So What Am I?
I’ve thought about this, off and on, for a number of years; but, I don’t know exactly what my ancestry is, and there isn’t anyone left to ask.
My Father’s side of the family is German. They came over here in the late Nineteenth Century. They settled in the Detroit area.
On my Mother’s side, I was told the family was Scottish and Irish; they came over about the same time. They settled in the Ohio valley, mostly on the Ohio side of the river, just north of Huntington, WV, on the northern edge of Appalachia.
I’ve thus always said I’m half German and a quarter Scotch and Irish.
A few years ago I watch a PBS documentary on Appalachia. In it, I learned a bit of history that I’d not heard before. Back in the fifteenth century England sent a bunch of Scots over to northern Ireland to get them out of it’s “hair” and maybe to mess with the Irish of which it wasn’t too fond. They're known as "Scot Irish."
Many of them didn’t blend in, and over time emigrated to America, eventually to Appalachia. They are the mountain people, the hillbillies.
So, am I half German and half mountain man/hillbillie?
I can be dour. I like beer, though I’m assuming I got that from Dad’s side. Don’t like Scotch, don’t like whiskey or liquor of any kind. I don’t have any Irish temper. I’m more a spendthrift than a hoarder.
I’m going to settle on American mutt.
9 comments:
I am a northern european mutt. French, Scottish, English, Dutch, Swedish, Irish, Scots-Irish and who knows what all else. Other than the fact that I prefer the cooler temps to the warmer ones and the fact that I can't ever get a tan, I don't believe it means anything.
What does mean something to me is that one of my grandfathers grew up trilingual in South Africa and helped run Moonshine during prohibition. My other grandfather was a chemical engineer for Procter and Gamble and built a still in his backyard when he was in his teens. (Oddly, both were practicing alcoholics. Only one got sober though.)
Legend has it that Pocahontas is one of my ancestors, along with John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Both legends are a load of crap, albeit an entertaining one.
In other words, nationalities are just too big. I prefer the little stories about specific relatives. That's more about who or what I am.
But hey, that's me.
Mutts are the best dogs. And aren't most of us mutts?
One day, I will write a post about my confederate ancestors. One of my family members wrote up a detailed history, with military records and photos. Interesting stuff.
Wow. I thought I was more related to Pos, but Dave your German/Detroit/Scots/Irish thing is my story, too. Throw in a good bit of Swede and you and me are separated at birth. Someone once told me I look "American". One of the finest compliments I've ever received in that vein.
I'm a "half-breed" myself - Scottish and Swedish - 50-50. But my poor kids, they really are of the Heinz 57 variety!
Irish, German, French, a little bit of Polish tossed in for good measure and what a combination that makes with the Scottish and Swedish from my side. I suppose because I grew up with my Swedish grandparents, it is that ethnicity that I recognize as most prominently and therefore, my kids do the same.
But I like Fermicat's explanation about mutts and most of us all being "mutts" anyway. Bottom line is my ancestors, my kids ancestors were those nationalities but mine is really good old American by today's standards.
I know what you are: you're YOU...and I think that's a pretty cool thing for you to be. :)
Take care of you.
Well, I'm 1/2 Dutch, and everybody hates the Dutch. So I just tell everybody that I'm an American and specifically a Californian.
American mutt makes sense. We too often confuse race and ethnicity and nationality anyway - further compounded by the fact that wer'e looking at these past groups through the lens of present realities that didn't exist then. (Scots were less likely to think of themselves as Scots than, say, of the McDonald or Davison clan.)
Nothing wrong with mutts, that's for sure.
I'm allegedly of pure-blood Irish descent -- but the Irish wouldn't have me, that's for sure: I'm a born Yank. I'm good with that.
Mutt? Pppfft...
I'll have you know I'm purebred.
(mind you purebred gypsy doesn't quite sound as good, eh? LOL)
I'd love to be a part scottish...i'd walk around and declare in a bad accent "If it's not scottish, it's crap!"
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