slow 0 Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 Have you ever traced your roots? Do you have any interesting story? I asked my grandma about my ancestors. It was very interesting story. I feel proud of my roots now. I found that the women in the Meiji era were very free-wheeling and progressive. Link to post Share on other sites
BulbFish 0 Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 Really? Interesting. I have no idea about mine but would like to, I will have to do some digging. Link to post Share on other sites
maoriboy 0 Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 free wheeling and progressive? are you like that slow?? Link to post Share on other sites
montoya 0 Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 European ancestors came from the Azores and Norway. Japanese-half came from Satsuma Kagoshima (or rather, escaped their lowly samurai jobs and changed occupations and names). Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 I wasn't particularly impressed with the story I heard. Too much German influence a long time ago for my liking. And no posh "The World Is Not Enough" family emblem motto or anything like that either..... Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 I thought about investigating my roots but I decided I didn't want to know about the 'things' (noun) I had 'done' (polite coital verb) when I was drunk. I didn't want to discover any unknown children either. That is the root we are talking about, isn't it? Actually, on the topic of investigating roots, who here can remember the names of more than 50% of the people they have had relations with? My mum was shocked when I told her that I could only remember about 20%. Link to post Share on other sites
guzzlers-baps 0 Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 I highly recommend that you go into this - I had an amazing time finding out about my family history and who they all were. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 I really can't see what use it is. I dont talk to my brothers and have only managed to meet one grandparent about 20 years ago and one uncle and aunty very recently. The ancestral roots of my direct family hold even less meaning. But thats just me. On the other hand, I am a quite interested in the wider development of my race. Who we were as societies and how the race evolve through various key periods in time, for example (in no specific order) the Iron Age, Dark Age, the fantastic days of the Pagan, the Middle Ages. I am having a good time slowly looking into this in England. Link to post Share on other sites
jstepp 0 Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 Like most white americans all my roots are in europe, 50% German the rest is Irish, English, French... BUT i do have about 2% Blackfoot Indian in me Link to post Share on other sites
Plucky 0 Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 My granpa did a huge geneology study a few years ago on our family. He even made the effort to do it for my dad's side of the family. It took him over a year, but the results were pretty interesting. I thought it was cool of him to do it. It turns out I'm 50% or so German, 25% Native American and 25% Scandanavian (not sure which country). It really does explain my family. My mom and brother get tan so easily, but they aren't big people. I'm white as hell but a big, muscular boy. My uncle (mom's brother) could pass as a pure Native American. My dad's bro is 6'6" and skinny. It's really funny how genes work. My family kicks ass! thanks to my granpops for doing all the work grungy -what's wrong with having German roots? That was then, you are who you are now, so.....? Apparently my family came over to the US in the 1800's, so maybe it's different. Link to post Share on other sites
kintaro 0 Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 In unknown proportions I'm English, Scottish, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian. And although I posses a Norwegian surname I 'feel' mostly Scottish. I don't care or dare to know more. Not interested in my Euro ancestry. To go a little further, I'm first generation hawaiian where I am 100% 'haole'. It's simpler... DB - by relations you do mean intercourse don't you? Your Mum and you have a very open relationship don't you? I would never talk about that sort of thing with my mom. Anyway, I can remember the names or origins in some cases of at least 90%...I can already see this spewing into another thread (that I'm not about to start). Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 Irish/Scouse on my mum's side, English with a Welsh surname on my dad's side. My dad's family were all either soldiers or publicans, and we have photos and newspaper illustrations going back to Victorian times of the military derring-do of my family. I once visited the awful Bunch of Grapes pub behind Bristol Hippodrome where my Grandma was born to her alcoholic mother. As with the American Indians, English policy with the Welsh and Irish was "kill half of them, shag the rest". Link to post Share on other sites
Dims 0 Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 My brother did a bit off digging around a couple of years ago, and as he is fluent in Olde English he could translate some pretty genuine historic texts. Turns out we are directly related to the old Royal family of Ulster in Ireland, the O'Nialls. Our family crest has a red severed hand on it and my bro found the story why..... Turns out King O'Niall (sp?) was having a bit of a rough time in a particularly grinding war with a neighbouring provence. The two kings decided to settle the dispute over land with a boat race, the first person to sail the course and touch the beach with his hand would be declared the winner and gain the land under dispute. So at the end of the race it was pretty close but King O'Niall realised he was going to just lose. So before the other guy could ground his boat, my man cut off his own hand and threw it onto the beach, thereby winning the bet(How Irish can you get!). As you can imagine, the other king was none to happy about this and the war continued. After some time the O'Nialls won the war and the story became legend, and part of our family crest. Cool ne? Apparently we managed to kick some insipid no-chinned english arse for a while as well, before they came and stole all our potatoes.....pricks Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 Oh what the hell, the bloody hand of the Dims clan inspired me. My mums side is likely quality Australian convict stock. Bread thief, rapist, who know. At best she is the descendant of a genuine settler. My fathers side: A few centuries ago we uprooted from the Somerset area and went to Wales. After that our history is full of military involvement and intellectuals, or at least they are the only ones that ever got mentioned. I have rather old and long since dead relatives with commemorative busts in Westminster Abby. Link to post Share on other sites
cal 6 Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 US, Ireland with a small distant sprinkling of Italy in there as well. Link to post Share on other sites
jstepp 0 Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 Quote: Originally posted by Ocean11: As with the American Indians, English policy with the Welsh and Irish was "kill half of them, shag the rest". That explains my small percentage of Indian... Link to post Share on other sites
jstepp 0 Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 Speaking of, this topic that we are speaking about, has anyone heard of the surname STEPP? Thats mine, and I've never been able to figure out if its common somewhere in Europe or not, Im thinking English/Irish so thats why Im asking you English folks. Link to post Share on other sites
sunrise 0 Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 I bet you could find out something about it on the internet if you did a search. My mother did as much of a family tree that she was able. Though they don't quite pack up with having a relo as a king, though still I find them interesting. Both sides of the family have German Jewish roots, both my parents coming from Germany, though they met in Australia. On my mother's side of the family the story I like the best is that one my grandfather's youngest sister ran away from home to sing opera in Vienna way before the war. My grandfather was a violinist, and quite successful barraster (how do you spell that?), until Hitler came into power, after which he left Germany (wise decision) and came to Oz before the war. Before that he had been a WWI flying ace. My grandmother was a pianist and soprano. My grandfather's great uncle was an adviser to Bismark, who died while giving a speech to congress in New York. Because of the war there's little hope of tracing things further back as all records of Jews were destroyed . I envy people who are able to trace their families back hundreds of years. I love hearing about stories like Dims. My father thinks his side of the family probably originated in Prussia. One aunt of mine married a full Jew and had to be hidden underground in Berlin for 2 years during the war. My mother's cousin was involved in getting Jews out of Germany to the UK during the war and, according to the tree she wrote out, was given the 'key to the city of London', which in those days was probably an honour. Other notables on the tree from my mother's side (we're talking pre-war here) ranged from a male gynocologyst, a female Dr of Med-Anatomy at a Uni who discected male genitals (charming!), a grazier/potato farmer, a couple of bankers, a chemist, engineer, a German Consul General in Spain, a psychiatrist (maybe post war), more than one alcoholic, someone who went to the USA during a gold rush (and was unsuccessful), and an uncle of hers who bred racehorses. It's interesting to read some of the other stories up here. Keep 'em coming. Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 Quote: Originally posted by Dims: Apparently we managed to kick some insipid no-chinned english arse for a while as well, before they came and stole all our potatoes.....pricks Let's get the facts straight... we actually stole your land to grow grain, only peasants eat potatoes... Link to post Share on other sites
giggsy 0 Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 My roots are firmly in the Manchester area, been here for a long long time it seems. Lots of stories of olden times, poverty, and the like. "The good old days". Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 Quote: Originally posted by Dims: Apparently we managed to kick some insipid no-chinned english arse for a while as well, before they came and stole all our potatoes.....pricks Let's get the facts straight... we actually stole your land to grow grain, only peasants eat potatoes... Link to post Share on other sites
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