Questions for our American friends

[Budo]

Originally Posted by Arturo2nd

My namesake ancestors were here before it was a country. On my dad's line, the farthest back we have been able to trace was a man born in New York in 1774. (In a stroke of luck, I have been contacted by a person in New England that has a DNA result showing common ancestry. We may be able to identify ancestors and trace through New England church records. One thing is certain, there were ancestors for all of us dating back for millennia. That is true even for Greenman.)

So, I feel qualified to say that as "the last best hope for mankind," we are doing a lousy job.

My surname goes back in England to Anglo-Saxon times (i.e. pre-1066).

[bowlinggreen]

Originally Posted by Budo

My surname goes back in England to Anglo-Saxon times (i.e. pre-1066).

Well, a lot of people can say that. Mine does too.

I can trace my individual ancestors in America back to the 1600s, so I am one up on Arturo.

I wish I knew more about the English side of the family, I have been trying to find out more about them. The trail goes cold in the 1870s.

[haroldeye]

I wish I knew more about the English side of the family, I have been trying to find out more about them. The trail goes cold in the 1870s.



They changed their mane when they realised that American cousins were looking for them.

[Budo]

Originally Posted by bowlinggreen

Well, a lot of people can say that. Mine does too.

I can trace my individual ancestors in America back to the 1600s, so I am one up on Arturo.

I wish I knew more about the English side of the family, I have been trying to find out more about them. The trail goes cold in the 1870s.

From the sounds of it your family could've been some of the first non-Native Americans, maybe even those who were at Jamestown. I've read about it and it's somewhat grim, where they even started to eat each other because of starvation! The remains of the teenage girl they found suggests that she was especially unlucky, because they believe she was on one of the last boats to arrive before "The Starving Time", and was amongst the first to die and get eaten by the colonists...

[bowlinggreen]

Originally Posted by haroldeye

I wish I knew more about the English side of the family, I have been trying to find out more about them. The trail goes cold in the 1870s.



They changed their mane when they realised that American cousins were looking for them.

I doubt that. Plenty of people in England with my surname. Even people there with my EXACT name - and in Australia too.

I suspect I'd have to actually visit England and shake a few trees to really find out anything more about the family. It's one of those cases where apparently a young lad said "balls to England!" because he had no prospects there, packed up with his sweetie and took a ship to America and went off to farm in the hinterlands.

Originally Posted by Budo

From the sounds of it your family could've been some of the first non-Native Americans, maybe even those who were at Jamestown. I've read about it and it's somewhat grim, where they even started to eat each other because of starvation! The remains of the teenage girl they found suggests that she was especially unlucky, because they believe she was on one of the last boats to arrive before "The Starving Time", and was amongst the first to die and get eaten by the colonists...

Actually, that's the Dutch side of the family, so they would have first landed in New Amsterdam. Shortly thereafter the English and their rapacious King Charles II took it over and renamed it New York.

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by Budo

My surname goes back in England to Anglo-Saxon times (i.e. pre-1066).

Mine is an ancient Welsh name. I can trace my dad's maternal line in England back a very long way as some records in Devonshire, Somerset, and Dorset go back to before 1066. The surname folk would appear to go back a very long time in North America as the common ancestor guy is referring to several generations earlier. There is a tale from my dad of religious dissenters, which would be consistent with Massachusetts and Connecticut prior to New York.

My mom's side is pretty much Irish. Tracing ends at the point where the English destroyed the Irish records. My DNA was rather uninformative yielding almost entirely British Isle results with just the trace of some other locales known from historical records. My sister's yielded a wider spread, but very much in line with the heavily Anglo-Irish-Welsh mix and the seagoing peoples of the western European coasts.

We're all products of genetic roulette and completely powerless to choose our ancestors.

[Budo]

Originally Posted by Arturo2nd

I can trace my dad's maternal line in England back a very long way as some records in Devonshire, Somerset, and Dorset go back to before 1066.

I was born and grew up in Dorset, and my surname is a locational one of a town in Devon. Even though I didn't realise it growing up, my surname is pretty common in Devon especially. Someone near where I live now even has the same Christian name as well as sharing my surname!

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by Budo

I was born and grew up in Dorset, and my surname is a locational one of a town in Devon. Even though I didn't realise it growing up, my surname is pretty common in Devon especially. Someone near where I live now even has the same Christian name as well as sharing my surname!

Mine is common. too. There are at least 11 people in the Bay Area alone with the same first and last name. I once found a kid sharing the name 3 blocks from my house.

I doubt that he was a seriously disturbed. But it was nice to tell the Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputy that I was not that guy and had been living in Oakland during that period.

[Budo]

Originally Posted by Arturo2nd

Mine is common. too. There are at least 11 people in the Bay Area alone with the same first and last name. I once found a kid sharing the name 3 blocks from my house.

I doubt that he was a seriously disturbed. But it was nice to tell the Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputy that I was not that guy and had been living in Oakland during that period.

Oh, I've just noticed where you are. I know it's not exactly San Francisco, but I've been there! Very nice indeed, with very pleasant architecture. It also has the bonus of having very similar weather as southern England, including its changeability. I remember that I went right under the Golden Gate Bridge, but I saw only its legs because it was obscured in fog at the time. I mean, it was almost like being back home, far different from the sweltering heat of Las Vegas.

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by Budo

Oh, I've just noticed where you are. I know it's not exactly San Francisco, but I've been there! Very nice indeed, with very pleasant architecture. It also has the bonus of having very similar weather as southern England, including its changeability. I remember that I went right under the Golden Gate Bridge, but I saw only its legs because it was obscured in fog at the time. I mean, it was almost like being back home, far different from the sweltering heat of Las Vegas.

Yes indeed, other than a few weeks in the spring and fall, and some winter rains, we have fog here most of the year. Summer is notorious for often being chilly.