How many people actually know what their roots are, their true ethnicity?

Question

For example, some people do not know where their family name originated from... What their parents were, etc... Do you?

Answer 1

Yes, I do

Answer 2

Very few, if you go back as little as 10 generations ( 2 parents 4 grandparents etc ) then you end up with a maximum of 1024 direct blood relatives, That direct blood relatives and works out at about 300 years of time Not a lot is it. carry it on and the numbers become mind boggling.

Answer 3

I am 50% Irish, 50% Black =P. My grandparents moved to America from Ireland, and my family name is O'Bhraonain (McBrennan in English) Other than that, I don't know much about the African side in me, I was raised by Irish Americans, so that's sort of the side that's had the most effect on me lol.

Answer 4

Well, I do know most of my ethnic background but can't find a lot of information about my paternal grandmother who looked Iike she was of Irish or English descent. Otherwise - barring some indiscretions along the way - I am predominantly English, Scotch, Welsh, German and Irish. Not real exciting but that's how it is.

Answer 5

Yes, I know mine. Mother's side immigrated from Ireland to the US in 1889 and had resided in Killashandra, Ireland for 10 generations prior to that. Last name Sweeney. Meaning swine in Gaelic.
Father's family is French and immigrated to Palatine, Germany in 1710 because of religious issues. In 1740 the family immigrated to Philadelphia (yes, they fought in the Revolutionary War). Prior to 1710 the Roland family tree goes back to 1160. Documentation prior to that is very sketchy. Roland means "kings land". My married name means Red Headed Man in Gaelic it's Flanagan

Answer 6

I can document back to 1785 to an African (g6) grandmother, and a Cherokee (g6) grandfather. He was captured into slavery while trying to rescue her out of it. He was given the name of the slaveholder and most in the family still use that name, although some have changed to African names.

Answer 7

Puerto Ricans are a mix of three races (yes,m were mutts and proud of it, lol)

1. Tainos (native indians)
2. Spaniards (that came to kill the natives)
3. Africans (Slaves that Spaniards brought to cultivate the land)

Answer 8

My mother's side are basically South Carolinian/French aristocracy, (one of the founding families of Charleston) and so far I've traced us back to the 1200s (past the "first" [mossbreaker's last name]).

My father's side are dirt poor Scottish coal miners. I don't even have both sets of grandparents down.

The richer your family is (historically), the more likely you are to be able to trace your roots.

Answer 9

I have a family tree going back 26 generations to about 1270 and the tomb of him and his two sons is still looked after. The Chinese look after their ancestors.

Answer 10

Yes, my great grandfather was a genealogist and traced our family tree back from Ireland to England and then to France, and found out we were descendants of Charlemagne...cool, eh?

Answer 11

yes i do. i had an aunt that past away with breast cancer. she started a search on my fathers side of the family and found out a lot of things that we didn't know. we found out that in england the king granted one of our family members a large part of north carolina to govern over. she wrote a book on our name and published it before she died.