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Probably not. I do think you missed the point of the post though.
Not really. I gather from your opening post you feel that those of mainly European descent are not interested in or actively researching their European roots. This conclusion is apparently based on interests by members of one web site out of the thousands of genealogy web sites on the internet.
You're wrong. Plus, I doubt any genealogists give a flip whether it's "in style" or not. It's all about searching for identity. That identity is usually related to specific countries or specific ethnic groups in Europe with long unique histories.
Is your sense of identity really solely tied to your skin color only and is your southern culture really not part of your sense of identity?
In North America the cultures are young. In Europe they are intrenched and can stretch back many centuries. I traced one of my 17th century ancestors back to a small village in Germany which recently celebrated 1,000 years since its founding.
Some people like having a story in their lineage. They like to believe that their ancestors had to overcome something to prove they are are descendant from hearty stock. Nobody wants to admit they were born on third base.
“We packed our trunks and left England on a steamer, came to America, bought a farm and opened a little shop in Connecticut around 1730” is boring.
Some people like having a story in their lineage. They like to believe that their ancestors had to overcome something to prove they are are descendant from hearty stock. Nobody wants to admit they were born on third base.
“We packed our trunks and left England on a steamer, came to America, bought a farm and opened a little shop in Connecticut around 1730” is boring.
Coupla things:
1) If that were true, it wouldn't be boring to me.
2) There weren't steamers in 1730, so anyone making a transatlantic voyage in that era was brave, desperate, or a little of both.
3) You didn't just "buy a little farm in Connecticut" in the 1730s - you hewed a farm out of an unforgiving wilderness, defended your family against natives, starvation, and disease, and then you sent your sons and/or grandsons off to war to win their independence.
Some people like having a story in their lineage. They like to believe that their ancestors had to overcome something to prove they are are descendant from hearty stock. Nobody wants to admit they were born on third base.
“We packed our trunks and left England on a steamer, came to America, bought a farm and opened a little shop in Connecticut around 1730” is boring.
I once read an article that described early Americans as a third-rate bunch who lucked into a first-rate continent. So many of the first settlers were poor or running from debtors or the law.
At any rate, crossing an ocean under the conditions they did to get to a place full of unknowns was a huge risk.
I once read an article that described early Americans as a third-rate bunch who lucked into a first-rate continent. So many of the first settlers were poor or running from debtors or the law.
At any rate, crossing an ocean under the conditions they did to get to a place full of unknowns was a huge risk.
But if you were a descendant of those people and every generation took advantage of that opportunity you would be like the Bush boys, born on third base.
1) If that were true, it wouldn't be boring to me.
2) There weren't steamers in 1730, so anyone making a transatlantic voyage in that era was brave, desperate, or a little of both.
3) You didn't just "buy a little farm in Connecticut" in the 1730s - you hewed a farm out of an unforgiving wilderness, defended your family against natives, starvation, and disease, and then you sent your sons and/or grandsons off to war to win their independence.
Doesn't sound too boring to me.
There were over a thousand ships crossing the Atlantic in the 1700’s, albeit they were not steamers it must have been fairly common though dangerous, over a 250,000 people took the odds.
In the 1700’s I’m sure you could “purchase" individuals to do all that bothersome hewing.
There were over a thousand ships crossing the Atlantic in the 1700’s, albeit they were not steamers it must have been fairly common though dangerous, over a 250,000 people took the odds.
In the 1700’s I’m sure you could “purchase" individuals to do all that bothersome hewing.
Oh good grief, you make it sound like leaving your entire life behind, getting on a wooden ship and living in the hull of it for three months (directly above the cattle, pigs, etc), and braving shipwreck, piracy, and disease was a walk in the park and was something to be undertaken casually.
Then you got to actually land, and build a home, and a barn, and grow your own food and make your own furniture, clothes, etc. - and no, most people who settled New England or along the midAtlantic in the early 1700s did NOT have slaves or indentured servants to "do the dirty work" for them.
By the way, it might interest you to know that the average life span of sailors during that time period was three years. That right there ought to tell you that undertaking a trip across an ocean was pretty risky.
In the mid Atlantic region, 3/4s of the population arrived as indentured servants, with their term of service typically lasting 4-5 years. Once that was over, they had to make it on their own entirely.
Slavery (vs servitude) wasn't even LEGAL till the turn of the 18th century, and even after that, most slaves lived in the southern US as part of plantation life - they weren't building farms and homes in the northeast for wealthy newly arrived immigrants.
Most people came to the New World with not much more than what they could carry on their backs.
Please keep this thread on topic for DNA and ANCESTRY, please.....
Don't worry - we're on topic.
To reiterate - here's the OP:
Quote:
So...how come nobody wants to be white?
Those of you who frequent the 23andme forums know what I mean. Anyone know why it's so out of style to be of full European descent?
We're discussing the attitude toward the common people of European ancestry who immigrated to the US. Someone said that it was "boring" to simply have ancestors who came over here, bought a farm and opened a shop in the early 1730s, so people want to be able to spice things up a bit in their family history. I'm disputing that that is a "boring" ancestral history, because of the bravery and strength (both of character and of body) that it took to survive in such times. Yep, white survival in a foreign land, far from "white" Europe.
There's no white heritage
That's why people are not proud to be white, they are proud to be Italian, Greek, Spanish, Norwegian, etc, etc.
Being proud of being white doesn't make sense. White people were in wars with each other in Europe for many centuries.
Tell a Polish person that you thought he was Russian and let me know how much you had to run before he stopped chasing you.
Your post takes the prize as the most ludicrous I've ever read in this forum. You've made an absolute pronouncement why people aren't proud to be white. What in Hell do they wish they were? Are you a person of color? Do you think whites wish they were black? Do they wish they were Eskimo? Even if you are white, you have no clue what white people wish or don't wish. You only know what YOU wish or don't. I wonder what else white people think? How would I know? I only know what I think. I wouldn't care what percentage of what might appear in my dna. It wouldn't change anything. So far as your statement there is no white heritage. How silly. You tell someone their questions don't even make sense then turns out post doesn't.
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