Ancestry

[bacali]

Well, I say good bye to another" Happy St Patrick's Day" . I didn't do anything special today, though. 
Did any of you go to a "party"? Did you drink green beer? hahaha
I always feel like ... for some reason, I've been left out of "the celebration"! I always watch the NY parade.
I did go there years ago... loved it.
My oldest granddaughter , Kristen, went into the city with her boyfriend today. That's the age of the parade goers.
Could you be in those crowds? 

Just wondered... as far as this topic I put on. Did anyone ever research their ancestry?
I never had any grandparents alive when I was born. I never felt badly... because I didn't
know what a Grandma or a Grandpa was. You don't miss what you don't know.
Then , when I had my children I knew .....
Now, even more , with me... do I know .. I missed so much. I wish I was my own Grandma! LOL
I think /know...I am a fantastic Grandma! 

For holidays, birthdays, it's so hard to know what to get me for a gift. So...my youngest, my son,
Bobby gave me an ancestry "kit'.
Yes, I had to spit into it. OMG, he sat with me.. to make sure ...dumb mommy , ...wouldn't do it
wrong. My mouth was so dry.
So, I don't know... I will let you all know how it turns out.
I do know on my father father's side.. I have someone who signed the Declaration of Independence, and on his mother's side of the family I'm honored to actually have a cardinal who is buried under the main altar in St. Patrick's
Cathedral in New York City.
As far as my mother's family... I know nothing. I haven't ever even seen a picture of her mother, who would be my Grandma. My Grandpa... my mother had only one picture of her father and it was in her wallet.
I know nothing about them.
It make me wonder, when I see stories about adoptive children. If I feel like I am missing something ...just not knowing one side of my family and even the side I know just tibits about... what do people feel when they know nothing.
I guess , without knowing anyone of them, I am certainly never going to know them the way my grandchildren know me.
Being a Grandma and knowing these 7 children... they , nor my children never would ever understand how I feel.
How could they? I've always been here for them all.

[ponytail]

We are a nation of mutts! I know I am anyway. Lots of Scandinavian with a little German, Scotch, and Irish thrown in. I know very little about my family, especially my dad's side, in fact I have no contact at all with any of the relatives I know I have. My mom's is a little better, but not much. I think you have to have someone in the family that is an avid researcher! My husband's family we know quite a bit about because there is one of those in the family that has traveled all over the US searching them out. His family has some wonderful stories about fighting in every war since the French and Indian war until present times (my daughter was in Iraq). They were frontiersmen pushing forward on the expansion to the west and there are many stories (some quite harrowing) of encounters with the Indians, and some questionable blood lines as a result. I gave my daughter a DNA kit also, but I don't know if she has done it...now I will have to check and see. You'll have to tell us of your results!

[bacali]

I have no idea what to expect with this kit. I have seen some daytime shows and sometimes the results were
far from happy ones, while others were wonderful.
Last week on Megan Kelly's show , 3 siblings who were adopted together , so grew up together were able to find their baby sister who hadn't been put up for adoption with them
Seems the grandparents intended to raise this youngest, but, she eventually did wind up in "the system" .She had been trying to locate them, too. The reunion was on stage.
Then I heard another story about 2 sisters raised in a loving family, but, when both took this test....alas, the results showed them to have .....different fathers!
Their mom, who is in her late 90's, did, they know a long time ago briefly "had a fling" with the man next door.
They grew up knowing this man and his family....but, it turns out this man was one of the sister's father!
Their dad is now dead, and never knew.
Then, on Megan Kelly, an Irish Catholic woman found out she was part Jewish. Her father lived his entire life thinking he was Irish Catholic. Seems there was a mistake at the hospital and he was mistakenly given to this Irish Catholic family and the "Jewish" baby was really Irish Catholic one.
Now down a generation, sat two woman who were totally different shocked to find out that what they had been raised as was all wrong.
The fathers both have passed away...but, the one woman had pictures of her dad( really Jewish) in a kilt....loving his Irish roots. ...which in reality.... he didn't really have. 
So... I'm just waiting. LOL. Can't wait to see what they say about me. LOL

[LindaM]

We actually have family trees.  The Martindales goes back to 1813 and I haven't gotten any further.  We had problems because the ancestor used his initials -- J. T.  Home in America -- Moore County, North Carolina.  I've been told it's English.

The Ingles -- came down the Pennsylvania road upon arrival in the early 1700s.  Settled in the area I live in now.  George Ingle, the one who arrived via ship, married and farmed the land until the Revolution.  Both George and his son Barnaby fought for America in the Revolution.  I'm a card carrying DAR member due to them.  I thought German but it appears we are Brits.

The Ayers -- Has ties to the Plymouth area.  Came over later though.  Settled in New England then began the track south through Rhode Island, New Jersey, settling in the mountains of Virginia around Hillsville.  They travelled across the state lines.  We have it confirmed from 1790 to now.  We hit a bump in the road with the 1790 cenus and the fact there were two William Ayers, both married to Catherine, and born about the same time.  One was the son of Tom, the other the son of his sister, Elizabeth, who wouldn't name the father.  Unofficial records place them arriving in jolly old England with William the Conqueror.

The Cantrells -- another apparently English family.  I haven't done much work on them but know that they were her prior to 1790 because they owned large chucks of land.

[trouble405]

My kiddo's have a 7 times great grandfather that signed the Declaration of Independence -- There is a statue of him in a park in Philadelphia called "The Signer".  He is on my husbands side.  I know on my side there was great joy when my aunt learned we had no horse thieves! LOL  (Jim Nabors was a cousin)

[LindaM]

On my dad side, all Martindales seem to be related.  On my  mom's side, all Cantrell's in the US are related.  Here's  a funny story.  Mom met Wink Martindale at a toy conference in New York when she was a manager of a toy department in the 80s.  They got to talking and the name of course came up.  In the end, they realized that he was related to my dad.

My mom has a famous cousin who was an architect.  One of his buildings is a landmark in Greensboro.