Ancestry map....... (yard, deal, properties)

[missymomof3]

Here's a couple of German ancestry maps I found that look a bit different than the one posted here so far:

[missymomof3]

more maps:



http://www.economicadventure.org/visit/exhibits/nbss/maps/ancestry/ancestry.cfm (broken link) this one has roll over information

[le roi]

Regarding the topic of "American" ancestry - basically, the census used a catch-all category. It would not have been politically correct to have "White Southerner", which is obviously the primary demographic that chooses "American".


I mean, there is no option for: "Mixed English, French Protestant, German Palatine, Ulster Scot, Lowland Scot, Sephardic Jew, Swiss, and Welsh"

Even if there were, I doubt white southerners would choose the correct option.. lol. Many of us think we're Irish.

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by rubber_factory

Regarding the topic of "American" ancestry - basically, the census used a catch-all category. It would not have been politically correct to have "White Southerner", which is obviously the primary demographic that chooses "American".


I mean, there is no option for: "Mixed English, French Protestant, German Palatine, Ulster Scot, Lowland Scot, Sephardic Jew, Swiss, and Welsh"

Even if there were, I doubt white southerners would choose the correct option.. lol. Many of us think we're Irish.

That's true too

[Chartrand]

I'm not trying to step anyone's toes, and I haven't read all 11 pages to see if this has been suggested yet (EDIT: okay, so I guess it was to some degree), but could the high rate of "American" ancestry in the South be due to ethnocentrism or near-xenophobia?

You know, how certain people like to rag on France or European countries? There might be some attempt to distance themselves from something not related to the good old Red White and Blue.

Of course, I could be way off.

[BergenCountyJohnny]

I think of myself as New Jerseyan before American.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by Chartrand

I'm not trying to step anyone's toes, and I haven't read all 11 pages to see if this has been suggested yet (EDIT: okay, so I guess it was to some degree), but could the high rate of "American" ancestry in the South be due to ethnocentrism or near-xenophobia?

You know, how certain people like to rag on France or European countries? There might be some attempt to distance themselves from something not related to the good old Red White and Blue.

Of course, I could be way off.

Interesting.......

[asielen]

Originally Posted by Ashls

I don't think American was an appropriate option for a poll such as this. It doesn't add any useful information about ones ancestry. Unknown would have been better choice.



My irony meter beeped when you said that Native American's prefer to be referred to specifically by tribe but put up with generalized terms created by Europeans. Isn't the term European a bit generalized?

Yes, but I was using European in the same way we use American. Usually people who say their ancestry is American are from European descent, (although I don't see why only whites should be allowed to use it, Blacks, Native Americans and really anyone whose family has been here more than 200 years has the right.). However, their bloodlines are so convoluted it really doesn't matter any more where they are from. Native Americans don't mix as much between tribes.

Also in regards to the ethnocentrism comment, like I said I am not a white southerner. I just don't have anything else to call myself. I guess Yankee could work just as well, but using that as a catch all term may ostracize southerners from being included. Yankee would work ok for me, for most of American history my family was in the North. I am sure many people in the US besides White Southerners chose to be known as being from American ancestry, it is just that in the South they are the majority. Here in LA I know many people who have the same problem and call themselves American, we arn't the majority in the area though.


Perhaps some people who choose American are xenophobic I wont deny that possibility. However, you have to consider what I said in my last comments, it doesn't have to be that they don't know where they are from, its just that the bloodline is so watered down that there is no primary line.

Since you all seem to be missing the point, tell me what I should call myself.

1/4 Irish
1/4 Polish
1/8 Scottish
1/16 Italian
1/16 German
1/16 Swiss
1/16 French
1/16 English
1/16 Welsh

Some of these are just approximate because some of these countries either didn't exist, (cough germany), or their boundaries were disputed when my family moved from the areas.

I guess I am more Irish and Polish then anything else. However my last Scottish relative to be from Scotland came in the late 1700s. My last Polish relative came to America around 1820. And yes my family actually has traced out ancestry back over 500 years. However, we all still consider ourselves of American ancestry.


At what point does American become a valid ancestry for you? Lets say it is the year 3000 and The US is still around in basically the same form. Some families have been there since the beginning. Are you going to force them to trace back to where their families originally came from? Over 1000 years of history in the US doesn't matter because American isn't an ancestry right?

That may be a bit extreme, but really where does the line get drawn. At what point does American become an ancestry?

[Chartrand]

Originally Posted by asielen

At what point does American become an ancestry?

The year 2,487. Only kidding.

That's probably a question better left to the genealogists around here but my own interpretation is that even an expansive family history in the US dating back to 1600's still isn't all that inclusive and that the New World was probably still only "recently" settled in the big picture.

In the interest of full disclosure my own ancestry is 1/2 French, 3/8 Irish, 1/8 English. I would primarily call myself French, French/Irish only if prodded further, and maybe rarely mention the English ancestry.

Again, I'm not trying to get anyone upset, but flame away if you (the royal you) are. I can take it.

[LASam]

Well, technically there were only a handful of cradles of civilization based around major river valleys... Mesopotamia (Middle East), Nile River (Egypt), Indus (India), Shang (China), and Mesoamerican (Central America). The point is, ancestry is an ever evolving concept based on how far back you go.