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My German ancestors settled in Pennsylvania originally - but that was over 300 years ago. They changed the spelling of their name to look more "English" and moved down the eastern seaboard to Virginia and South Carolina shortly thereafter.
This, by the way, is a pretty good example of why I don't, for instance, classify myself as "German American." Though my maiden name sounds very German in spite of it's spelling (because it IS German), those cultural ties were lost hundreds of years ago and I consider myself thoroughly, thoroughly American.
I noticed this years ago in fill-out forms with no multiple choice answers. Most people would answer that they are, for instance, German and Irish. Southerners rarely had an answer like that. Some would write hillbilly, some American, and many left that answer blank. I got the impression that southerners don't know their ancestry.
LOL hillbilly. I assume they were from the Appalachian Mountains, Missouri, or Arkansas then? Usually in the Ozarks "hillbilly" is a term used a lot.
A lot of people also hate filling out the census and find it intrusive and write down BS.
On a gun forum I used to post on someone who did census work in far southern Missouri said how when they had to actually go to houses a lot of people are not fans of the census, gov, Obama etc.
This, by the way, is a pretty good example of why I don't, for instance, classify myself as "German American." Though my maiden name sounds very German in spite of it's spelling (because it IS German), those cultural ties were lost hundreds of years ago and I consider myself thoroughly, thoroughly American.
I take it when someone says they're "German-American" that's just their ancestry, it doesn't saying anything about recent cultural ties or not not having cultural ties. Where I was from, it was thought everyone has roots from somewhere else, doesn't mean you're not thoroughly American.
Does anyone know, why wouldn't the white people putting down "American" use "European American", much like the black people who wouldn't know put down "African American"?
Does anyone know, why wouldn't the white people putting down "American" use "European American", much like the black people who wouldn't know put down "African American"?
Well, in the South, there was a great deal of intermarriage between whites and native Americans. You'd be hard-pressed to find a Southerner whose family goes back several generations in the region who doesn't have a few drops of Cherokee or something.
Well, in the South, there was a great deal of intermarriage between whites and native Americans. You'd be hard-pressed to find a Southerner whose family goes back several generations in the region who doesn't have a few drops of Cherokee or something.
Old thread but stumbled across this and had to comment. Recent genetic testing has shown those Southern family myths of having Cherokee ancestry are just that - myths. Very few have any Native American genes. My family is a prime example. Had the whole "Cherokee great-Grandmother thing going on with both sides of my family and after I took my National Geographic Geno 2.0 test it came back 100% European. Most white Southerners are of Scots-Irish and English heritage and their families have been there since before there was a United States. That's why they say "American". After ten generations you're really not anything else.
Old thread but stumbled across this and had to comment. Recent genetic testing has shown those Southern family myths of having Cherokee ancestry are just that - myths. Very few have any Native American genes. My family is a prime example. Had the whole "Cherokee great-Grandmother thing going on with both sides of my family and after I took my National Geographic Geno 2.0 test it came back 100% European. Most white Southerners are of Scots-Irish and English heritage and their families have been there since before there was a United States. That's why they say "American". After ten generations you're really not anything else.
It's true - many who claim Native American ancestry actually don't have any at all. It helps that the natives were either killed off or forced westward... when you think about it, not many Americans should have Native American ancestry for that reason.
I know many who claim to be part Native American. I just smile and nod.
Old thread but stumbled across this and had to comment. Recent genetic testing has shown those Southern family myths of having Cherokee ancestry are just that - myths. Very few have any Native American genes. My family is a prime example. Had the whole "Cherokee great-Grandmother thing going on with both sides of my family and after I took my National Geographic Geno 2.0 test it came back 100% European. Most white Southerners are of Scots-Irish and English heritage and their families have been there since before there was a United States. That's why they say "American". After ten generations you're really not anything else.
This remind me Chuck Norris who always said he's Irish and Native American but after some research about his ancestry, we found out he is mostly English with small amount of Scottish, Welsh and German. It's like everyone wants to be a little bit Native American, don't know why
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