How Long Has Your Family Been Here?

[Mermaid]

I just got an e-mail from my English sister-in-law wanting my help in getting hold of the birth certificate of her grandmother, who was born in Brooklyn of parents who emigrated from Ireland. Apparently she was orphaned very soon after her birth and her Irish relatives had her sent back to Ireland. A generation later, this woman's children relocated to England where my SIL was eventually born and raised.

I never heard of anyone who came to the US and went back to the mother country, though in this case I guess it makes sense. But it did get me thinking of my own grandparents' arrival in the US in the '20s, and how I've never bothered to trace their grandparents. I probably never will, either, because both sets of grandparents loved their new country so much more than their old and always considered that the best part of their lives started here.

So this all makes me 2nd generation American. I was wondering now about what generations y'all are? And where from?

 

[Cil]

I was just looking at all this stuff because that's what happens when you move. Instead of putting boxes away, you end up poring over the contents.

In 1635, my ancestor on my dad's side, Robert Chapman, left Hull, England at the age of 18, and landed in the new world (Boston).
He settled in Connecticut, and flourished.
My dad left me a book, published in the 19th century. It traces all our generations back through to this man through one of Robert Chapman's sons.
We found his grave at Saybrook, Connecticut.
Robert Chapman must have been the great grand-daddy to many people, because his little historical paragraph is found all over the internet. But our connection with him is not acrophyal. The book covers each of Robert's children and their descendants. It's eerie seeing my dad's unusual first and middle names show up on Google because of the fact that his grandfather was a prominent 19th century physician who published many books. (My dad never knew what the internet was, let alone Google.)
My dad's mom's side is documented quite far back as well, her people came over from Galway, Ireland in the 18th century.

On my mom's side, it is much murkier. My mom tried to trace her family history, but could not find much in the way of documentation. Her dad's side was Irish, her mother's was Scottish. All she could find was that her great-grandparents came over from Ireland and settled in Wyoming in the mid-19th century, then moved to Ft Collins in northern Colorado. The school where my grandmother taught is still there.
I always was amazed that they began in Wyoming first, it must have been awfully lonely there at that time.

 

[iwishiwasthere]

My mother's parents came from Johannestal, Ukraine, Russia. My great-grandfather escaped to America by hiding in whiskey barrels. Later he asked my great-grandmother to come over to Amercia, and my family history begins.
My father's family came from Ireland. While my mother lived in the north and my dad in the south, they met during WWII.

 

[audie]

i have absolutely no idea mermy. i have never looked into our family tree before.

 

[Miss Kitty]

too long...

 

[steele mama]

I know I am a Daughter of the American Revolution and the Civil War. My dad has all this and I need to read up on it.

 

[JT]

We just recently did some tracing. My Grandfather came here in 1911 from Bellarouse (Minsk) to Boston and made his way down to Trenton. His father was a pediatrician and mother a school teacher. Their estate was taken over by the communists. My Grandfather sent for my Grandmother, she arrive here in 1913 to Ellis Island. We just acquired the boat manuscript that showed her name. Its now framed and on the wall. They settled and had 8 children. Only 3 of the 8 are left, one being my mother. She is the youngest.

My grandfather on my fathers side came here around the 1910 era from Italy. He was orphaned so we don?t really know what his roots are. He was raised by his family, just not his parents.

So Im second Generation Bella Russian and Second Gen Italian.
What a combo and boy to I have a temper , in a loving way.

 

[potatovixen]

I don't know much about the history of my dad's side of the family, but my mom's father keeps pretty good track of his family history and regularly updates the family tree whenever there is a birth or a death.


My great-grandfather came here from Scotland in the early 1900s, and his wife (whom he had not met at the time) came here from Ireland a few years later.

And I'm fairly certain that my maternal grandmother's family has lived in the same house in West Virginia since the dawn of time. I'm also pretty sure there are some Hatfields hiding somewhere in my line of ancestors.

 

[GoodWitch58]

My grandparents on both sides were born here in NorthwestFlorida in the late 1800s.

 

[Kurt]

I got into tracing awhile ago and got some family tree software. After a few weeks the tree was so big I realized we are ALL related. We're ALL cousins and there is a lot of comfort in that. I also found I have direct relatives in Walton County I didn't know about dating back over 100 years.