Roots

[Empress_Flynn]

Just found out I'm also part Scottish.... Hooray!

[OldHippie]

Originally Posted by Coffeehouse

Wow, this became more popular than I thought. It seems... your all Brits one way or the other!

Hey now we booted them Brit's outta here in 1776..........

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by OldHippie

Hey now we booted them Brit's outta here in 1776..........

Fer sure. And don't call Irish and Scots people "British".

[katya]

Aye lad, I'll not be called a Brit either.

[BeardofPants]

Originally Posted by sisterandcousinandaunt

Fer sure. And don't call Irish and Scots people "British".

Indeed. The proper term is "Irish/Scottish scum".

[GrayMouser]

Originally Posted by sisterandcousinandaunt

Fer sure. And don't call Irish and Scots people "British".

Irish, no. Scots? Definitely British- indeed the name Britain comes from the original Celtic languages, of which Gaelic is one of the few remnants.

Britain: (Scottish Gaelic: Breatainn Mhòr, Welsh: Prydain Fawr, Cornish: Breten Veur, Scots: Graet Breetain) is the larger of the two main islands of the British Isles, the largest island in Europe and the ninth-largest island in the world.

[Varnafindë]

Very interesting thread! I'll add something of my own later on - there's not a lot, though.

Originally Posted by OldHippie

This is my normal avatar but I can't get it to work here.

I guess the reason is that it's the wrong size, it's too big. Try cropping it to 60 by 60 pixels and see if that helps.

The maximum size of your custom image is 60 by 60 pixels or 19.5 KB (whichever is smaller).

Originally Posted by GrayMouser

Irish, no. Scots? Definitely British- indeed the name Britain comes from the original Celtic languages, of which Gaelic is one of the few remnants.

So the Scots are more British than the English are?

[GrayMouser]

Originally Posted by Varnafindë

So the Scots are more British than the English are?

Being the descendants of earlier inhabitants, rather than a bunch of Johnny-come-lately Germans, yes.

Interesting that King Arthur, Britain's greatest legendary figure, was (as far as he existed) primarily motivated to keep out the ancestors of the vast majority of the people who venerate his name. Stricter immigration laws!

[Coffeehouse]

Speaking of Scots, Norway is playing them in the WC qualifiers at Hampden Park in a few hours time

Great posts so far! Hope for more Moot-roots

[Empress_Flynn]

Well, you seem to have sparked a resurgence in my genealogy interest and now I've found out a great deal about more of my ancestors... I have a few place names in Ireland and I've found out for sure that we're part Scottish.. I have more years and births and immigrations and deaths... so this has been helpful!

[Coffeehouse]

Great EF

The coolest thing I've found out so far is that one of my distant roots in California are now heavily (due to in-marriage)... Iraqi!

[Mari]

I'm starting to feel boring.

[The Gaffer]

Originally Posted by GrayMouser

Irish, no. Scots? Definitely British- indeed the name Britain comes from the original Celtic languages, of which Gaelic is one of the few remnants.

Even then, it depends on the Irish. If he's wearing a Rangers jersey or clutching a bible and shouting "No surrender!" you might want to think twice.

However, if you call a Scot "English", or use "English" and "British" as synonyms... (as 99.9% of the world does )

[Rían]

One of my relatives was interested in geneology and traced back our family to Robert the Bruce, who was king of Scotland and was brutally misrepresented in the movie "Braveheart" (tho otherwise a good movie, it hardly reflected history - one site lists about 10 historical errors in the first minute alone!) That's all I know of my background, because I'm not interested enough to look it up myself.

*waves to Gaffer, GrayMouser and BoP, old-timers like herself*

*waves to OldHippie, who she hasn't seen for awhile*

*waves to everyone else, because waving is fun *

[Rían]

Originally Posted by The Gaffer

Paternal grandfather fought in WW1. He was at most of the major battles - Ypres, Somme, Passchendaele - in the front lines. He never said a word about it, other than to state his pride in entering the army a private and leaving it a private. (I take that to express quiet disgust at the officer class.)

My grandfather was at Somme. He was gassed, along with a buddy of his. The doctor told them to lie down and be as still as possible. My grandfather's buddy felt fine and didn't take the doctor's advice, but my grandfather took the doctor seriously and lay still. The next morning, my grandfather was alive, but his buddy "woke up dead", as one of my kids said once.

He was eager to serve his country, but felt he couldn't shoot someone, so he lied about his age (he was too young) and entered the medical corps to help on the front lines. He hardly ever spoke about it - the only story my mom remembered him telling was about how boots were so important that you were always looking for good ones, and he saw a pair on the field and snagged them, then discovered that there were still feet inside of them ... Horrible stuff they saw ...

Oh, I forgot - he lied about his age and joined the army, then they weren't getting him to the front fast enough so he went and joined the Navy, too! Finally they found out (no computers in those days!) and sent him back to the Army

[Willow Oran]

Interesting stuff here!

Unashamed American-European mutt here. My paternal ancestors are Pennsylvania dutch from the swiss/german border, Scots-Irish, possibly welsh and english from the area near Stonehenge. We've traced this side of the family back to the Mayflower and my many-times great grandfather was Patrick Henry's... cousin, I think, may have been brother but there is definitely some relation.

On my maternal grandmother's family is German and Irish and my paternal grandfather's family immigrated from central Ireland in the 1840's. Very Irish-Catholic in that quarter and since my grandmother converted and they raised their children Catholic it was that religion I inherited even though the majority of my ancestors have been Lutheran-Methodists.

Dad's side of the family have been farmers until Grandma and Grandpa's generation took advantage of the college education offered to people who served in the Navy during WW2 and they started off in the Pennsylvania/Virginia areas and gradually migrated southwest into Oklahoma and Texas where they stayed during the Depression. Then in the 60's Grandpa got a job with the Washington State Dairy Board and they moved up here.

Mom's paternal side of the family settled mostly in Iowa, but Grandpa moved out here to go to college because some of his cousins lived here.
On her maternal side my great-great grandmother came from Germany to Boston, got married, got divorced and then moved out to Montana with her son and her second husband, who was a fur trapper, and worked as a midwife. Her son moved back to Boston at some point, where he married and had my grandmother, but then it was back to Montana and my grandmother eventually came west to Seattle as well.

And now we're here with bits of distant family scattered all over the place. Fun, no?

[The Gaffer]

Hey Rian - hows the Arid Zone?

Well, Bruce did do a fair bit of prevaricating, and the lords were prone to switch sides according to the direction of the wind, which would be the message there. Compared to other historical films it didn't do too badly I thought. When they eventually get round to making "1314" the scales will be balanced surely. BTW, have you seen Simon Schama's History of Britain? If not, do. His take on Bruce, drawing parallel with Simon de Montford, is very interesting.

[Coffeehouse]

Originally Posted by Willow Oran

Interesting stuff here!

And now we're here with bits of distant family scattered all over the place. Fun, no?

Great! Cool how many places you are from in Europe. You must have some Puritan blood in you then since you can trace roots to beneath the sails of the Mayflower.
I have a weakness for people who served on the High Seas in WWII. Respect to them.

[Empress_Flynn]

Originally Posted by Willow Oran

Interesting stuff here!

We've traced this side of the family back to the Mayflower and my many-times great grandfather was Patrick Henry's... cousin, I think, may have been brother but there is definitely some relation.

We're related!

Family! *Runs to Willow with her arms open for a hug*

[Willow Oran]

*returns hug*

Looks like it, though distantly.

You must have some Puritan blood in you then since you can trace roots to beneath the sails of the Mayflower.

Yeah... we generally ignore that bit of past Puritan since it's a really small part of our ancestry. Unless Mom and Dad are having a tiff, in which case it's the bottom of the barrel accusation for her to throw at him. You'll recall Mom's side is the Irish Catholic...