Bloodlines and such.

[Boxilar]

I recently found out that one of my great grandmothers from my mothers side of the family was Iroquois, which is kind of cool. I honestly wouldn't have suspected it, since I'm about as white as you can get. Blue eyes, fair skin and formerly reddish brown hair. It's going grey fast now.

I've always known about my other linage. Irish and English from my Dad's side of the family, English and German from Mom's. Mom's Dad, my grandfather came through Ellis Island in 1904 at 3 years old. I always assumed the high cheekbones and slightly almond shaped eyes came from the Huns that ran roughshod over most of Europe, which is one reason the whole "German purity" thing makes me chuckle.

I was hesitant about posting about this, even on a semi anonymous forum. Not because I'm ashamed, but because I don't want to be just one more white guy claiming "Well, since I have Native American blood, I can make pronouncements about what Natives should think/feel about this particular issue, even though I have no claim to the culture." And for better or worse, Six Nation culture is not something I know about, beyond what I read on the interwebs. The matrilineal kinship, descent and inheritance seem interesting, though. I can't make an honest claim to the culture or heritage, since I wasn't raised in it and knew nothing about it till recently. It's still something I'd like to learn more about though.

It still points out how weird genetics can be, though. I'm kind of a bear, in that if I want to, I can grow a thick Grizzly Adams/Santa beard and have an abundance of body hair. My youngest brother, on the other hand, is practically hairless and couldn't grow a beard to save his life. He even looks a bit less Irish (Irish genes are apparently indestructible) and a bit more native, now that we know what we're looking at. And you can definitely see the native bloodlines in pictures of my Mother's mother when she was younger.

I'm not sure which of the six tribes of the Iroquois nation Great Grandmother was from, and most of the people who would know are dead and gone. I'd like to find out so I could at least learn a little more about where some of my family comes from.

Just random thoughts.

[MerchManDan]

I've thought about having my own genealogy done, as well. While I'm pretty sure most of my Dad's side is Scottish/British, I can't say the same for Mom's side - her ancestors moved to the Canadian prairies from Wisconsin around the turn of the last century. I don't have a clue about any time before that, though.

[Julie]

I really need to hunt down my grandmother's geneology notes. She's done a lot of research into her side of the family (she's my paternal grandmother), a fair amount of research into her husband's family (not quite sure just how much), and at my mother's request a fair amount of research into my maternal grandmother's family (at least enough for my mother to have "earned" certificates showing that her family has lived in Texas since before it was a republic). I've been told that I'm descended from English, Irish, Scottish, French, and Native American bloodlines, but I have no real idea of how far back those lines are or if those claims are even legitimate or just assumed. It would be nice to know a lot more.

[jwhouk]

The best resource, hands down, is Ancestry.com. My subscription has been more than worth it.

[shadowinthelight]

Mexico is listed as a newly added country to their international search. It would be interesting to see what if anything they find.

[AnotherFairportfan]

Two great-grandfathers from the Old Country (one a draft-dodger), both on my7 Dad's side.

Mother's family mostly goes way way back in Georgia - Scots in good part (my grandfather's given names were William Wallace); at least some Yankees - my grandmother said her family could claim at least a distant kinship with Roger Williams (as in Rhode Island, not as in piano).

[Mark N]

My family hails from parts blown up in WW2. No records are still around from that time and when they came to the US they gave only the basic data required by immigration, so all I can say is I am 3/4 Lithuanian and 1/4 Spanish (All of those records were lost in various ways. An ode to the days of paper and file drawers)