How Long Has Your Family Been in the United States (or Canada)?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Backwoods Presbyterian

Backwoods Presbyterian

Puritanboard Amanuensis
For those of you in the old country "4,500 B.C." will suffice. :lol:


Anyway I am good old American Mut so it would be fair to say that "parts" of me have been here a long time, others not so much.

Mom's Side (all settled in what is now West Virginia)

Preston's came over from Ireland in the 1840's.
Sponaugle's came over from Germany in the 1850's.
Dempsey's (most direct ancestors) came over from Ireland in the 1890's.
Lewis' came over some time before 1700 from Ireland (via Scotland).


Dad's Side (all ended up in Colorado eventually)

Glaser's "appear" in Canada from Germany in the 1840's. No one knows how they got there or for how long they were they, came to America in the 1870's. We are pretty sure that the Glaser's were political refugees...
Helle's came over from Germany in the 1870's.
Palmer's came over from Germany in the 1850's.
 
A good portion of my family has been here since shortly after the cessation of work on the tower at Babel.

Other family roots arrived in the western hemisphere during the 18th and 19th centuries for the most part.
 
Last edited:
Schoens --- 1850's, settled where most of them still live in Southern Illinois.
Keelings --- 1650's, first settled in Virginia, lived in Arkansas during the Civil War (WNA). Came to St. Louis at the turn of the 20th Century and shortly moved into the area where the Schoens settled.

A branch of the Keeling family was Native American.
 
Ivan said:
Schoens --- 1850's, settled where most of them still live in Southern Illinois.
Keelings --- 1650's, first settled in Virginia, lived in Arkansas during the Civil War (WNA). Came to St. Louis at the turn of the 20th Century and shortly moved into the area where the Schoens settled.

A branch of the Keeling family was Native American.
Click to expand...

We can track Horsefalls, Creswicks and Parnells, emigrating from the British Isles in the 1800's. Some other more distant names were United Empire Loyalists, (McLeod's, Church's). Cunningham's and Dayes we can't track beyond the beginning of the 190's in Canada.
 
Mom's side - I am fourth generation American with roots in Deutschland. Great grandparents came over from the "old country."

Dad's side - mix of German and Scotch/Irish. My ancestors climbed down out of the trees in Ireland and were in the Carolinas during the American War of Independence. During the American Civil War, my kin folks were whistling "Dixie."
 
Dad's side were officers in the Confederacy, and grandma was DAR, which means fought in the Revolution. Mom's side were 120 year ago Welsh, and we still have an old Bible in Cymric that they brought over, with all the marriage, deaths, etc.. of the family recorded.
 
My one ancestor is John Alden, who came over on the Mayflower! And thus his wife, Priscilla nee Mullins, who also came over on the Mayflower. The Wiki article said that he may have been the first from the Mayflower to set foot on land. It also says that he was not on board for religious reasons:(
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is also a descendant of him (and my daughter is Evangeline!).
The latest of my ancestors to come is my Great-Grandparents, who moved here from Italy when my PapPap was an infant.
Those are my mom's parents (her mother goes back to Alden and her father is the Italian).
I can't find out much about my dad's parents.
 
Dad's side - Hookers - My grandfather originally immigrated from Finland in the 1890s. On my grandmother's side, the Swords, supposedly there's some relation to Virginia Dare and her family, one of the infants born with the Roanake colony, but I'm not sure.

Mom's side - Grandmother's side (Becks) at least 4-5 generations in the US, immigrating from Germany sometime in the 1800s I think. I'm the last of the Becks (only grandchild of my grandmother, who herself was an only child). My grandfather's side (Irwins) I'm not sure of, other than being thoroughly German.
 
Last edited:
Kemmerer's came from Germany and settled in eastern Pennsylvania in the early 1700's. We live about 20 minutes from their original settlement. We're Ronald Reagen's 7th cousin through my grandmother on this side who is a Naprovnik.

The Branning's came from England in the late 1700's and settled in Florida near Jacksonville. They then moved up to Pittsburgh after the Civil War. President Zachery Taylor is one of our descendants.
 
DeShazo is derived from de Chazaux, an obviously French surname. My ancestors were, oddly enough, French Huguenots despite any DeShazo in the States I've ever met being Methodist. :barf:

Anyway. The first DeShazo came to America by way of Canada. His name was Peter and he had lived in Canada for some time, having moved there from France. He landed in Kings and Queens County, Virginia in the early 1600's, and we all spread out from there.
 
1951 on both my father's side and my mother's side. Both came over from the Netherlands on the same ship, the Volendam, but on different sailings.
 
he beholds said:
My one ancestor is John Alden, who came over on the Mayflower! And thus his wife, Priscilla nee Mullins, who also came over on the Mayflower. The Wiki article said that he may have been the first from the Mayflower to set foot on land. It also says that he was not on board for religious reasons:(
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is also a descendant of him (and my daughter is Evangeline!).
The latest of my ancestors to come is my Great-Grandparents, who moved here from Italy when my PapPap was an infant.
Those are my mom's parents (her mother goes back to Alden and her father is the Italian).
I can't find out much about my dad's parents.
Click to expand...

That's cool. My hubby is a direct descendant of Peregrine White who was the first baby born on the Mayflower, and they were Puritans.

My family--Mom's side, Norwegian, 1850s & Welsh/English 1830s--the Welsh family, the Powells trace lineage all the way back to a Norman knight who fought with William the Conqueror. That same Welsh family was Presbyterian. The Norwegians came over on the second boat of settlers who settled Norway, Illinois, the first Norwegian settlement in the USA. They were all Lutherans

Dad--? He was adopted and had his name changed. He was originally named William Henry Baldwin, the same as the Illinois railroad tycoon of the late 1800s. An illegitimate son was born to Baldwin's daughter in the same town and on the same date as my father. Was my dad that son? If not why does he share the same birthday as that child and carry the name of that child's grandfather? We'll never know for sure, but it's fun to speculate.
 
On my mums side, we claim 3 from the Mayflower. They were United Empire Loyalists. Also, the other maternal line, from Scotland 1706.

On my dads side we have been here since early 1700.

I can visit the graves & the homestead sites of both sides of my family for 200 years.
 
Father's Side:

Albrecht - From Germany in 1888 to Scranton, PA
Schmidt - From Austria-Hungary in 1882 to Taylor, PA

Mother's Side:

Carrozza - From Italy in 1909 to Pittston, PA
Musto - From Italy ??? via NYC to Pittston, PA
 
Kevin said:
On my mums side, we claim 3 from the Mayflower. They were United Empire Loyalists. Also, the other maternal line, from Scotland 1706.

On my dads side we have been here since early 1700.

I can visit the graves & the homestead sites of both sides of my family for 200 years.
Click to expand...

My husband's family ended up in Canada after the Revolutionary War because they were United Empire Loyalists. I think there were over 200 who were exiled after the war was over.
 
Some of my family is Native (aka, we didn't "come over" unless you count the crossing of the Bering Straight), some came over in the 1600s, some in the 1700's, and one as late as turn of the 20th century. We've been in all the wars. Some of our Native side has been on the Trail of Tears (hubby's side) and some managed to escape it (my side). Relatives from the Mayflower to writing the Star Spangled Banner to US Senators to infamous personages you blush when asked, "are you related to..."


Dad's side: Scot, Irish, Cherokee, and possibly French (Huguenot)

Mom's side: Finnish, Welsh, German.
 
LadyFlynt said:
Some of my family is Native (aka, we didn't "come over" unless you count the crossing of the Bering Straight), some came over in the 1600s, some in the 1700's, and one as late as turn of the 20th century. We've been in all the wars. Some of our Native side has been on the Trail of Tears (hubby's side) and some managed to escape it (my side). Relatives from the Mayflower to writing the Star Spangled Banner to US Senators to infamous personages you blush when asked, "are you related to..."
Click to expand...

LOL I have a few of those infamous personages in my family, too.
 
Father's side emigrated from northern England to British Columbia in 1908.

My mother's side emigrated to Alberta from the Russian Empire (Ukraine - they were "Volga Germans") in the 1860s.
 
My father's side immigrated in the 1910's from Wales.

My mother's side immigrated in the late 19th century from England.
 
Jamal, on my Dad's side I'm afraid I resemble you! (no offence!)

Off topic, but I got a kick out of Rushdoony saying that the American Indians were downgraded by trashy blue-eyed blood. He always said it with a comical glint in his eyes...

Ah, there's so much to be thankful for in Europe, with the long detailed family traditions.

You guys rock, and I'm thankful that so many of you are active on the PB. Continuity is precious, and I wish I had the same sense of continuity that many of you take for granted.
 
LawrenceU said:
A good portion of my family has been here since shortly after the work on the cessation of work on the tower at Babel.
Click to expand...

:lol: Long way of saying "Native", brother Lawrence :lol:

-----Added 2/8/2009 at 09:04:17 EST-----

TimV said:
Jamal, on my Dad's side I'm afraid I resemble you! (no offence!)

Off topic, but I got a kick out of Rushdoony saying that the American Indians were downgraded by trashy blue-eyed blood. He always said it with a comical glint in his eyes...
Click to expand...

:lol: None taken. Though, I gladly take after my dad's side on looks and attitudes and his mother in character. I think the Scot/Irish and Cherokee had a bit in common compared to other Europeans.
 
Dad's side: Cunningham- Came over from Ireland during the potato famine of the 1850's. Went to California to find gold and got stuck there.
Mom's side- Zapharatos- Grandma was born on the boat crossing from Greece in 1923. They settled in Virginia, though gramma left grampa in 1957, took my mom with her and married a Navy sailor. That branch also settled in California.

Theognome
 
John McKay (surname pronounced "MACK-ey") likely came to America in 1735 from Argyle Scotland. John moved to Tennessee from North Carolina about 1790. He was a Captain in the French and Indian war. McKay travelled to Tennessee with his Indian wife and their three sons Thomas, William and Alexander. Along with his sons Thomas and William, John owned land in the Franklin area. The third son, Alexander, lived in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
 
My ancestors arrived in Quebec in the 1660s on both my dad and mom's sides. Unfortunately, I think they were all Romanists and not Huguenots, although it is highly probable that some going back before 1605 close to Paris would have been Huguenots.
 
Mom's side:
Visser - 1930's, from Friesland.
Elgersma - 1930's, from Friesland.
(Mom was born here.)

Dad's side:
van der Laan - himself in 1970 from De Harkema, Friesland.
Land - with my grandfather and the younger children of my father's family in 1972.
(My dad still has the accent.)
 
Mine are very varied...England in the late 1600s, Irish, German in the 1850's, NH native American.

My most famous distant relative is John Brown the abolitionist....My Dad's Mom was a Smith whose Mom was a Brown. (John had 7 kids from his first wife who died, and 13 from the second...not sure which one we go back to).

There is much controversy about him, he was apparently a devoted Calvinist, and either a great man or a terrorist. I am not sure if I should be happy or worried about the genes I got from him...:think: At least I got my new birth from the Lord :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top