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I would have expected a lot more wouldn't have ancestors in the US before the Civil War, and impressed how well people are able to trace their ancestry.
On my Dad's side the first to arrive in America had left Heidelberg, Germany and landed in Philly in 1753. His son fought in the revolution and several great grandsons were Union soldiers.
Mom's side got here earlier in the 17th century from France via Canada.
The most recent immigrant I was able to find was born in Ulster about 1720 and brought as an infant to New Jersey. The last before that were a German couple who immigrated via England in 1714 to the Germanna settlement in Virginia.
Much of Mom's family was living in the midwest. My ggrandfather was evicted from their farm in Missouri from General Order number 1. They went to Minnesota and sat out the war. Others in the family fought on both sides. They went back to Missouri after the war and ended up in Iowa.
Dad's family was from Alabama. I haven't seen records but I assume they fought for the south.
My first ancestor I can identify by name came in 1719 among the first shipment of indentured convict labor. He and his brother were sold to an estate in Pennsulvania. I even found his and his brother's name on the shipping list. Dad's family has a few people who came in the 1600's. What they have in common is both were drawn to frontiers. Dad's direct family moved to Georgia/Alabama back when it was swamp land and a frontier. Many who ran from an indenture ended up there since it was a primary way of getting labor in the region and in those areas it was possible to dissapear and change your name and never be found. Georgia was considered outlaw territory.
I don't know of any notables but lots of good survivors.
Much of Mom's family was living in the midwest. My ggrandfather was evicted from their farm in Missouri from General Order number 1. They went to Minnesota and sat out the war. Others in the family fought on both sides. They went back to Missouri after the war and ended up in Iowa.
Your family must have lived in either Cass or Bates Counties in Missouri. (I was born and raised in Cass County, and I know a lot about General Order No. 11.) Those two counties, especially Cass, were the sites of some of the bloodiest Civil War battles fought in Missouri. Both counties were destroyed, of course, in November 1863 by Gen. Ewing's order as they tried to uproot and defeat William Quantrill and his Confederate guerrilla army, the Bushwhackers.
General Order No. 11 produced probably one of the most famous paintings from the Civil War Era. Order No. 11, by George Caleb Bingham. This painting is about the Civil War history of Cass and Bates Counties in Missouri.
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I have one ancestor who served in the 5th Mississippi Cavalry regiment, taken prisoner by Union forces, and another one who fought with the Conferderate Mosby's Raiders in the Potomac region. No doubt I had some Union Army ancestors too; as my paternal grandmother's mother was from Pennsylvania.
I would say 90% were British, African American, Native American and the other ten % Irish, Dutch, German, Swiss, ( not sure about Italian or Jewish-that was more Ellis Island folklore)
Tracing back to the Civil War era for all but recent immigrant families (since 1970?) shouldn't be too hard. One of my great-grandfathers was born before the Civil War, but was too young to serve, although his older brother was a Union drummer-boy. Not difficult having one of eight dating that far back. On the other hand, one of my grandparents and four of my great grandparents were Canadian.
A more difficult test would be for an ancestor who fought in the Civil War.
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Originally Posted by England Dan
I would say 90% were British, African American, Native American and the other ten % Irish, Dutch, German, Swiss, ( not sure about Italian or Jewish-that was more Ellis Island folklore)
Pre Civil War America was mainly populated by the following White ethnic groups:
English (Virginia & Mass --> Westward)
Scottish and Welsh (same as above)
Scots Irish (Ulster Protestants) (Philadelphia was only port that allowed non Anglicans. They moved into PA then South down the mountains into VA & the Carolinas, then westward)
Germans (same pattern as Scots Irish, they often intermarried)
Dutch (New York --> westward and southward)
There had been very little immigration from other areas of Europe until after the Civil War.
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