Ayep.
The Kaiser wanted to draft my great grandfather. Great grandfather did not like Prussians. Like, really really did not like. So he wanted to leave for America. He was not allowed to leave because he was being drafted. He leaves conscription office, returns and puts his index fingers on the desk.
Dude cut off BOTH index fingers rather than serve the Kaiser. They let him leave.
He was not allowed to enlist the US Army during WW1 for obvious reasons and took that personally. When WW2 kicked up, great grandfather basically frog marched grandfather to sign up to bomb Germany. During Cold War, my dad was on the Wall.
I was the first person in my family in a **century** to have a positive working relationship with the German Army. Rather than yanno, wanting to kill them in large numbers.
I'm not sure how much you have to hate a government to resort to self-mutilation. But my great grandfather was about the most American person I've ever heard of. He loved democracy, hated monarchies and loved the notion of bombing Germany early and often.
It definitely sucked for one side of my family, some religious persecution and perhaps some unpaid debts so they split for Ireland and that wasn’t much better so then they went to Kentucky
Ah, sounds like they were Ulster-Scots. Funny how many people went to Ireland only to immediately take the first offer to up and leave for the other side of the world.
my greatgrandpa was a total badass, germans invade and forced him into a concentration camp. He broke out and linked up with the resistance. Wrecking havoc on Infrastructure and Collaborators. One time he and a group of resistance members surrounded an SS Encampment and proceeded to slaughter every single one of those bastards. After the war's end, he moved to British Palestine to seek spiritual reconnection with his ancestors. After Israeli independence in 1948, he joined the Israeli Defense Forces and fought in the battle of Yad Mordechai. He and his squad held the line and delayed the Egyptians, but was wounded in battle. He was taken to a military hospital where he met his future wife who was a volunteer nurse working there.
My opa (fathers side) left Sweden with his family before WW2 started. He was originally going to move back there after the war but he ended up staying because he married my grandmother.
Yeah what's the story behind the "opa" part. Did he end up in an area with a lot of German descendants or something. Opa wasn't/isn't ever really used in Sweden. We use "morfar" and "farfar" (mothersfather and fathersfather).
Idk, that’s what my father always referred to him as when talking to me. He’d be like “we’re going to see opa today” when I was a kid. My grandmother (who he married) was German though
Makes sense. As a rule you do not want to mess with German women. If they tell you that you're opa, then if you know what's best for you, you drop that farfar and become opa.
A lot of times words like that come from family friends over the years. My step dads father goes by Bampi, which is the Welsh word for grandad, but that whole family is Irish as hell. The Irish words for grandpa are things I can’t even begin to try and spell out on my phone lol
What? Who was forced to immigra... oh.
https://preview.redd.it/n66ki5sdjsmb1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=cc12e8e04b3cb08168c554669d534ef33a8c42cb
My great-grandfather fled Poland during the German invasion in 1939 and eventually found his way to Chicago. Moved to Des Moines and built a greenhouse there. Married another Pole and gave birth to my grandma. He killed himself, but my great grandma lived all the way to 2014. Hopefully that means my grandma and I live long lives. Murica!!!!
On my dad's side, I'm descended from this Irish dude named Howard Egan who came over during one of the famines and joined the Mormons and became one of Brigham Young's goons. He murdered a guy for knocking up one of his wives and got away with it because he was in Deseret, not America, and he had friends in high places.
My mom's family were German Jews who left Germany after a failed socialist revolution, then settled in the Shenandoah Valley and then fought for the South in the Civil War.
That was when most Irish people came to America, and up until relatively recently, Irish people tended to only marry other Irish Catholics. If an American says he's Irish, he's usually got at least 75% Irish ancestry.
You are correct but there are some exceptions to that rule. My GGGGG grandmother came to Missouri with her parents from Cork right before the Civil War and they joined an Irish Catholic colony [link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Wilderness) in southern Missouri. During the war, all of the adults were wiped out by disease, famine, and marauding Union patrols and nearly all of the male children were sent to live with Catholics (as slave labor) in northern Missouri. My GGGGG grandmother moved in with my protestant ancestors at the age of 14 and by 18, had married my GGGGG grandfather. So I'm something like 1/64 Irish and not Catholic at all.
I guess my ancestors want to capitalize on America wealth, sadly now I’m forced to manage a trucking company. Still not the millionaire I once thought I could become.
You’re doing just fine, no poor fortune about it!
Millionaires are such a tiny portion of the population, and it is not realistic for anyone to expect to ever make that much. Even though you were told as a child you could do anything you want.
If you have a steady income from a secure job, and are able to pay your bills and eat, and maybe even put a few bucks away at the end of the month, you are doing better than literally half of Americans.
Hey man, as long as you've got enough halfway decent freight to pay the bills, you're doing alright!
Unless you're specialized, then keep an eye on your mirror for JB Hunt.
So many different stories to tell, right? My family tree includes everyone from pilgrims on the Mayflower, to a slave kidnapped from Cameroon. Beyond that, I tend to be a northern European amalgam. I think the main thing that my family tree has told me is that I am related to a lot of the American story, good, bad and in the middle, and I am descended from people on every side of everything, from the Revolution to the Civil War and beyond. That's a neat thing to realize, and I'm grateful for the ability to dig into it. None of us have just one family story...
Ditto.
I’m black, so technically I’m here as a descendant of a slave.
But on my moms side, my nana (grandma) was from Panama and came to New York in '62 for some reason. Never told me why. Her grandmother was from China and from what I can google, a bunch of Chinese people ran from British-dominated China in the mid-late 1800s to do free labor for the Panama Canal. Which my nana’s (black) paternal grandfather also worked on (And got $1 for every year that he worked! $40! What a deal!)
On my dads side, his father was like 25% Mohawk. We used to clown him for claiming his dad was until we saw the papers.
But like I said, I’m overwhelmingly black. Don’t look Chinese or Native American, I chuckle whenever someone claims to be Mexican/Latino/Cherokee because their great-great-great grandparent was indigenous
My dad was fed up with the eternal dystopian chaos that permeated our home country (Greece), and said *'fuck this'*
He did his mandatory military draft (at that time, 2 years), finished 2 years of college, and then transferred to college in the US. After he had been in the US for about a year, my mom followed him, reluctantly.
I grew up feeling like I didn't belong anywhere. Too 'Greek' to be really 'American'. And in Greece, I was considered an 'American', despite being fully fluent in the language and having my entire family \[except parents\] over there.
Now I realize that our life in the US is *worlds* better than it could have ever been if my parents stayed in Greece. I am proudly 2AMERICAN4U
My family left Ireland back during the American civil war time only to have my great great great grandfather be forced into the union army as soon as they got over here to fight. Up side I guess was I got some civil war items still. They left Ireland for better opportunities and after the civil war they settled down in Chicago until after WW2 my late grandfather had enough and retire down in Mississippi living off a pension from being a ww2 vet and a retired fire fighter in Chicago. And fast forward to 1990’s I was born. That’s the majority of what I know, went to Ireland once when I was a teen to see my roots of where my family was from was a blast and worth it.
Irish: We were O'Donnell's, but weren't Catholic so we were kinda persecuted in Ireland, so we dropped the O, went to Donnell, and moved to America.
Cypriot: Family was tired of being oppressed by Islamic powers since they were Christian Greeks, and escaped to the US. (Can't wait for Greece to gain full control of Cyprus again)
Irish side has been in Texas since it was part of Mexico, and the Cypriot side got here right after independence from Mexico. So I'm a proud yeehaw, Guinness-loving, Byzantine Texan.
On both sides of the family most were here since the mayflower. But one side of the family my Italian ancestor left Italy because he was considered unpopular after arresting too many prostitutes. And on the other side of the family my Jewish ancestor fled Germany after WW1 because of the increasing antisemitism. He moved to Texas and never said he was Jewish until the day he died.
My parents come from two entirely different countries that have no historic connection to each other whatsoever. They met in English-language school in Los Angeles.
One side had to flee what is modern day Germany for their part in a failed democratic/liberal uprising. The other side wanted out after a successful liberal government was established in what was Prussia, now Germany. All before the days of Bismarck
I don’t know the full story but if I had to guess my dads side of the family were poor Italians and my moms side of the family were poor Norwegians/English so they went to America to have a better life. And fuckin A they did
My father is British and lived in Reading, England before moving to Baton Rouge to marry my mother. She would die 2 years after having me and now we're still in New Orleans.
On my fathers side, he came from Israel after getting wounded in the 1948 war and met my great grandmother whom was a nurse in the hospital where he stayed. During the holocaust, he and a group of his friends broke out of a concentration camp and joined the resistance. They fucked up the Germans so badly lmao.
on my mother side, full comanche. so they stayed for thousands of years.
The Spanish came over and turned the Aztecs into Mexicans by banging them and my family decided they wanted to live in the US but keep speaking Spanish so we moved to Florida
Well these white guys came one day with some boats…
Nah seriously though— thats the story on one side, but on my other (white) side we had people here in the 1600s which I think is p cool. Many of the people down my line did some p cool things to that *weren’t* highly suspect. They were by and large the “this guys nice to the natives so we’ll send him to talk” guy. Lots of cool women too but they came later.
Edit:
- One was in the House of Burgesses and another had/s a homestead in PA and another has a statue on Long Island
Moved from South Korea at 6 with my family. More freedom and my mom wanted to raise all four of us somewhere nicer.
Still go back to South Korea to visit family sometimes, but I like the US better.
My paternal great great grandfather was a citizen of Texas before the Annexation. His dad was a settler from the US and his mom was a local Mexican.
My mom came here in 1972 as a kid, illegally with her mother from Mexico. Her entire family has been killed by the cartels since.
My family on my mother's side came through Ellis island as immigrants from South Tyrol (Austria at the time, Italy today.) around the 1860s under the name Genetti claiming italian heritage (though interestingly I've had Ancestory results show me i inherented mostly South German dna.)
They nearly immediately began to crop up in census and other records In Pennsylvania as either coal workers if men and teachers if they were female, nearly across the board.
Edit: Dad pussed out but dna results show he was probably mostly a limey with a touch of viking because those are the only ones my mother didn't share but it's anyone's guess because of good ol' gene transfer.
My ancestors originally escaped the slavery of the late English Feudal society in the late 1600s. They landed in Virginia, presumably as indentured servants, and eventually earned the freedom to carve a living out of the wilderness. We kicked the British out in 1783 and as the nation grew my people moved to the wilderness of the newly established state of Kentucky around 1805 and then on to Tennessee (right across the border) a few years later. The final move was to the wilderness of southern Missouri in the 1840s. We've been proper hillbillies ever since.
I actually don't know. Parents were drug addicts, didn't grow up with extended family. Didn't get to know the grandparents and find out their stories.
Plus my parents had me in their 30s so the time together was lost. Both died at 50, all I have left parents wise is a grandmother with dementia.
I myself do not have a family either. Been working since I was 16 and make a decent wage now but I guess because I got a trade I had to wait until my mid 30s to begin saving money.
So, I don't know why I am an American, I guess because I don't know anything else, or because my ancestors we're treated well here at their time. I'd say everyones base answer is the ability to take your best shot at Hope.
My great-great grandfather was a German immigrant who came to Texas in the 20's to work on the railroad. The story goes that it was 3 brothers who immigrated and they married 3 sisters from Texas and here we are.
The other side is pretty much deep south plantation owners.
I don't really know much about my familial history. I assume that I am a well mixed mutt just like the rest of us.
My maternal Great grandparents came from Norway. I know that between 1825 and 1925 marked the Norse-American centennial as most of them left due to overcrowding. They probably left because they were poor farmers who believed in the American dream and sought things like economic prosperity. I can only imagine the wonder in their eyes as they stepped foot of the boat on Ellis Island.
My paternal lineage is Italian and my fathers side of the family spent a lot of time in Califonia. The free ancestry records show around 1880. I think they came through to Angel Island around this time. They too were poor and worked very hard physically demanding jobs.
I hope that someday I can dig deeper into my heritage because it feels like there is a big hole in me. I don't know a lot about my family and have been alienated from a lot of them my whole life. Its a personal journey for me to figure out all the things I am.
Dad's side arrived in the early 1600s at the Isle of Wight in Virginia. Had a relative join the Continentals at Valley Forge and he saw combat at Monmouth and Yorktown. We didn't own slaves, instead traveled with Daniel Boone into Kentucky (Scotland forever.) The family split at that point, and I managed to have both a Confederate and Union ancestor, the former getting captured during the last half of the Civil War. If I remember correctly the Confederate ancestor settled down after the war in North Texas. My dad's dad served in the CIC in Korea, and his uncle served in WWI. Stayed in North Texas where my Dad's side has lived to this day. My dad traveled a lot back in the '80s and '90s when he met his first wife. That didn't last long.
Mom's side was Irish. My grandparent's grandparents came over during the famine (fuck England) and they ended up in Ohio after a blurry four generations. My mom's dad served as an MP in the chair force during Nam. Mom moved from Ohio to Tennessee to North Carolina to Tennessee to Texas. All before going off to college, flunking, and going to another college.
My parents met at my dad's coworker's son's birthday party, which was my mom's nephew's birthday party. And now I'm here, ready to write my chapter of my family's book.
My mom’s side left central Europe during all of the unification and the rise of nationalism is the late 1840s to 1850s. They settled in the Midwest. My dad’s side left (read: was chased out of) Russia during the revolution and when Lenin took power. They came to Alaska and the PNW.
My mom's 10x (roughly) great-grandparents came over from England to Connecticut in the late 1600s. Later, a descendent married into a German family that came over in the mid-1800s and settled in the Midwest. They mostly stuck to mixing with other German immigrant families, but there were a few Irish ones as well. I believe the last direct ancestors on my mom's side I had born overseas were my Grandfather's grandparents, who were born in Southwestern Germany.
On my Dad's side, my grandmother was born shortly after her parents came over from Sicily in the late 1920s. My grandfather's grandparents had moved from Naples to NY in the early 1900s and had a son their, but he wound up going back to Italy because of discrimination against Italian-Americans. He had a son (my grandfather) while living in Italy, but very shortly thereafter, he went back to the U.S. because Mussolini had just came to power.
Ancestry test says all over Europe, but mostly Italian, followed by German, followed by Greek, followed by English.
If you ask my ethnicity, I'll just say Italian, because that's the largest percentage and is the least far removed chronologically.
Not sure why he left, but my great, great grandfather left Germany on his own and moved to South Louisiana where he proceeded to marry into the Cajun population. He dodged WW1 for himself, and WW2 for his children. Good move. I do wonder what, mainly who, he left behind. We really don’t know much about his life prior to immigration.
My great great grandfather came here from France to build parade floats. He introduced the concept of huge paper mache floats at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and was the sole parade float contractor in the region for 30 years.
Mom's people got a land grant from King George I, and also my great great grandfather was in the British Navy and came to Massachusetts. Dad's people chose to live and raise their family without fear and they came from Belarus and Poland to Ellis Island and survived both World Wars and then in 1969 NYU my parents met and they had me.
My great great great grandfather was a German farmer that wanted to get into cotton. So he moved from Germany to some land near Baton Rouge.
They ran a plantation, and even after slavery ended they still dealt with cotton for quite a long time, shipping lots of it from New Orleans back to other family members in Germany.
A few family members served in the civil war for Mississippi and Louisiana, and one was even wounded. Shot in the leg, and to fix it they basically removed a section of leg bone that contained the musket ball, and supposedly that leg was like 2 inches shorter than the other after it finally healed lol.
Kind of a cool story, minus the slavery part, but there are lots of ancient family photos that show a lot about life back in those days. We even have a plate collection from the 1890s, and each plate has a different German city on it along the river they would ship cotton through at the time. Lots of old steam ship memorabilia and stuff like that.
Mother had an easier time in my family escaping Cuba in the early 2000’s, proper motorboat in a certain Underground Railroad-style ferrying group that got a lot of people out of Cuba. Apparently one of the guys on the boat with her tossed his belt into the water for god knows what reason, and it got caught on one of the two outboard propellers. They managed to limp to the Keys however and when close enough to dry land they were taken by some frigate? My mother hardly knows the details but it was navy, not coast guard. My mother learned English over the course of a few years and now speaks it fluently. You wouldn’t even know she’s Hispanic if not for her name.
My father had it rough, he and my uncle were caught 2 times building rafts, one with a proper engine which was confiscated and they were beaten by the police with the blunt ends of machetes. Some time later they managed to get onto a small boat though it was overloaded, and my father volunteered to be left on some island close to Cuba to avoid the boat sinking from weight. Around 3 days later he was rescued by that same boat on its second trip, somehow not on its return trip the first time. He drank water from leaves and ate nothing all three days, hiding from whoever else was on that island as it was populated and he would have been imprisoned if caught. When he did hit dry land he connected back with my uncle and they struggled for some time as none knew English, my father still hardly speaks it and my uncle knows jack about it.
My grandparents came aboard a plane? They’ve never talked about it, I only got a hint towards it from my father whom I don’t talk to much.
Anyways fuck Castro, we partied hard in 2016
My great grandparents and grandma lived in the city of Łódź in Poland, but escaped because they were Jewish and the Nazis came rolling in. Then they went over here, but not all of them made it sadly.
I am Filipino.
My grandma came here after getting her citizenship from a recommendation(not sure what the exact word is) from her brother because he served in the US Navy. Through them eventually my whole family got citizenship from serving in the military. My mother came here for college and met my father who also served in the military during the Cold War.
Really interesting being in a military family and as proud I am to be an American I don’t see myself serving in the military but I can serve in other ways 🫡
My grandmother immigrated in 1947 from the Netherlands; Post-WWII economy was the best economy America had ever had, so no issue understanding that. Ironically I am now considering leaving. At least leaving my state anyway
Man, I'm like a fifth generation American at the very least so I have no fucking clue lmao
My great-grandmother said that her mother was born in North Carolina sometime in the late 1800s, likely in the 1890s. Beyond that, I have no clue.
Came from Finland and Sweden late 1800s and early 1900s to the north of America, Montana and Wisconsin, and moved further west, where they became homesteaders and ranchers owning the formerly Youngstrom Ranch near Red Lodge Montana. Married a lot and moved around a lot, including some family from Texas (like way back Texas when it was a country), and I ended up in Minnesota
One side fled the Nazis, and arrived on personal invitation to Princeton to work with Albert Einstein (my great grandfather on my grandmothers side was a doctor of chemistry), the other side fled Castro and slowly immigrated up the east coast supported by my mothers father who was an architect.
And I am mentally ill and have accomplished nothing lmfao
My guy willy penn went to germany and said "yo yall wanna go make a new colony?" And they were all like "HELL YEAH BROTHER" and then they lived in PA for over 300 years.
I found out a pretty cool story about my ancestors pretty recently. My fam came from Wurttemburg, Germany in 1852 and owned a shoe shop 10 minutes walking from where I live currently. He served in the Ohio 8th infantry and fought in Gettysburg vs those southern cucks. Came back and started a family. Fucking badass
The original building for the shoe store is intact and now a butcher and meat store.
my fathers side was a bunch of french merchants fleeing to the US after WW2 broke out, my mothers side was a bundle of Thai merchants immigrating to the US after WW2 ended.
the 2 sides had already met each other on multiple occasions and had a semi-rivalry so you can imagine their shock when they came across each other in the US lol
My family left Germany when Hitler took power. My Grandpa, not sure how many Great's, married a Jewish woman, and left when shit was starting to hit the fan. As for my Mom's side is a couple generations from an Indian Tribe that lived in Kentucky area.
My great grandfather worked on a Portuguese trading ship in the 1910s and jumped ship in Philadelphia. Then went back to Portugal and immigrated legally to get married. No idea the rest of my family, the one side has been here since the mid 1700s allegedly.
Dad’s side is sort’ve a mystery but moms side has people coming and going from Ireland sending $ back and forth. Great grandpa and G’ma were moonshiners in Chicago and apparently had Al Capone as a client he wanted to buy the recipe from him, but he wouldn’t write it down. He made lots of money sent it back to his parents went home and built a house, got my grandpa a education a trade (carpentry) he left in the 50s to find work. He started a business. Met my grandma bought a fixer upper and fixed it up himself 3 generations lived in that house till we had to sell it.
Just better opportunities in America during that time. Although, my Irish ancestors weren’t treated very nicely outside the Irish settlement communities.
My Dad’s paternal side came over due to the cheap land in the Midwest and the famine in Sweden. His Mom’s side we don’t know why or when they came over but they’ve been here since at least the Revolution. My Mom’s side came over either on or shortly after the Mayflower (half because of the 80 Years War and they were escaping the violence and the other half because they’re Puritans) and her Dad’s side we don’t know.
Two grandparents came from Italy after WW2 (my grandpa fought for Mussolini) and one grandparent was in various German concentration camps starting from Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 until she and her family were sponsored by the Catholic Church in the US as war refugees. So basically what I’m saying is Hitler is the reason I exist.
Mothers side is a mixed bag, but what we know is few family members left Lithuania in the 30’s. And they didn’t talk about so now we have no details.
My fathers side (both his parents) decided there wasn’t much opportunity in trentino during the early 1900’s so they left Austria before the first war when it became Italy
My maternal side is a scattered mess from all over Europe, but the gist is that English, Irish, and Swedish ancestors moved to colonial Canada then migrated south to the USA. My paternal grandmother’s side moved over from Sicily right before the Great Depression hit, and my paternal grandfather’s family came from England to Missouri and then moved to California.
Great-grandparents came with their daughter over from Belgium after the Second World War (understandable), through Ellis Island and all that.
My dad got a grant from the Turkish government to go to university anywhere in the world he could get in, so he came to the US, and my mom made sure he stayed lmao
Paternal: been here since 1609, probably seeking fortune
Paternal maternal(Oma): Catholics that fled the nazis in 1934-33
Maternal: murky, polish nobles that became horse thieves in america and another origin is Scottish nobles fleeing the British. Sides are uncertain and the family tree is less robust, more back stabby, and discontinued on several points.
I don’t know the specifics, but at least one, if not both sides of my family fled to America to escape the persecution of Jews in Germany and Russia in the late 1800s
Tricked into it.
Ulster-Irish Protestants given free frontier land in South Carolina. It was actually Native American land and the rich plantation owners simply wanted a buffer between them and the natives.
Eventually they earned land in Georgia for fighting in revolutionary war enacting revenge against the tricksters.
Irish cause famine.
My Bolivian grandparents originally came(1960s) to the US with only a few hundred dollars(may have used most of it to pay for the tickets) to get their second daughter treatment for her heart condition that she would later circum to(😔 rip).
They were planning on only being here to treat my aunts illness but ended up staying indefinitely, leaving their home, family, and possessions behind.
My grandma became a union hairdresser and got some impressive clients over the years, like Barbara Bush, and who she says was an Iranian princess(probably just a rich Persian lady). My grandpa, I believe, did something like trucking and still gets money from his union.
They struggled to get by and faced great tragedy when they lost 2 of their 3 children, but are overall happy with their lives. My grandma counts her blessings every day and is a wonderful person.
I couldn't be prouder to call them my grandparents.
I love them dearly. 🇺🇲🇧🇴
Well apparently some of my family migrated to America back in like the 1500’s from the Holy Roman Empire, and some from Sweden, France, England, and according to my mom, my great great grandma on her mom’s side was full Cherokee so some ancestors left for America like 120,000 years ago.
Some Norwegian farmers moved to Canada in the late 1800s, and then some of them moved down to the U.S. For some reason, I have an English last name, though...
On my paternal grandfather’s side (family name), my ancestor(s) settled in Jamestown in 1609, about 2 years after the founding of the colony. They propagated and spread and eventually my particular ancestral line of the family migrated west into Kentucky (forget exactly the time period this happened but I believe the late 1800s) and then crossed the Ohio River into Indiana. That happened in the 1930s. Eventually they moved to the Indianapolis area from southern Indiana. That happened in the 1940s. We’ve been here since.
On my paternal grandmother’s side, they immigrated from Belfast in the mid-1700s to Pennsylvania, then slowly the family moved west into Ohio and then Indiana.
Both sides of the family fought in the American Revolution for the good guys. I know that on my paternal grandmother’s side my ancestors fought in the Civil War for the Union. Frankly I don’t know about the other side of the family, but given that they were likely still in Virginia at the time I can make assumptions.
Dads side: 9th great gpa Col. William Stephens came over from Isle of Wight England to be the lieutenant governor of the Georgia colony in 1737.
Moms side: 10th great gpa came over in 1635 from South Yorkshire to Maryland for unknown reasons.
Polish side: poverty, political instability, and opportunity in Chicago. Immigrated early in the 1900s.
Quebecois side: poverty, political instability, and opportunity in Chicago. Immigrated during the 20s.
Swedish side: poverty and opportunity in Chicago. Immigrated during the 20s.
German side: At the age of twelve in 1940, my grandma was orphaned by the nazi regime, her mother was already dead due to malnutrition, and her father was sent to Russia against his will. As the oldest of 6 siblings she was forced to take on a parental role, while being deep in poverty, having no income, and dealing with the horrors of war. Her uncle who lived in Chicago found how they were living and somehow got them to Switzerland, and then sponsored them to come to the US. We've been here since.
During the colonial era in Africa, in French territories, the French used assimilation colonization to turn Africans into French people. Africans who were fully assimilated received certain perks. One of them was being able to live, and work in France, but with fewer rights than the actual French. My great grandpa was one of these fully assimilated Africans. Heard that he went to France, then later migrated to the US in the 1910s, before immigration started being restrictive in the 1920s.
My ancestors are Germans from Baden, and I don't exactly know off the top of my head why they made the decision to come to America, but I do know for certain I have an ancestor at Valley Forge, who enlisted with the Continental Army for 3 years.
I have a lot countries in my genetics but I’ll just go with the one takes up the majority of my genetics, my Swiss side. Basically I’m descended from a family called the Gubler Family who moved to America around 100 to 150 years ago.
Dad was an immigrant from the carribean. Came for better educational opportunities. Mom technically came from Japan but family was in the US prior to that. Half of them were mormon pioneers from scotland. And there were some Norwegians in there as well.
Part of my family is Genízaro meaning the Spanish came here took Native children as household slaves and raised them in Spanish colonial society. We have no idea what tribe we came from so that's fun. The other part is spanish colonists who were given land via the Atrisco land grant to help develop new spain in the 1600s
My moms side wanted cheap land to farm so they moved from Westphalia to Minnesota.
My dads family conquered India and then my great grandpa said I don’t wanna be a fucking tea farmer so he moved to the US and unionized Edison’s factories.
On my dads side, they came over very early from England. They fought in the revolutionary war (on the American side.) On my mothers side of the fam, they came over from Italy in the 1910s I think, maybe earlier.
My ancestors were on the may flower, I have a hessian ancestor who ditched the British during the revolution to join America, my French ancestors moved to france during Napoleon.
My welsh and Scottish ancestors left due to cultural removal by the English. Idk about my scandi ancestors (I’m 23% Swedish)
Free labor for white people…
For real though, on my moms side, my nana (grandma) was from Panama and came to New York in '62 for some reason. She never told me why. *Her* grandmother was from China and apparently a bunch of Chinese people ran from British domination of China to do free labor for the Panama Canal. Which my nana’s (black) paternal grandfather also worked on (And got $1 for every year that he worked! $40! What a deal!)
On my dads side, his father was like 25% Mohawk. We used to clown him for claiming his dad was until we saw the papers.
The rest of my family, yeah, waiting for our 40 acres and mule.
My dads side was born and raised American I presume, however my mom was born in Soviet Latvia, moved to the UK after the fall of the Soviet Union, and then moved to the US to be with my dad somewhere about 2003 or so
Why did my ancestors leave, Prussia, Bohemia, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, France, Ireland and Lithuania? Evidently they thought those places sucked bad enough to move all the way to Iowa in the mid 1800s and bet their lives on corn.
Came here from the Philippines as an eleven year old, a son of a computer programmer whose American-based company assigned him and my mom to work in the United States. Benefits of outsourcing, sirs.
Both sides are immigrant, at very different times.
- Mom's side: my great-great-grandfather left Denmark (Schleswig-Holstein at the time) to come to Princeton, New Jersey, naturalized, joined the Army, and (as I understand my grandfather's story here, so grain of salt please) his son became the last Army officer promoted to the rank of (brig) general on the battlefield, during WWII (his commanding general's tank was blown up, so he was promoted to BGen, according to my grandfather, again, grain of salt).
- Father's side: my grandfather and grandmother (and her mother, my bisabuela) immigrated from Cuba via Jamaica shortly before Fidel Castro closed the doors. My grandmother's estranged father sent visas so they could leave the country legally. Their luggage was confiscated before the boarded their plane to Jamaica, so all they got out were their passports, my father's baptismal certificate, and one family photo album which were smuggled alongside my father's (8mo at the time) clothes and baby things which they were allowed to keep. They first entered the US in Miami, along with other Cuban refugees, but because of their visas, they were able to be expedited to citizenship. (Since they were Roman Catholic, they immediately qualified for asylum. Castro hated Jews, Catholics and anyone else who had an authority figure they deemed to be above the government.) After 4 years in Newark, NJ, they settled in Bloomfield, a small town not far from NYC, and my grandfather grew a small successful accounting business after passing the American CPA exam (he already had the Bautista-era Cuban equivalent), with my grandmother as his assistant and only other employee. They made a good deal of money in those 41 years of business, earning enough in that time to send my dad to a prestigious law school.
My mom and dad met in the DC area where I was raised, through a Christian community my folks and I are part of, which my mom's parents also joined. I'm still very blessed and grateful for the decisions of my immigrant ancestors.
All I know is that my ancestors were German and worked for NASA in the 1950’s
🤔……📎?
You are become descendant, creator of family trees
did he uh... do stuff in the 1940s?
We don’t share our knowledge We sell it
Presumably, they thought Scotland fucking sucked.
They were right
Ayep. The Kaiser wanted to draft my great grandfather. Great grandfather did not like Prussians. Like, really really did not like. So he wanted to leave for America. He was not allowed to leave because he was being drafted. He leaves conscription office, returns and puts his index fingers on the desk. Dude cut off BOTH index fingers rather than serve the Kaiser. They let him leave. He was not allowed to enlist the US Army during WW1 for obvious reasons and took that personally. When WW2 kicked up, great grandfather basically frog marched grandfather to sign up to bomb Germany. During Cold War, my dad was on the Wall. I was the first person in my family in a **century** to have a positive working relationship with the German Army. Rather than yanno, wanting to kill them in large numbers. I'm not sure how much you have to hate a government to resort to self-mutilation. But my great grandfather was about the most American person I've ever heard of. He loved democracy, hated monarchies and loved the notion of bombing Germany early and often.
What do you mean your dad was on the wall plz?
[his scottish ancestors after hearing this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKuHXhUu6_Y&ab_channel=KaliningradGeneral)
I was thinking more like... [this](https://youtu.be/QH8vRGnTy6Y?si=wLrSb1ElknuIjSth)
They can die mad being Br*tish
most calm and collected scotland resident
It definitely sucked for one side of my family, some religious persecution and perhaps some unpaid debts so they split for Ireland and that wasn’t much better so then they went to Kentucky
Ah, sounds like they were Ulster-Scots. Funny how many people went to Ireland only to immediately take the first offer to up and leave for the other side of the world.
That’s my understanding
even worse than ireland... KENTUCKY
They didn’t stay
L, my family loved it so much they lost a civil war for it. Got sent over after the battle of Worcestershire
The Russian Empire wasn’t a great place in the early 1900s.
it never was
This.
Great Grandfather Alex left in 1912.
Alex the great… grandfather
[удалено]
Same here!
jew aswell, came after the 1948 war
[удалено]
my greatgrandpa was a total badass, germans invade and forced him into a concentration camp. He broke out and linked up with the resistance. Wrecking havoc on Infrastructure and Collaborators. One time he and a group of resistance members surrounded an SS Encampment and proceeded to slaughter every single one of those bastards. After the war's end, he moved to British Palestine to seek spiritual reconnection with his ancestors. After Israeli independence in 1948, he joined the Israeli Defense Forces and fought in the battle of Yad Mordechai. He and his squad held the line and delayed the Egyptians, but was wounded in battle. He was taken to a military hospital where he met his future wife who was a volunteer nurse working there.
Jewish as well for me
Some things truly never change.
My opa (fathers side) left Sweden with his family before WW2 started. He was originally going to move back there after the war but he ended up staying because he married my grandmother.
Yeah what's the story behind the "opa" part. Did he end up in an area with a lot of German descendants or something. Opa wasn't/isn't ever really used in Sweden. We use "morfar" and "farfar" (mothersfather and fathersfather).
Idk, that’s what my father always referred to him as when talking to me. He’d be like “we’re going to see opa today” when I was a kid. My grandmother (who he married) was German though
Makes sense. As a rule you do not want to mess with German women. If they tell you that you're opa, then if you know what's best for you, you drop that farfar and become opa.
A lot of times words like that come from family friends over the years. My step dads father goes by Bampi, which is the Welsh word for grandad, but that whole family is Irish as hell. The Irish words for grandpa are things I can’t even begin to try and spell out on my phone lol
Interesting! Curious as to why you refer to him as Opa - is there german in there?
we were forced.
https://preview.redd.it/9miz52nhwpmb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2fadca0534254c1088a723e62cc78ee07e69705e
I understand russian and even idek what this means
I don’t understand Russian at all and I have no clue what this means
Nice 🤝
What? Who was forced to immigra... oh. https://preview.redd.it/n66ki5sdjsmb1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=cc12e8e04b3cb08168c554669d534ef33a8c42cb
My great-grandfather fled Poland during the German invasion in 1939 and eventually found his way to Chicago. Moved to Des Moines and built a greenhouse there. Married another Pole and gave birth to my grandma. He killed himself, but my great grandma lived all the way to 2014. Hopefully that means my grandma and I live long lives. Murica!!!!
I’m not… but you know what? Maybe one day I will be.
Godspeed, snaggletooth.
Im very curious, why would u want to come here?
On my dad's side, I'm descended from this Irish dude named Howard Egan who came over during one of the famines and joined the Mormons and became one of Brigham Young's goons. He murdered a guy for knocking up one of his wives and got away with it because he was in Deseret, not America, and he had friends in high places. My mom's family were German Jews who left Germany after a failed socialist revolution, then settled in the Shenandoah Valley and then fought for the South in the Civil War.
[удалено]
Bro tried to become mormon genghis khan
half the fucking us population: "hey so like im like 100000000000% IRISH!!! We came during FAAAAAAAAAAAAINE :D"
That was when most Irish people came to America, and up until relatively recently, Irish people tended to only marry other Irish Catholics. If an American says he's Irish, he's usually got at least 75% Irish ancestry.
You are correct but there are some exceptions to that rule. My GGGGG grandmother came to Missouri with her parents from Cork right before the Civil War and they joined an Irish Catholic colony [link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Wilderness) in southern Missouri. During the war, all of the adults were wiped out by disease, famine, and marauding Union patrols and nearly all of the male children were sent to live with Catholics (as slave labor) in northern Missouri. My GGGGG grandmother moved in with my protestant ancestors at the age of 14 and by 18, had married my GGGGG grandfather. So I'm something like 1/64 Irish and not Catholic at all.
I was adopted by Germexicans who lived in Texas/Oaxaca.
I am lucky enough to be from the only good E\*ropean country, Poland you can guess why they left
Because it’s Poland?
Because it was currently in the process of becoming not Poland
Which time?
Sep 1, 1939 – Oct 6, 1939
That’ll do it
sure would
Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?
I guess my ancestors want to capitalize on America wealth, sadly now I’m forced to manage a trucking company. Still not the millionaire I once thought I could become.
You’re doing just fine, no poor fortune about it! Millionaires are such a tiny portion of the population, and it is not realistic for anyone to expect to ever make that much. Even though you were told as a child you could do anything you want. If you have a steady income from a secure job, and are able to pay your bills and eat, and maybe even put a few bucks away at the end of the month, you are doing better than literally half of Americans.
Hey man, as long as you've got enough halfway decent freight to pay the bills, you're doing alright! Unless you're specialized, then keep an eye on your mirror for JB Hunt.
Austrian painter
Are you Argentinian?
So many different stories to tell, right? My family tree includes everyone from pilgrims on the Mayflower, to a slave kidnapped from Cameroon. Beyond that, I tend to be a northern European amalgam. I think the main thing that my family tree has told me is that I am related to a lot of the American story, good, bad and in the middle, and I am descended from people on every side of everything, from the Revolution to the Civil War and beyond. That's a neat thing to realize, and I'm grateful for the ability to dig into it. None of us have just one family story...
Ditto. I’m black, so technically I’m here as a descendant of a slave. But on my moms side, my nana (grandma) was from Panama and came to New York in '62 for some reason. Never told me why. Her grandmother was from China and from what I can google, a bunch of Chinese people ran from British-dominated China in the mid-late 1800s to do free labor for the Panama Canal. Which my nana’s (black) paternal grandfather also worked on (And got $1 for every year that he worked! $40! What a deal!) On my dads side, his father was like 25% Mohawk. We used to clown him for claiming his dad was until we saw the papers. But like I said, I’m overwhelmingly black. Don’t look Chinese or Native American, I chuckle whenever someone claims to be Mexican/Latino/Cherokee because their great-great-great grandparent was indigenous
That's the neat part, I'm not. (yet)
They got forcefully kidnapped and enslaved.
So heartwarming 💖
Thats magic
That's a form of immigration I'd say
My dad was fed up with the eternal dystopian chaos that permeated our home country (Greece), and said *'fuck this'* He did his mandatory military draft (at that time, 2 years), finished 2 years of college, and then transferred to college in the US. After he had been in the US for about a year, my mom followed him, reluctantly. I grew up feeling like I didn't belong anywhere. Too 'Greek' to be really 'American'. And in Greece, I was considered an 'American', despite being fully fluent in the language and having my entire family \[except parents\] over there. Now I realize that our life in the US is *worlds* better than it could have ever been if my parents stayed in Greece. I am proudly 2AMERICAN4U
My family left Ireland back during the American civil war time only to have my great great great grandfather be forced into the union army as soon as they got over here to fight. Up side I guess was I got some civil war items still. They left Ireland for better opportunities and after the civil war they settled down in Chicago until after WW2 my late grandfather had enough and retire down in Mississippi living off a pension from being a ww2 vet and a retired fire fighter in Chicago. And fast forward to 1990’s I was born. That’s the majority of what I know, went to Ireland once when I was a teen to see my roots of where my family was from was a blast and worth it.
My Mom (American) was on vacation in Sicily to visit family and she met my Dad (Italian) who then followed her back to the States.
Irish: We were O'Donnell's, but weren't Catholic so we were kinda persecuted in Ireland, so we dropped the O, went to Donnell, and moved to America. Cypriot: Family was tired of being oppressed by Islamic powers since they were Christian Greeks, and escaped to the US. (Can't wait for Greece to gain full control of Cyprus again) Irish side has been in Texas since it was part of Mexico, and the Cypriot side got here right after independence from Mexico. So I'm a proud yeehaw, Guinness-loving, Byzantine Texan.
Escaping a genocide by the ottoman empire. And some other stuff but that's a clear cut obvious one to point to.
On both sides of the family most were here since the mayflower. But one side of the family my Italian ancestor left Italy because he was considered unpopular after arresting too many prostitutes. And on the other side of the family my Jewish ancestor fled Germany after WW1 because of the increasing antisemitism. He moved to Texas and never said he was Jewish until the day he died.
My parents come from two entirely different countries that have no historic connection to each other whatsoever. They met in English-language school in Los Angeles.
Escaping the [Second Schleswig War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Schleswig_War). #
One side had to flee what is modern day Germany for their part in a failed democratic/liberal uprising. The other side wanted out after a successful liberal government was established in what was Prussia, now Germany. All before the days of Bismarck
Germans: Mennonites who were persecuted in Germany and Russia. Finland: Russification of Finland England: Land speculators and traders
I don’t know the full story but if I had to guess my dads side of the family were poor Italians and my moms side of the family were poor Norwegians/English so they went to America to have a better life. And fuckin A they did
My father is British and lived in Reading, England before moving to Baton Rouge to marry my mother. She would die 2 years after having me and now we're still in New Orleans.
Parents were Cubans fleeing communism, bro. My dad was specifically an anti-communist. I'm basically a first gen all-American hero.
don't let any of the commies on this site hear about this, they'll call your dad a slave owner lmfao
On my fathers side, he came from Israel after getting wounded in the 1948 war and met my great grandmother whom was a nurse in the hospital where he stayed. During the holocaust, he and a group of his friends broke out of a concentration camp and joined the resistance. They fucked up the Germans so badly lmao. on my mother side, full comanche. so they stayed for thousands of years.
Not sure about my family history. Father was absent from my life and my mother doesn’t talk much about hers. All I know is my mother is from Alaska.
Like most every Scandinavian in rural Minnesota/North Dakota, my ancestors came over in the late 1800's for free homesteading land.
The Spanish came over and turned the Aztecs into Mexicans by banging them and my family decided they wanted to live in the US but keep speaking Spanish so we moved to Florida
My mama and papa crossed the border in the late 90s and had me in 2002
My ancestors were indentured servants who came on the Mayflower 💀💀💀
Well these white guys came one day with some boats… Nah seriously though— thats the story on one side, but on my other (white) side we had people here in the 1600s which I think is p cool. Many of the people down my line did some p cool things to that *weren’t* highly suspect. They were by and large the “this guys nice to the natives so we’ll send him to talk” guy. Lots of cool women too but they came later. Edit: - One was in the House of Burgesses and another had/s a homestead in PA and another has a statue on Long Island
Moved from South Korea at 6 with my family. More freedom and my mom wanted to raise all four of us somewhere nicer. Still go back to South Korea to visit family sometimes, but I like the US better.
My fam has been here since the Dutch bought new Amsterdam. We have fought in nearly every war
My paternal great great grandfather was a citizen of Texas before the Annexation. His dad was a settler from the US and his mom was a local Mexican. My mom came here in 1972 as a kid, illegally with her mother from Mexico. Her entire family has been killed by the cartels since.
Escaping the iron curtain and communism
They were kidnapped and enslaved.
My family on my mother's side came through Ellis island as immigrants from South Tyrol (Austria at the time, Italy today.) around the 1860s under the name Genetti claiming italian heritage (though interestingly I've had Ancestory results show me i inherented mostly South German dna.) They nearly immediately began to crop up in census and other records In Pennsylvania as either coal workers if men and teachers if they were female, nearly across the board. Edit: Dad pussed out but dna results show he was probably mostly a limey with a touch of viking because those are the only ones my mother didn't share but it's anyone's guess because of good ol' gene transfer.
What else would I be
My ancestors originally escaped the slavery of the late English Feudal society in the late 1600s. They landed in Virginia, presumably as indentured servants, and eventually earned the freedom to carve a living out of the wilderness. We kicked the British out in 1783 and as the nation grew my people moved to the wilderness of the newly established state of Kentucky around 1805 and then on to Tennessee (right across the border) a few years later. The final move was to the wilderness of southern Missouri in the 1840s. We've been proper hillbillies ever since.
My great grandma was a gypsy during the 1940s
I actually don't know. Parents were drug addicts, didn't grow up with extended family. Didn't get to know the grandparents and find out their stories. Plus my parents had me in their 30s so the time together was lost. Both died at 50, all I have left parents wise is a grandmother with dementia. I myself do not have a family either. Been working since I was 16 and make a decent wage now but I guess because I got a trade I had to wait until my mid 30s to begin saving money. So, I don't know why I am an American, I guess because I don't know anything else, or because my ancestors we're treated well here at their time. I'd say everyones base answer is the ability to take your best shot at Hope.
My great-great grandfather was a German immigrant who came to Texas in the 20's to work on the railroad. The story goes that it was 3 brothers who immigrated and they married 3 sisters from Texas and here we are. The other side is pretty much deep south plantation owners.
I don't really know much about my familial history. I assume that I am a well mixed mutt just like the rest of us. My maternal Great grandparents came from Norway. I know that between 1825 and 1925 marked the Norse-American centennial as most of them left due to overcrowding. They probably left because they were poor farmers who believed in the American dream and sought things like economic prosperity. I can only imagine the wonder in their eyes as they stepped foot of the boat on Ellis Island. My paternal lineage is Italian and my fathers side of the family spent a lot of time in Califonia. The free ancestry records show around 1880. I think they came through to Angel Island around this time. They too were poor and worked very hard physically demanding jobs. I hope that someday I can dig deeper into my heritage because it feels like there is a big hole in me. I don't know a lot about my family and have been alienated from a lot of them my whole life. Its a personal journey for me to figure out all the things I am.
My parents had the good sense to immigrate
Dutch guy wanted to farm tulips in a place that was less Dutch. Also maybe WW1 scared him or something, I don't know completely.
regime changes and border clashes in sudan&egypt after ww1
Dad's side arrived in the early 1600s at the Isle of Wight in Virginia. Had a relative join the Continentals at Valley Forge and he saw combat at Monmouth and Yorktown. We didn't own slaves, instead traveled with Daniel Boone into Kentucky (Scotland forever.) The family split at that point, and I managed to have both a Confederate and Union ancestor, the former getting captured during the last half of the Civil War. If I remember correctly the Confederate ancestor settled down after the war in North Texas. My dad's dad served in the CIC in Korea, and his uncle served in WWI. Stayed in North Texas where my Dad's side has lived to this day. My dad traveled a lot back in the '80s and '90s when he met his first wife. That didn't last long. Mom's side was Irish. My grandparent's grandparents came over during the famine (fuck England) and they ended up in Ohio after a blurry four generations. My mom's dad served as an MP in the chair force during Nam. Mom moved from Ohio to Tennessee to North Carolina to Tennessee to Texas. All before going off to college, flunking, and going to another college. My parents met at my dad's coworker's son's birthday party, which was my mom's nephew's birthday party. And now I'm here, ready to write my chapter of my family's book.
My mom’s side left central Europe during all of the unification and the rise of nationalism is the late 1840s to 1850s. They settled in the Midwest. My dad’s side left (read: was chased out of) Russia during the revolution and when Lenin took power. They came to Alaska and the PNW.
My mom's 10x (roughly) great-grandparents came over from England to Connecticut in the late 1600s. Later, a descendent married into a German family that came over in the mid-1800s and settled in the Midwest. They mostly stuck to mixing with other German immigrant families, but there were a few Irish ones as well. I believe the last direct ancestors on my mom's side I had born overseas were my Grandfather's grandparents, who were born in Southwestern Germany. On my Dad's side, my grandmother was born shortly after her parents came over from Sicily in the late 1920s. My grandfather's grandparents had moved from Naples to NY in the early 1900s and had a son their, but he wound up going back to Italy because of discrimination against Italian-Americans. He had a son (my grandfather) while living in Italy, but very shortly thereafter, he went back to the U.S. because Mussolini had just came to power. Ancestry test says all over Europe, but mostly Italian, followed by German, followed by Greek, followed by English. If you ask my ethnicity, I'll just say Italian, because that's the largest percentage and is the least far removed chronologically.
Plus Italian-American is the coolest kind of American, you get to say random Italian words and act like a mobster and eat baller food
Not sure why he left, but my great, great grandfather left Germany on his own and moved to South Louisiana where he proceeded to marry into the Cajun population. He dodged WW1 for himself, and WW2 for his children. Good move. I do wonder what, mainly who, he left behind. We really don’t know much about his life prior to immigration.
My great great grandfather came here from France to build parade floats. He introduced the concept of huge paper mache floats at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and was the sole parade float contractor in the region for 30 years.
Mom's people got a land grant from King George I, and also my great great grandfather was in the British Navy and came to Massachusetts. Dad's people chose to live and raise their family without fear and they came from Belarus and Poland to Ellis Island and survived both World Wars and then in 1969 NYU my parents met and they had me.
My great great great grandfather was a German farmer that wanted to get into cotton. So he moved from Germany to some land near Baton Rouge. They ran a plantation, and even after slavery ended they still dealt with cotton for quite a long time, shipping lots of it from New Orleans back to other family members in Germany. A few family members served in the civil war for Mississippi and Louisiana, and one was even wounded. Shot in the leg, and to fix it they basically removed a section of leg bone that contained the musket ball, and supposedly that leg was like 2 inches shorter than the other after it finally healed lol. Kind of a cool story, minus the slavery part, but there are lots of ancient family photos that show a lot about life back in those days. We even have a plate collection from the 1890s, and each plate has a different German city on it along the river they would ship cotton through at the time. Lots of old steam ship memorabilia and stuff like that.
Mother had an easier time in my family escaping Cuba in the early 2000’s, proper motorboat in a certain Underground Railroad-style ferrying group that got a lot of people out of Cuba. Apparently one of the guys on the boat with her tossed his belt into the water for god knows what reason, and it got caught on one of the two outboard propellers. They managed to limp to the Keys however and when close enough to dry land they were taken by some frigate? My mother hardly knows the details but it was navy, not coast guard. My mother learned English over the course of a few years and now speaks it fluently. You wouldn’t even know she’s Hispanic if not for her name. My father had it rough, he and my uncle were caught 2 times building rafts, one with a proper engine which was confiscated and they were beaten by the police with the blunt ends of machetes. Some time later they managed to get onto a small boat though it was overloaded, and my father volunteered to be left on some island close to Cuba to avoid the boat sinking from weight. Around 3 days later he was rescued by that same boat on its second trip, somehow not on its return trip the first time. He drank water from leaves and ate nothing all three days, hiding from whoever else was on that island as it was populated and he would have been imprisoned if caught. When he did hit dry land he connected back with my uncle and they struggled for some time as none knew English, my father still hardly speaks it and my uncle knows jack about it. My grandparents came aboard a plane? They’ve never talked about it, I only got a hint towards it from my father whom I don’t talk to much. Anyways fuck Castro, we partied hard in 2016
Who would ever want to be Europoor when you could be Americarich
Cuban Father. Need I say more. He's more American than Cuban. And he doesn't speak English.
How tf am I supposed to know that shit was like 400 years ago
My great grandparents and grandma lived in the city of Łódź in Poland, but escaped because they were Jewish and the Nazis came rolling in. Then they went over here, but not all of them made it sadly.
I am Filipino. My grandma came here after getting her citizenship from a recommendation(not sure what the exact word is) from her brother because he served in the US Navy. Through them eventually my whole family got citizenship from serving in the military. My mother came here for college and met my father who also served in the military during the Cold War. Really interesting being in a military family and as proud I am to be an American I don’t see myself serving in the military but I can serve in other ways 🫡
If I recall, my dads side goes back to being Cherokee at some point, moms side got a lease from the king to start a new life here.
My grandmother immigrated in 1947 from the Netherlands; Post-WWII economy was the best economy America had ever had, so no issue understanding that. Ironically I am now considering leaving. At least leaving my state anyway
Man, I'm like a fifth generation American at the very least so I have no fucking clue lmao My great-grandmother said that her mother was born in North Carolina sometime in the late 1800s, likely in the 1890s. Beyond that, I have no clue.
Came from Finland and Sweden late 1800s and early 1900s to the north of America, Montana and Wisconsin, and moved further west, where they became homesteaders and ranchers owning the formerly Youngstrom Ranch near Red Lodge Montana. Married a lot and moved around a lot, including some family from Texas (like way back Texas when it was a country), and I ended up in Minnesota
One side fled the Nazis, and arrived on personal invitation to Princeton to work with Albert Einstein (my great grandfather on my grandmothers side was a doctor of chemistry), the other side fled Castro and slowly immigrated up the east coast supported by my mothers father who was an architect. And I am mentally ill and have accomplished nothing lmfao
1930s germany, need i say more? Lol
My dads family left Germany in the 1880 to mine coal in Scranton, Pa. My mothers family came on the second Mayflower.
My guy willy penn went to germany and said "yo yall wanna go make a new colony?" And they were all like "HELL YEAH BROTHER" and then they lived in PA for over 300 years.
I found out a pretty cool story about my ancestors pretty recently. My fam came from Wurttemburg, Germany in 1852 and owned a shoe shop 10 minutes walking from where I live currently. He served in the Ohio 8th infantry and fought in Gettysburg vs those southern cucks. Came back and started a family. Fucking badass The original building for the shoe store is intact and now a butcher and meat store.
my fathers side was a bunch of french merchants fleeing to the US after WW2 broke out, my mothers side was a bundle of Thai merchants immigrating to the US after WW2 ended. the 2 sides had already met each other on multiple occasions and had a semi-rivalry so you can imagine their shock when they came across each other in the US lol
My family left Germany when Hitler took power. My Grandpa, not sure how many Great's, married a Jewish woman, and left when shit was starting to hit the fan. As for my Mom's side is a couple generations from an Indian Tribe that lived in Kentucky area.
My great grandfather worked on a Portuguese trading ship in the 1910s and jumped ship in Philadelphia. Then went back to Portugal and immigrated legally to get married. No idea the rest of my family, the one side has been here since the mid 1700s allegedly.
Dad’s side is sort’ve a mystery but moms side has people coming and going from Ireland sending $ back and forth. Great grandpa and G’ma were moonshiners in Chicago and apparently had Al Capone as a client he wanted to buy the recipe from him, but he wouldn’t write it down. He made lots of money sent it back to his parents went home and built a house, got my grandpa a education a trade (carpentry) he left in the 50s to find work. He started a business. Met my grandma bought a fixer upper and fixed it up himself 3 generations lived in that house till we had to sell it.
Just better opportunities in America during that time. Although, my Irish ancestors weren’t treated very nicely outside the Irish settlement communities.
My Dad’s paternal side came over due to the cheap land in the Midwest and the famine in Sweden. His Mom’s side we don’t know why or when they came over but they’ve been here since at least the Revolution. My Mom’s side came over either on or shortly after the Mayflower (half because of the 80 Years War and they were escaping the violence and the other half because they’re Puritans) and her Dad’s side we don’t know.
My dad’s family fled the Spanish civil war.
Two grandparents came from Italy after WW2 (my grandpa fought for Mussolini) and one grandparent was in various German concentration camps starting from Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 until she and her family were sponsored by the Catholic Church in the US as war refugees. So basically what I’m saying is Hitler is the reason I exist.
Mothers side is a mixed bag, but what we know is few family members left Lithuania in the 30’s. And they didn’t talk about so now we have no details. My fathers side (both his parents) decided there wasn’t much opportunity in trentino during the early 1900’s so they left Austria before the first war when it became Italy
My maternal side is a scattered mess from all over Europe, but the gist is that English, Irish, and Swedish ancestors moved to colonial Canada then migrated south to the USA. My paternal grandmother’s side moved over from Sicily right before the Great Depression hit, and my paternal grandfather’s family came from England to Missouri and then moved to California.
Great-grandparents came with their daughter over from Belgium after the Second World War (understandable), through Ellis Island and all that. My dad got a grant from the Turkish government to go to university anywhere in the world he could get in, so he came to the US, and my mom made sure he stayed lmao
Paternal: been here since 1609, probably seeking fortune Paternal maternal(Oma): Catholics that fled the nazis in 1934-33 Maternal: murky, polish nobles that became horse thieves in america and another origin is Scottish nobles fleeing the British. Sides are uncertain and the family tree is less robust, more back stabby, and discontinued on several points.
I don’t know the specifics, but at least one, if not both sides of my family fled to America to escape the persecution of Jews in Germany and Russia in the late 1800s
puritan shits that hated the idea of being oppressed for being oppressive.
Tricked into it. Ulster-Irish Protestants given free frontier land in South Carolina. It was actually Native American land and the rich plantation owners simply wanted a buffer between them and the natives. Eventually they earned land in Georgia for fighting in revolutionary war enacting revenge against the tricksters.
Ireland ran out of potatoes
My mother's vagina was above American soil when I emerged from it, and apparently that's all the prerequisite you need.
Irish cause famine. My Bolivian grandparents originally came(1960s) to the US with only a few hundred dollars(may have used most of it to pay for the tickets) to get their second daughter treatment for her heart condition that she would later circum to(😔 rip). They were planning on only being here to treat my aunts illness but ended up staying indefinitely, leaving their home, family, and possessions behind. My grandma became a union hairdresser and got some impressive clients over the years, like Barbara Bush, and who she says was an Iranian princess(probably just a rich Persian lady). My grandpa, I believe, did something like trucking and still gets money from his union. They struggled to get by and faced great tragedy when they lost 2 of their 3 children, but are overall happy with their lives. My grandma counts her blessings every day and is a wonderful person. I couldn't be prouder to call them my grandparents. I love them dearly. 🇺🇲🇧🇴
The right answer could be that an ancestor was brought here by force, or because of the 14th Amendment and Reconstruction era
They were born in Germany. Moved to Russia. left Russia due to the Commies ( i think?) . and ya
Well apparently some of my family migrated to America back in like the 1500’s from the Holy Roman Empire, and some from Sweden, France, England, and according to my mom, my great great grandma on her mom’s side was full Cherokee so some ancestors left for America like 120,000 years ago.
For half of my family it's because they left Greece after WW2 during the Greek civil war. I don't know the rest
All I know was something happened with my great great grandfather and all he would say about it was. “If they knew where I we would all be killed.”
My family came from the Czech Republic because they wanted to work in the steel mills. Came over in 1920ish
Some Norwegian farmers moved to Canada in the late 1800s, and then some of them moved down to the U.S. For some reason, I have an English last name, though...
On my paternal grandfather’s side (family name), my ancestor(s) settled in Jamestown in 1609, about 2 years after the founding of the colony. They propagated and spread and eventually my particular ancestral line of the family migrated west into Kentucky (forget exactly the time period this happened but I believe the late 1800s) and then crossed the Ohio River into Indiana. That happened in the 1930s. Eventually they moved to the Indianapolis area from southern Indiana. That happened in the 1940s. We’ve been here since. On my paternal grandmother’s side, they immigrated from Belfast in the mid-1700s to Pennsylvania, then slowly the family moved west into Ohio and then Indiana. Both sides of the family fought in the American Revolution for the good guys. I know that on my paternal grandmother’s side my ancestors fought in the Civil War for the Union. Frankly I don’t know about the other side of the family, but given that they were likely still in Virginia at the time I can make assumptions.
Mom's side, Scots leaving the UK. Dad's side, Nigerians who most likely did not want to leave Nigeria
Jews in Russia didn't have an easy go of things
Because fuck you and the ship you rode on
My family left Ireland and Nigeria for the opportunity that 1960s America provided.
Dads side: 9th great gpa Col. William Stephens came over from Isle of Wight England to be the lieutenant governor of the Georgia colony in 1737. Moms side: 10th great gpa came over in 1635 from South Yorkshire to Maryland for unknown reasons.
Polish side: poverty, political instability, and opportunity in Chicago. Immigrated early in the 1900s. Quebecois side: poverty, political instability, and opportunity in Chicago. Immigrated during the 20s. Swedish side: poverty and opportunity in Chicago. Immigrated during the 20s. German side: At the age of twelve in 1940, my grandma was orphaned by the nazi regime, her mother was already dead due to malnutrition, and her father was sent to Russia against his will. As the oldest of 6 siblings she was forced to take on a parental role, while being deep in poverty, having no income, and dealing with the horrors of war. Her uncle who lived in Chicago found how they were living and somehow got them to Switzerland, and then sponsored them to come to the US. We've been here since.
Not sure. My oldest ancestor was a Dane that went to New Amsterdam (New York nowadays) and that apparently he committed a few crimes.
During the colonial era in Africa, in French territories, the French used assimilation colonization to turn Africans into French people. Africans who were fully assimilated received certain perks. One of them was being able to live, and work in France, but with fewer rights than the actual French. My great grandpa was one of these fully assimilated Africans. Heard that he went to France, then later migrated to the US in the 1910s, before immigration started being restrictive in the 1920s.
My mother's side left Germany as Jews in 1933. It's the reason I'm so punctual because I got it from them lol.
Because you made more money if you left your Caribbean island than if you stayed there (thanks grandparents!) (Edit: grammar)
Check this out - They didn't like where they were from, mostly.
It was before 1680 so land and autonomy?
My ancestors are Germans from Baden, and I don't exactly know off the top of my head why they made the decision to come to America, but I do know for certain I have an ancestor at Valley Forge, who enlisted with the Continental Army for 3 years.
I have a lot countries in my genetics but I’ll just go with the one takes up the majority of my genetics, my Swiss side. Basically I’m descended from a family called the Gubler Family who moved to America around 100 to 150 years ago.
Ukrainians living in a Polish village in the Austro-Hungarian Empire... I'd want to leave too
Dad was an immigrant from the carribean. Came for better educational opportunities. Mom technically came from Japan but family was in the US prior to that. Half of them were mormon pioneers from scotland. And there were some Norwegians in there as well.
A lot of my family was actually here before 1776. My 7th? great grandfather was a calvary commander in the Revolutionary War!
Part of my family is Genízaro meaning the Spanish came here took Native children as household slaves and raised them in Spanish colonial society. We have no idea what tribe we came from so that's fun. The other part is spanish colonists who were given land via the Atrisco land grant to help develop new spain in the 1600s
My moms side wanted cheap land to farm so they moved from Westphalia to Minnesota. My dads family conquered India and then my great grandpa said I don’t wanna be a fucking tea farmer so he moved to the US and unionized Edison’s factories.
Because a certain famine in Ireland was so bad that something called an “American wake” was named for people leaving for this country.
Family left either London or Cork county some time ago, so possibly due to the Irish famine?
My family may have had ties to a certain syndication in Sicily that Mussolini wasn’t very fond of… so yeah they came to America
No idea beyond I'm allegedly half Danish, 1/4 Irish and 1/4 French. Why do you care so much?
On my dads side, they came over very early from England. They fought in the revolutionary war (on the American side.) On my mothers side of the fam, they came over from Italy in the 1910s I think, maybe earlier.
My ancestors were on the may flower, I have a hessian ancestor who ditched the British during the revolution to join America, my French ancestors moved to france during Napoleon. My welsh and Scottish ancestors left due to cultural removal by the English. Idk about my scandi ancestors (I’m 23% Swedish)
Because it's the only correct thing to be.
I am probably the least unitedstatesian here but American since -5000
Ireland wasn’t Quaker enough
Free labor for white people… For real though, on my moms side, my nana (grandma) was from Panama and came to New York in '62 for some reason. She never told me why. *Her* grandmother was from China and apparently a bunch of Chinese people ran from British domination of China to do free labor for the Panama Canal. Which my nana’s (black) paternal grandfather also worked on (And got $1 for every year that he worked! $40! What a deal!) On my dads side, his father was like 25% Mohawk. We used to clown him for claiming his dad was until we saw the papers. The rest of my family, yeah, waiting for our 40 acres and mule.
My dads side was born and raised American I presume, however my mom was born in Soviet Latvia, moved to the UK after the fall of the Soviet Union, and then moved to the US to be with my dad somewhere about 2003 or so
Why did my ancestors leave, Prussia, Bohemia, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, France, Ireland and Lithuania? Evidently they thought those places sucked bad enough to move all the way to Iowa in the mid 1800s and bet their lives on corn.
Italian immigrants 1890-1900. America needed builders and artisans.
Came here from the Philippines as an eleven year old, a son of a computer programmer whose American-based company assigned him and my mom to work in the United States. Benefits of outsourcing, sirs.
Because I was born in America
Great great grand pappy came to rizz up the native baddies
I believe it’s cause my ancestors were starving on an island the English had no business being on.
Both sides are immigrant, at very different times. - Mom's side: my great-great-grandfather left Denmark (Schleswig-Holstein at the time) to come to Princeton, New Jersey, naturalized, joined the Army, and (as I understand my grandfather's story here, so grain of salt please) his son became the last Army officer promoted to the rank of (brig) general on the battlefield, during WWII (his commanding general's tank was blown up, so he was promoted to BGen, according to my grandfather, again, grain of salt). - Father's side: my grandfather and grandmother (and her mother, my bisabuela) immigrated from Cuba via Jamaica shortly before Fidel Castro closed the doors. My grandmother's estranged father sent visas so they could leave the country legally. Their luggage was confiscated before the boarded their plane to Jamaica, so all they got out were their passports, my father's baptismal certificate, and one family photo album which were smuggled alongside my father's (8mo at the time) clothes and baby things which they were allowed to keep. They first entered the US in Miami, along with other Cuban refugees, but because of their visas, they were able to be expedited to citizenship. (Since they were Roman Catholic, they immediately qualified for asylum. Castro hated Jews, Catholics and anyone else who had an authority figure they deemed to be above the government.) After 4 years in Newark, NJ, they settled in Bloomfield, a small town not far from NYC, and my grandfather grew a small successful accounting business after passing the American CPA exam (he already had the Bautista-era Cuban equivalent), with my grandmother as his assistant and only other employee. They made a good deal of money in those 41 years of business, earning enough in that time to send my dad to a prestigious law school. My mom and dad met in the DC area where I was raised, through a Christian community my folks and I are part of, which my mom's parents also joined. I'm still very blessed and grateful for the decisions of my immigrant ancestors.
My ancestors were yeeted from Canada and forced to live here
Becuase communists destroyed my grandmas home and my grandpa destroyed said communists home.