When you think about your family history does it make you sad or happy?

I feel deep Pride.

There are many great people and accomplishments in my family tree.

Sad is that so many of them were sent to death in Nazi concentration camps; I feel luck that my little scion of the family escaped Hitler and came to the US as refugees.

I am impressed by what many did to make their lives better.

My grandfather came to the US in 1914 after being raised as a peasant in rural Mexico. He managed to work hard enough to buy land and build his own houses, and educate his daughter enough to go through the University of California in the 1930s and 40s, when women in college were still rare.

Well, there’s me.

I have zero knowledge of my “ancestry”.
The only thing I know about my grandparents, is that they existed.
And honestly, I do not care.

I am descended from polygamists on both sides of my family. there’s a lot of unique and interesting stories but a lot of it is really sad, because child abuse and polygamy tend to go hand-in-hand.

I also have a lot of antiques that have been handed down through many generations. There is something really special about being able to trace family history through objects you can touch and use.

Amazed at the strength of my grandparents, especially my gramma.

@Dutchess_III
How much did she lift?

I don’t really know my family history before my grandparents on one side and great-grandparents on the other. But with family histories of mental illness, addiction/alcoholism, and abuse, thinking of my family (ancestors) usually makes me sad. I am aware of three current generations of family members who were sexually abused (not by other family members) and I often wonder how far back that legacy goes. Maybe it started with those I know of, but I doubt it.

I am so very proud of my mother for breaking so many patterns, but it will take many more generations for us to heal from the things I mentioned above.

Well it’s a mixture of pride and regret. From the Carolina-Kentucky slave owners to the Trail of Tears, to the Civil War, there’s a lot of sad history and disturbing truths.

I don’t know much about my family history beyond my grandparents/some great grandparents. I think I’m a mutt of mostly/all European origin, but I really don’t know for sure. It’s not something I think about much, and maybe that in-and-of-itself is a bit sad.

@ragingloli she took a ship from Holland to America by herself with 6 children. Grampa had gone ahead. 4 of them were less than 5 years old.
She had 3 more after she got here.

@gorillapaws If my family weren’t really into history, I would know nothing. They wanted the younger generations to have it.
Some really interesting stories, like an ancestor who got run over by a train and lived for almost five minutes cut in half. Thing’s like that aren’t really pertinent to our lives now but it’s interesting reading.
Another ancestor, during the Civil War (which tore my state in half, brother against brother), had to go to Fort Leonard Wood for food, because if you were on the wrong side, they starved you out and burnt your home. True story.

Wow.

Rumor has it that one of my ancestors was a horse thief.

And judging by the laws of the time, I am sure he was hung.

Pride I suppose. As far as I can tell, or as far as I have been able to trace family roots, I had a whatever great grand father who settled in the Carolinas from the North of England, served in the Yamasee Indian conflict, (1715?) and from there I lose the trail up to my great grand father, a Kansas farmer. This is my dads side. Moms side was Irish, part of them came over to flee the potato famine. Others more recent. So a mix of English / Irish I suppose. As far as I know, nothing nefarious or shameful in the family tree. But who knows. Might get one of those genetic things done one day. Or DNA or whatever that test is called. Out of curiosity. According to an old family legend, a remote ancestor, from whom we are directly descended, was a King of some Irish county of kingdom in the Dark Ages. Deposed and killed by the Northmen (Vikings).

Covid has given me time to trace my family tree and my family name, which is an unusual one. Though my surname is now found all over the world I discovered that in the 18th century everyone with my name or variants of it lived within ten miles of each other in the north east of Scotland.

I have traced some of the cottages where my ancestors lived and worked on the land. Many of these cottages no longer exist apart from a name on old maps. The rubble of one was used to build a church.

My feelings when I look back into the past are a mixture of pride and humility and curiosity.

Thank you so much everyone! I really liked reading your stories.

GA’s for everyone!

I hope we get some more answers.

Some were rich, owned slaves, and fought in the Rebel army.
Some were immigrants before the Revolutionary War.
I try to focus on my contributions. My kids all married immigrants or first generation Americans.

My Grandfather’s Grandfather served in the Union Army in the Civil War. He was not exactly a war hero as he was sickly and spent the war at a desk job. HA!
My Great Grandmother got pregnant from an unknown American Indian and gave birth to my Grandmother (½ indigenous American). That makes my Father ¼ indigenous American and me 1/8 indigenous American. My DNA analysis revealed that I’m 10% El Salvador Indian and 4% Asian and 86% German.

Unless you have a German Passport, you are 0% German.

Not quite true, @ragingloli

My daughter (born and raised in the US) got a German passport two years ago, on the basis of my father (her grandfather)‘s family being thrown out of Germany in 1938–39.

She has two passports now, both US and German.

One interesting thing I found while researching my surname, is that anyone with that English surname, allegedly originated on the English side of the English Scottish border. In the Middle Ages, a Scots clan was under attack by another force of Scots, in superior numbers. Our family of “Englanders” went to their assistance, and ran off the invaders in a hard fought battle. So we are entitled to wear the tartan and kilt of that particular Scottish family. In recognition of our neighborly deed. Their name escapes me. Interesting tidbit of family history.

I know more about my maternal grandfather’s side than anything else. I know they came from the Pyrenees and there’s a town there named after them. They went to Haiti and then to Louisiana. There’s a building at a college there named after one of them, too. My grandmother was Czech. My father’s family are from Mexico but they are Castillian. I don’t know much about them, except that in Mexico they worked in Government, and I know the city they’re from.

My recent family history (past few decades) there was a rift between my mom and her sister vs. the other sister. It’s sad – it was over the will and inheritance and it’s beyond being fixed now because my mom is deceased and the remaining two sisters are not making up any time soon. I understand the logic but it’s sad, still.

@jca2 I feel ya on that one. Went thru something similar with my own two sisters. Greedy women got everything when the parents passed, I got squat. But I won’t hate on them. No point hating over spilt milk. There are other things in life than money. Now excuse me while I go cry in my beer. : (

The weight of their hope.

To be honest, I feel… indifferent.

I don’t know much about my ancestors, and they didn’t seem to have experienced anything interesting. I know a distant ancestor who became a soldier fighting against the French and died at 18. There was this woman who was never accepted as part of the family but supposedly gave birth to people in my family tree. There was my great grandma who wrote a poem that is still there on the altar. Those are some of the most interesting people. Apart from that, there is nothing for me to say about my ancestry. Everyone in my family tree just seemed to keep to themselves and tried to survive their time. No one really wanted to be involved in anything.

I’m really jealous of all of you who have interesting stories about your ancestries. I just don’t have anything to say about that…

My Dad’s side of the family used to have family reunions every 4 years. They reached pretty far back….but I know virtually nothing about his own mother. I know she died of cancer when my dad was 13. I don’t think Dad ever forgave her.
About 2 years ago Seek tracked down her grave with what little information I could give her.
We made dozens of trips to Texas when I was growing up to visit his family members. Not one time did we visit Gramma’s grave. Dad just didn’t talk about her.

@Mimishu1995 From the point of view of history it is ordinary lives that are the most interesting.

That’s sad Dutchy. : (

It’s kind of mysterious too. Apparently grampa had a wife before her and she died too.

Interesting. Won’t speculate though.