What percentage of Southerners currently have ancestors who lived down here during the Civil War? (fit in, new home)

[gr99a05]

What percentage of Southerners currently have ancestors who lived down here during the Civil War and what percentage have ancestors who moved down here from up North recently?

Sorry if this is a "close minded" question, but Southerners have every right to feel uncomfortable about the North-South migration going on. It bugs me that the South may possibly disappear. It especially irritates me considering that so many of the Northerners who move down here hate our guts, but yet at the same time they appear to be oddly obsessed with us by coming here. What is the deal?

How would you Northerners feel if a bunch of people from Alabama started invading New York etc...?

[Bydand]

Wow, how isolationist can you get?

You might also ask how many of us "Northerners" have ancestors who lived and fought for the South during the civil war. That does happen you know.

For the most part we up here in the North don't give a gray rats arse where somebody is from when they move in. We sure don't care it somebody from "the South" moves in.

[waderight]

All my ancestors have lived in NC since the late 1700s. Most of my ancestors came from Virginia before that and lived there since the early 1600s. They were some of the earliest settlers on the banks of Virginia. Most settled there about 1625 or so. I know this because I am a avid Genealogist since 1988.

[city_data91]

Last time I checked, this is a free country and we can move wherever we want. The people that move to the South from the North might like the South more overall. But that doesn't mean they have to like every aspect of the South. The South will never disappear. All that will disappear is your idea of what the South should be. Think of westward migration. Were all those people invading Oregon? Were the original settlers of America invading the Native Americans' land? I don't understand why people make such a big deal out of moving to the South, but not any other region.

[PA2UK]

I'm sure most people don't even know about their ancestry that far back. Some do - I do... but I wouldn't say most of the population have researched their ancestry. Therefore it's impossible to get an accurate percentage of what you are asking.

I don't live in the south and never have - actually currently live in England! But I'm from PA and during the civil war, some of my ancestors lived in PA, some in Wisconsin, some in Illinois, some in Kentucky, some were still in Germany and Italy! Some may have been in Tennessee, Alabama, Virgina or Georgia but I'm not sure, they may have moved to Kentucky by that point. As you can see, my ancestors were all over the place - what does it matter? I'd only be socially accepted if I moved to the south because some of my ancestors lived in the south during the civil war? I have ancestors from the north too so what does it matter? I'm still from the north because that is where I was born and raised - having ancestors who lived in the south during the civil war does not make me anymore southern than if I did not.

Honestly, I wouldn't care if a bunch of southerners started moving north. It's not an "invasion" and I accept that people move around and migrate all the time. I myself moved to another country and I would be offended if someone only thought I was welcome here because I happen to have ancestors from this country too. That is not the reason I moved here so why does it matter if I have ancestry here?

[uptown_urbanist]

Your original question and your later assertions have nothing to do with each other. Many people living in the north have Southern ancestors. Migration across and around the United States - not to mention to the USA in the first place (both voluntarily and involuntarily) has been going on for centuries. My own ancestors include both those living in the South and those living in the North. Packing up and moving to a new region has long been part of the American story.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by city_data91

Last time I checked, this is a free country and we can move wherever we want. The people that move to the South from the North might like the South more overall. But that doesn't mean they have to like every aspect of the South. The South will never disappear. All that will disappear is your idea of what the South should be. Think of westward migration. Were all those people invading Oregon? Were the original settlers of America invading the Native Americans' land? I don't understand why people make such a big deal out of moving to the South, but not any other region.

Well, you make a good and reasonable point in a lot of ways, but I see and understand what the OP is saying. And agree with a lot of it.

I'm a fourth generation Texan of largely Deep South ancestry, so to answer the initial question, my family lines have always been in the South.

But to your points, yes, of course, people have a right to live wherever they choose. But at the same time.....well, let me backtrack just a bit first...

You brought up westward migration, asking if those settlers had "invaded" the said territories. Leaving alone any considerations involving the Native-Americans for the purpose of this topic (too, I am not one of those who goes on a guilt trip about "stealing" land from the Indians), the comparrisons of then and today are different. At that time, the western territories had yet to have their character developed. It was the settlers who made it so initially.

Texas for instance. Most of the state does not fit at all into the common image of a forested and moonlight and magnolias South. Yet it is essentially a Southern state even today because those who originally settled it were overwhelmingly Southerners and this pattern continued up until relatively recently. Its character became established because of such.

Today though, while I stop short of calling it an "invasion", the migration to parts of the South (Florida, Texas, and Virginia in particular, but ever more North Carolina and Georgia) is by northerners who come down not to assimilate, but for opportunistic reasons and make no secret of their disdain and contempt for Southern culture, history, mannerisms, folkways, etc, etc.

I hasten to add this is not always the case. Far from it. Some of my very best friends are northerners (hell, my ex, my kids' mother, is from the North), and I have met many who become naturalized Texans/Southerners and, like the old proverbial "new convert", become the fiercest partisans of their new home. They take the "damyankee" kidding in stride, and give as good as they get and no hard feelings on either side. They wanted to fit in...and did. Southern hospitality is out there for the taking. My own experience and observation is that most of those who call it "fake" were never open to recieving it to begin with.

Anyway though, at the same time, the observations the OP made are equally relevant as to a certain type of northerner who move down here with an attitude. Not necessarily the norm...but it is common enough to justify the stereotype of the rude, pushy, yankee and/or those with a savior-complex who take it upon themselves to lecture on how backward we are.

As you say, one doesn't have to like everything about the South. There is nothing wrong with constructive critisism. But sometimes many newcomers do not seem to give a damn that what might be considered admirable frankness up there, is considered tacky rudeness down here. It is like coming in to someone elses home and telling them how the decor really sucks. And either seem to delight in saying so...or feel they need to do so "for (our) own good." This is bound to cause resentment.

Ok..I have rambled on enough! I quit (for now! LOL) Seriously though, I see what you are saying. I just wanted to present the other side.

[Newarkbomb]

who knows..

I know in my area,most people came through Ellis Island around the late 1800s to almost mid 1900s
My ancestors came around 1901 or something like that.
But the majority of blacks came from the south and migrated north for obvious reasons.

Though a lot of white northerns living today had ancestors in the south during the civil war times, or they lived in the north during the civil war. They all came around the same time anyway.
So why does it have to be "The southern" percentage.

[David Alleyne]

Originally Posted by Newarkbomb

who knows..

I know in my area,most people came through Ellis Island around the late 1800s to almost mid 1900s
My ancestors came around 1901 or something like that.
But the majority of blacks came from the south and migrated north for obvious reasons.

Though a lot of white northerns living today had ancestors in the south during the civil war times, or they lived in the north during the civil war. They all came around the same time anyway.
So why does it have to be "The southern" percentage.

This is sort of related to Newarkbomb's post and the OP's post. I think that a lot of the Northerners who had family come into Ellis Island should get a pass from this Civil War talk and the Southerners who are into this should realize that these folks really have no history with this (actually if you're alive today you have no history outside of reenactments). I'm actually talking about this N/S disdain factor; know when to fall back.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by Scott Summers

I'm actually talking about this N/S disdain factor; know when to fall back.

LOL You mean a "strategic retreat", Scott?