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I would tend to say it depends on what % of your life you're lived here. People tend to think of themselves "tied to" the area they've spent most of their life (as well as where they are from). So if someone has lived more than 1/2 their life somewhere, they likely identify more with there than with where they were born (although they probably also call themselves "from" that other place).
A 60-YO who's lived here 10 years probably doesn't consider himself a "North Carolinian" but a 20-YO who has been here since 5th grade probably does.
I think I'm probably a true North Carolinian. I can trace my family history in NC back to the late 1600's, when some of my ancestors moved down to Bertie County from Virginia. Among my great-x grandfathers are the 2nd, 6th, and 15th governors of NC.
Now that I think about it, the rest of you are a buncha squatters. Get off my lawn, the lot of ya!
My parents were both born in Fayetteville and I believe their parents were as well. My parents were both military so they moved around a few times. I was born in Oklahoma, but my sister and brother were both born in Fayetteville. We were stationed in Germany when my mother was pregnant with my sister and she flew all the way back to Fayetteville to give birth, lol. I was born in 87 and we moved back here for good in 1994(when my sister was born) and I've been here ever since so I guess I'm a true North Carolinian
I think I'm probably a true North Carolinian. I can trace my family history in NC back to the late 1600's, when some of my ancestors moved down to Bertie County from Virginia. Among my great-x grandfathers are the 2nd, 6th, and 15th governors of NC.
Now that I think about it, the rest of you are a buncha squatters. Get off my lawn, the lot of ya!
I think it truly matters where you actually grew up, but having actual roots/ancestry in NC makes you more of a true native IMO. Just because you were born here doesn't automatically make you southern, but that's honestly just my opinion. People can think whatever if it makes them happy, but I think your roots are important.
I once read a quip from someone in the UK amused at how the Americans would come over to find their roots and homeland. It was something along the lines of they're not Scottish, they're American.
I'm as North Carolinian as anyone at least since this place started going by that name. I am not Native American to the best of my knowledge, though, so don't have any claim farther back than colonial days. Don't think I have any of the Lost Colony folks in my background (though you never know), but I did have ancestors come over in the 1700s, maybe some in the 1600s, too. I know somewhere back there some ancestor of mine came over on the Mayflower. I don't know that all that makes me a true North Carolinian, though. My mom was from Virginia so I have a strong tug in that direction, too.
My roots have been traced (not by me, but by some of my many 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th cousins) back to the 1400s in Scotland and to England and Germany, but I don't know that that makes me Scottish or English or German. I think I just have Scottish/English/German roots. I think that I have some ancestors who hung out in Vermont, too, but I'm not a Vermonter, either.
I have a good friend whose situation is similar to the scenario Francois put forth. She moved from NY to NC with her family when she was in 7th grade I think and has been here ever since and she's now 50. She has relatives in NC and FL and NY. I think she considers herself a North Carolinian, though.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Quote:
Originally Posted by poppydog
I once read a quip from someone in the UK amused at how the Americans would come over to find their roots and homeland. It was something along the lines of they're not Scottish, they're American.
I'm as North Carolinian as anyone at least since this place started going by that name. I am not Native American to the best of my knowledge, though, so don't have any claim farther back than colonial days. Don't think I have any of the Lost Colony folks in my background (though you never know), but I did have ancestors come over in the 1700s, maybe some in the 1600s, too. I know somewhere back there some ancestor of mine came over on the Mayflower. I don't know that all that makes me a true North Carolinian, though. My mom was from Virginia so I have a strong tug in that direction, too.
My roots have been traced (not by me, but by some of my many 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th cousins) back to the 1400s in Scotland and to England and Germany, but I don't know that that makes me Scottish or English or German. I think I just have Scottish/English/German roots. I think that I have some ancestors who hung out in Vermont, too, but I'm not a Vermonter, either.
I have a good friend whose situation is similar to the scenario Francois put forth. She moved from NY to NC with her family when she was in 7th grade I think and has been here ever since and she's now 50. She has relatives in NC and FL and NY. I think she considers herself a North Carolinian, though.
I think that I've run across that quip, but, trust me, you won't hear that from a German.
At the time of the Revolution many of my ancestors were scattered from Massachusetts to Georgia. I've done the digging myself. My experience is that in Michigan people thought of themselves as Americans. I've been east of the Appalachians for 50 years. East of the Appalachians you're a native of the state of your birth to most people.
I highly recommend studying the migration paths. I learned a lot from studying them, but then, I guess, by saying that, I'm admitting to being a nerd.
I think that I've run across that quip, but, trust me, you won't hear that from a German.
Elaborate? I have a couple of German friends (as in born and raised in Germany and moved over here when they were adults), but I can't recall if we've ever talked about our ancestry. I know my spouse has butchered the German language some with them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by southbound_295
I highly recommend studying the migration paths. I learned a lot from studying them, but then, I guess, by saying that, I'm admitting to being a nerd.
Yes, some of my Virginia relatives came down the wagon road from PA to VA. That's the side with German ancestry. Me Scottish relatives got off the boat in Wilmington. Lots of Scottish immigration to SE NC.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,693,648 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by poppydog
Elaborate? I have a couple of German friends (as in born and raised in Germany and moved over here when they were adults), but I can't recall if we've ever talked about our ancestry. I know my spouse has butchered the German language some with them.
Yes, some of my Virginia relatives came down the wagon road from PA to VA. That's the side with German ancestry. Me Scottish relatives got off the boat in Wilmington. Lots of Scottish immigration to SE NC.
LOL, my paternal grandfather came from a teeny tiny village near Bitburg. I was in an online group when a local from that area joined, hoping that another German could help him with a female Conrad. I told him where to look because I, too, go into that family, & it's huge. Turned out that he did come from the same family in the 1700s. That made us cousins. They don't have the same concept of distant cousins or "shirt-tail relations" that we do. You're cousins or you're not.
I'm assuming that your families who came down the great Philadelphia wagon road went through the Shenandoah Valley. I had a family there, the Largents. There were Quakers & Germans in that area as well. Many people from those families came to the Triad during colonial time.
After the wars in Scotland, many prisoners were brought over, if they survived long enough, and were scattered from Massachusetts on down. Some appear to have escaped to Ulster Province & then some came on their own. Philadelphia was the main port of entry for the Scotch-Irish & the Germans.
There were two main routes of travel to Piedmont NC, the wagon road & the other was pretty similar to 95/85.
Last edited by southbound_295; 08-14-2015 at 09:16 AM..
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