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Where are your ancestors from? I'm a true blue American, glad to be free of all the regional conflicts and other crap that plagues the histories (and current relations) of most of the other folks in the world. But I didn't just materialize... my dad's parents both came over on a ship from Poland, and my mom's dad came over from Syria when he was a teen. My mom's mom goes back at least one more generation (I'm not sure how many). That quarter of me is German and Scotch Irish... So that's me... typical American MUTT... what about you? bp

I'm a fifth generation Texan...till me, they all stayed in Galveston. My great, great grandfather came over here to Galveston in around 1850, from Germany. His name was Adolph Von Bockelmann. By the time I was given a name in 1949, our name had been Americanized and shortened to Bockelman. My Dad also Americanized his name from Ramon to Raymond. I was going to be Raymond, Jr., but he named me after his buddy who died in WWII, Johnny Connett. My Grandmother's side of the family was from Abbeville, Louisiana. The Landrys. Benita (my Grandma) was the oldest of 8 kids. She died in December 1995 at the age of 99 1/2. They all spoke French...my Grandma couldn't say "That nice man down the street"...it was "That nice Lutheran man down the street". She was hardcore Catholic...They were all built to last, except for the men. My Grandfather, Ottie Bockelman, died at the age of 35, when my Dad was 3 years old. My Mom's side of the family history is not real clear. My Granddad's family was from Scotland, the McLendons. My Grandmother's family was from Austria, the Luitichs. My grandparents met in about 1917. During Prohibition, my Grandmother was the hat check girl at the Balinese Room in Galveston, and my Grandfather was a musician in the band there. They met, fell in love, got married, and had 4 daughters: Rosebud, Violet, Pansy and Fern. My Mom was Pansy. It was a wonderful party. The last of the 4 flowers to go was Aunt Fern, 2 years ago. She was the youngest. I have a couple of dozen first cousins, a lot are in California, one in Illinois, 3 in Louisiana, and several in Galveston. That's all I can remember right now...things are getting a little fuzzy. If I remember more tomorrow (I mean later today) I'll edit this post...Cheers, WC1

My Dad's family were K-3 people (Kankakee iL.) moved east to Binghamton NY during the depression.
Mom's (the Dempseys) Ireland to Interlaken NY.....near Ithaca NY.
Dad was German/Irish.
My brother and I both gravitated to the southeast.

My ancestors(father's side of the family) sailed here from Wales in 1760 and settled on the western side of Cape Breton Island. Two years later they loaded up the schooner and sailed around to the eastern side of the island and up the Mira river(cousin Harold is still on the original land grant). My mother's people came to the upper reaches of the Mira river in 1790 from southeastern England. Better half's ancestors are from Scotland in the 1800's courtesy of the "Highland Clearances" which is the source of a lot of this island's residents and the place names where they settled(Inverness, Dunvegan, Iona,etc.)

this is interesting stuff !!

I agree! Totally fascinating! We should all get as detailed as WC1 and Wally if we know it... I'm taking that the Highland Clearances was a time of the British deciding that the folks in the Scottish Highlands should be packed up and sent to this new wilderness? bp

I know that my dad and a couisin of his have been working on tracing his side.. alot of civil war stuff.. on Mom's side i hardly know anything other than some American indian history on her mothers line.. I'll get some condensed version of what dad has and post it soon...

I'm taking that the Highland Clearances was a time of the British deciding that the folks in the Scottish Highlands should be packed up and sent to this new wilderness? bp

That's pretty well how it worked - "If you don't like British rule - you can leave." A large portion of Cape Breton Island was settled by these "displaced" people. Add to those numbers the expulsion of the Acadians(in the USA they're called Cajuns), a small number of freed slaves from the southern US, a ton of Irish who came during the potato famine, the United Empire Loyalists after 1776 and you can see what the population of Cape Breton Island is composed of.

My Grandpa Dempsey (died when Mom was young),was a political Refugee from N. Ireland....was an elected official here soon after He became a citizen (Catholic and feisty, married an Irish gal (Grandma) who grew up in England)...I was told He didn't like Brits..and vice versa..<smile>

My Dad's arrived in Canada from Ireland at age 7 with his family in 1927.So I'm first generation on his side.He ran away from home at 12 and never went back,although he made contact with his siblings later,I don't know too many of my relatives on his side.On Mom's side,Both of my great grandfathers,one of my great grandmothers came from Ireland in the early 1880's,so I'm third generation Canuck on her side. They all settled on the island community on Richmond,B.C.This is the large and loving family I grew up in.