeles between Los Angeles and the Owens Valley, working at the canneries on Cannery Row in Monterey, as well as in the vegetable canneries, mills and packing houses that used to be found in every major city.

[ImRandy]

Originally Posted by AllenSJC

My understanding so far is this:

SF Bay Area-New England, East Coast, Upper Midwest...

Well, it would be accurate for my family anyway. My relatives on one side arrived here sometime before 1850 from Maine and on the other from Nebraska.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by KC6ZLV

The older tombstones quite often included information about where they were from.


"A native of Ireland."
"Born in Ohio in 18##"

Such as this one.

Maybe that's more of a West Coast thing. We have a lot of old tombstones here in VA and I don't recall ever seeing that. Perhaps because the folks were pretty much all from here. Perhaps on mine I'll mention I'm from CA.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Maybe that's more of a West Coast thing. We have a lot of old tombstones here in VA and I don't recall ever seeing that. Perhaps because the folks were pretty much all from here. Perhaps on mine I'll mention I'm from CA.

That'll make it easier for the dogs to target!

[BayAreaHillbilly]

There are a lot of Okies and Arkies throughout the Central and Southern parts of the state.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

There are a lot of Okies and Arkies throughout the Central and Southern parts of the state.

Didn't some of the Heehaw cast come from Bakersfield?

[ColoNative]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Didn't some of the Heehaw cast come from Bakersfield?

lol yeah Buck Owens was a Bakersfield celebrity. He was actually from Sherman, TX, a couple miles from OK, I guess that would make him an Okie. He moved to Bakersfield pretty early in his career.

When my mom went into labor with me, my dad wouldn't take her to the hospital till Hee Haw was over.

[.highnlite]

paternal ancestor A, family came across on a covered wagon from Maine, 1852
paternal ancestor B came from England 1905

Maternal ancestor A, from Georgia after meeting Paternal ancestor A+B. 1947

He was actually from Sherman, TX, a couple miles from OK, I guess that would make him an Okie..

Would not that make him a Tekie? Or during his drive out, a Trekie?

[ColoNative]

Originally Posted by .highnlite

Would not that make him a Tekie? Or during his drive out, a Trekie?

lol, well, he was a truck driver at the time, so maybe a Truckie.

I'm first gen Californian, from Colorado to SLO county. My paternal grandfather actually lived here for a short time, came from Colorado (but born in IA) to Eureka after WWII, then in the 50's went to Phoenix, AZ

My gf's family...her mother's parents from Germany to San Francisco different times. Her father was from Minnesota, moved to the SF Peninsula after WWII.