Melting pot

[chazmo]

Presented to my parents on their wedding day, Jan 2, 1960, this woodburned tablet hangs on my bedroom wall.

Super cool. Talk about a family "tree..."

 

[gjmalcyon]

I always wished I had some Native American in my ancestry, but it never happened. Years ago, I used to take my kids to a local Indian Pow-Wow. I went into a seller's booth once and the Native American gentleman manning the booth asked me what tribe I was from. I replied, "Southern Italian."

That was one of the big surprises revealed by both 23andMe and Ancestry DNA testing: Me and all my first cousins on my father's side show approximately 13% Native American ancestry.

We interpret that to mean that one of our ancestors my father's side was Native American, perhaps as recently as a great-grandparent. My father's family settled in what was then Nueva España (and is now New Mexico and southern Colorado) in the the mid- to late 17th century. Notwithstanding the terrible treatment of the indigenous people by the Spanish crown and the Catholic church, there was intermarriage, most frequently with Apache, Ute, and Pueblo nations. DNA testing has not advanced to the point where we know what nation our ancestor belonged to, other than to suggest it was one of the nations in the Great Basin/Lower Colorado Basin.

 

[dreadnut]

Fair to say the entire world is probably represented here on LTG.

 

[lungimsam]

And now with modern flight, even more mixing will happen so results will be even more interesting in the future!!

 

[Rich Cohen]

I have yet to get myself tested for genetic makeup.
Anyway, I know of Irish (Catholic), German (Lutheran), eastern European Jewish (Crakow and Kiev). Who knows what else!
Just think about the math. With each generation as you back past your four grandparents, the people involve double. Around 200 years ago you have somewhere around 1,000 grandparents, who may or may not be as diverse as that figure suggests. But, and it's a big but (!), we all know about the principle of "hankypanky."

 

[lungimsam]

My adoptive family is Jewish on both sides and my adoptive sister did her DNA. It said 100% European Jewish. AncestryDNA has not worked out clear regions for European Jewry yet because European Jews have been so mobile (according to what AncestryDNA stated on her results). This is due to persecution, I suppose. So that is where family records/history can complete the picture. My sister knew that her ancestors came here in the early 1900's form Lithuania and Russia. But it was interesting to see what the DNA would show.

 

[zizala]

Ft Wayne, Indiana 1952
Guess that makes me a Hoosier!

 

[Midnight Toker]

It's a cliff hanger! When will you ever know what happened before 1668 ?!

The cliffhanger, sad to say, is that my mother's only brother who is the last namesake of our direct family line, gave it the ol' college try. He wound up w/ 5 daughters. The risk of a 6th daughter far outweighing the importance of continuing the family name. (He is a former multi term mayor of the home town of F1 star Sebastian Vettel.)

 

[tommym]

As for me: Japanese/German
My sister: Japanese/German
My wife: Hawaiian/Chinese/Portuguese
My step-daughter: Hawaiian/Chinese/Portuguese/Filipino
My brother-in-law: Irish (You can't shut that guy up!)

We don't embrace our heritage as, at some point, it becomes pointless.

My friend from New York once told me: "You can't pick your relatives; you can't pick your nose."

Tommy

 

[GGJaguar]