How Important is Your Heritage?

A

akivory

Joined
Feb 5, 2001
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Just finished reading a book about my great-grandfather and his brothers. In the past I have not paid much attention to my family history. From what I have read recently I have learned a lot about myself. On My fathers side were many generations of master craftsmen who came over from England in the 1840s and settled in Canada. This did not occur to me when over 30 years ago, as a young man I left the southwest and moved to the far north to become a craftsman. On my mothers side interesting characters that were of the old west pioneer type. With the exception of one famous outlaw they were prominent citizens who were drawn to the edge of the frontier. As a father with biological, adoptive and foster children we have had to deal with issues that I am sure were passed down. This seems to go back to the debate of nurture over nature.
What is your family background?
 
My family heritage is very important to me. When I was still a teen I expressed enough interest that my Grandma Fries gave me a envelope with some documents regarding the "little Russia" in Fresno here.
My Mom's side came from Arkansas and I do not know much more except they spread out to California and Louisiana and Oklahoma , some still back in Arkansas , my Dad's family is all here , whats left that is.

I still remember Christmas at both sides.... I have not had food that good since then and probably never will again.
Dad's side was Beerocks and sic verinik - little ravioli type things with potatoe or berry filling, cabbage salads , homemade egg noodles, German and Italian sausage , and Kouga for dessert.

Ok whats odd is I cannot google anything like verinik or kouga , although that is what they are both called , I wonder if it is a regional thing.... Going to have to ask my Aunt.

Mom's side was all Southern food , fried okra , catfish , chicken , geeen beans and bacon , chicken and dumplings , ham hocks and beans , peach or boysenberry cobbler for dessert (3 crust !!!!!!:D ).

Did'nt mean to go off on food like that but this thread brought back some memories.
I remember being real young and my Grandma Fries speaking in German to my Greatgrandma Weissbrodt if it was something meant for anyone to hear , if it was something private she would speak to her in Russian. lol.

Anyways yea, I want to keep my families history alive especially in this silly , disposable age we live in.
 
My heritage is very important. I've read history books about my parent's country and have even read their great novels and some of their myths. I need to learn more about my family's history though. One of these days I am going to compile a family tree and then start talking to my older relatives.
Afterwards I am going to write down what I learn in a journal.
 
My mother has been researching our family tree for years, and has found many noteable ancestors.

I personally do not think ones heritage is all that important, but it is interesting.
 
As an Orthodox Jew, I think that one's heritage is all-important.
I believe that the general heritage, the traditions of one's people,
is more important than is the specific family heritate--but the latter is also important. In my case, too much of the latter was lost because of the events in Eastern Europe in WWII.

I believe that it is entirely possible to celebrate one's specific heritage, whether it be familial, national, or religious, and still celebrate the greater Western heritage to which most of us belong. The great thing about the Western heritage as expressed in the Enlightenment, and especially by the Founding Fathers of the US, is that participation is voluntary, not merely hereditary.
 
I dont think its all that important just maybe 3 generations. Since any longer than that and you never new that person. Besides most of my family past 3 generations ago lived in mexico and I have nothing that I wanna know about them. I consider my self American so where my ancestiors came from is not important, since if someone asks me what I am I say American.
 
My heritage and family are very important. There are records that trace my family back 19 generations and yes, my son and my grandson are in them.
 
Many years ago, Harpers Magazine asked a number of famous immigrants to write essays entitled, "Impressions of America," for their July issue (patriotic theme). One asked was Albert Einstein. One quote from his Impressions of America essay (which should be required reading for everyone in the world, IMHO) was this: In Europe, everyone asks, "Who was your father?" In America, they ask, "Who are you?"

My heritage is a matter of slight curiosity for personal reasons. But it doesn't define who I am; I do.
 
I'm sort of in Gollnick's camp here. Our family is of much more diverse heritage than I thought at one time, but it's primarily German/Irish. Some cousin or other did up a family tree a few years back and sent copies around; vaguely interesting.
Perhaps it's because I'm so out of synch with the family in general....
 
Gollnick said:
Many years ago, Harpers Magazine asked a number of famous immigrants to write essays entitled, "Impressions of America," for their July issue (patriotic theme). One asked was Albert Einstein. One quote from his Impressions of America essay (which should be required reading for everyone in the world, IMHO) was this: In Europe, everyone asks, "Who was your father?" In America, they ask, "Who are you?"

My heritage is a matter of slight curiosity for personal reasons. But it doesn't define who I am; I do.
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If I come up with something nearly as good as Gollnick has written, I will post. Meanwhile, he has described my point of view so well and with such a great example that I can only second the motion.
 
My grandfather died of pneumonia at age 28 in 1932. My father was three years old. :(

Grandfather went to Union College in NY State, and was a successful stockbroker--that is until the larger crash of 1932 which floored him one month before he died. (On my birthday, no less.) I am figuring he lost his will and resistance.

They were so broke no one even paid for a headstone in his family plot.

I found and visited the plot in Albany Rural Cemetery a few years ago. Probably the first time in 40 years anyone ventured there from my family. The map showed where he SHOULD have been buried, but there was only grass. :grumpy:

For me, one year and $800 later, he has a bronze plaque bearing his name and a tribute: "We still remember you."

He was the only son.

My father was his only son.

I am my father's only son.

I have a 3-yr old, who will be my only son.

There is a fragile heritage chain that I am thankful to remember.

Only important because I wish to keep it such. Thanks for this thread, allowing me to tell this. :)

Coop
 
My heritage is not all that important to me, but I am grateful to know about it, plus it is very interesting.
My grandfather compiled a family tree that cost him thousands of dollars, and years of research to complete. He has records, documents, books, etc. He litterally has a trunk full of stuff that he used for his research. He wrote a lot about it and narrowed our family tree down to the first people that came here. That's as far back as he could get though, for they did not keep track of poor people in ireland.
Well, I'm a mut, but I mainly consider myself Irish/Polish.
On my father's side we came here in the early 1700's from ireland(forget the exact dates of everything) From what my grandpa gathered we did pretty well after a couple generations, and owned a large farm. When the American Revolution came about my distant grandfathers fought in the war. 1 of them died and the other 2 lived. He also believes that the same two brothers that lived, fought in the war of 1812 but he could not confirm this. Then as the generations passed, our family grew larger and mostly settled in the southern region of America(kentucky, tennessee, virginia, etc.) Two of my distant grandfathers fough in the Civil war. One for the south, and one for the North. They both died in the war, but had all ready had children. When world war 1 came along my great, great grandfather fought in it and died. Then the depression hit and my fathers side lost all there money, and when ww2 came about my great grandfather fought in it, and lived. My great grandfather was still poor when he came back from ww2, and litterally went crazy from the war. My grandfather then had to move in w/ his uncle who raised him on a tobbaco farm. He married when he was 16, and eventually became a manager at a steel plant. He saved up his money, and eventually bought land in Michigan, and started to farm, he has been doing that until recently when his health has started to fail. Within all of that people have married others and my blood has gotten mixed w/ Aborigian, & Native American, and a few other things.
Don't know as much about my mom's side. All I know is her grandparents came from Poland during the WW2 era and settled in Chicago. Her mother married a Native American. So my mom's side is polish/ Native American, and my Dad's side is Irish/Aborigian/Native American.
Some cool stuff that we have to show, from through out the ages, is a very old tomahawk from the 1800's, a civil war pistol, a ww1 german rifle, and a ww2 jap rifle, and sword. We also have some old guns, but my grandfather doesn't know any history behind them, he just recieved them when his father died.
Sorry about the long ass post guys, but this stuff's pretty interesting to me.
 
I'm sure your Grand Father is proud of you Coop, and appreciates the marker, grand move!!!!


I'm 1/8th Cherokee, my Father's Grand mother was full blood. They were from east Tennessee and there weren't many if any records kept back then so it would be near impossible to find anything out. I've done some research online but haven't gotten past my Great Grand Mother, and can't find her tribal connections. Sure would be something to know! My Uncle's daughter, my cousin, is doing some family research. Maybe she can find something out for the rest of us.
I think my Cherokee name would either be "Eats Too Damn Much" or "Speaks Like Thunder". :)
 
I don't find one's heritage to be especially important.
There is probably a healthy mix of both heroes and scoundrels in everyone's family tree.

The truth of the matter is, even though my family is Scot-Irish in ancestry, I have more in common with my African-American neighbors than I do with anyone in Scotland or Ireland.
 
I think a persons heritage is very important. It colors our feelings and outlook on some things, and I believe it shapes just who we are.

I'm the first of my immediate family to be born in the U.S.A. of pure bred 100% Irish heritage. My family came here in the early part of the 20th century, with a couple of them fleeing the British after some of the "troubles" in the old country. My Mother and Father both were born in the old country and came here as teens with thier family. I grew up listening to my grandfather and his tales of the fighting durring the 1918 to 1922 war with the brits. I grew up with the impression that Micheal Collins was a demi-god.

When there was a death in the family I remember the wild wakes with barrels of beer and bottles of whiskey and bands playing and dancing. To this day when I go to a funeral and its all somber, I have to restrain myself from telling them to get some tin whistles and drummers in and pop open a few bottles of Bushmills and laugh and tell stories about the departed that he would have loved. Rejoyce in the the life he had and enjoyed.

I married a wonderful girl who is half Mexican and half Georgia cracker. Our grown children have a rich wonderfull heritage with cousins in Mexico, Ireland, and here in Maryland. They are true blessed American mutts, with traits from me and my wife Karen. Our daughter, Jessica, has a combination of Irish and Mexican temper that makers her a match for any of the criminals she rides herd over as a state parole agent. And our youngest son, Matt, is a police officer. He was a scrapper from the get go. Then he goes home and writes poetry about the sad things he sees. I can only think thats the Celt in him comming out.

I strongly believe that where we come from has much to do with who we are.
 
Your heritage is interesting to me, but not important to me. My heritage is interesting to you, but is important to me. This is my view.

As for heritage I have,

Scottish, Irish, English, German, Czechoslavakian (I was always told Austrian heritage, but since Prague is now part of Czech Rep, I am Czech IMO), Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Russian, Cossack, Mongolian, Blackfoot, Cherokee and Crow.

Supposedly, one of my ancestors might have signed to secede from the Union, others were Lithuanian landholders fleeing Stalin and Lenin, others were settlers that came over before the Revolution, others faced the Trail of Tears. Most of my family knowledge only goes back a few generations, really only great great grandparents, except for the relative who signed to secede.
 
To be honest, I've never been interested in going back beyond those immediate ancestors who I've met during my lifetime. Those are the people from which I derived many of my physical and behavioral characteristics. For instance, my great grandma Rose was the leader of a seamstress union in New York. She was a very confident, assertive/aggressive woman who knew how to stand her ground and fight for a worthy cause. Okay, perhaps I'm not quite as tough as she was, she was pretty intense, but I'd like to think I get some of my spunk from her. She was a hell of a lively woman as well. She was very unconventional and free spirited. My great grandma Michelina was a tiny, spirited fireball who lived until her 100th birthday. She danced, blew out her candles, and told my mother that she was ready to die. She passed away the next day. She was hospitalized when she was 98 y/o for a few days. The hospital wouldn't let her have visitors for a day or two. So she got out of bed and moved it to the other side of the room so she could see the people who were talking outside her window. She was released the following day. :D I'd like to think that I took after my great grandmothers. I'm mouthy like grandma Rose and a little, pain in the ass, just like grandma Michelina. And I try not to let them down too much. :D

I'm 50% Italian and 50% Portuguese. I admit to being more readily at ease in the company of those who share similar backgrounds. There's a certain warmth and candor that I relate to with people of similar heritages. But I often have to remind myself that just because they are similar, it doesn't mean that they're of the same mindset.
 
Jen, I agree 100% that we are not as tough as our not too distant ancestors. My great grandmother is probably the toughest person I ever knew, definitely the toughest woman I ever knew.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
Jen, I agree 100% that we are not as tough as our not too distant ancestors. My great grandmother is probably the toughest person I ever knew, definitely the toughest woman I ever knew.
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Yeah, I always think about how they would react to various situations that I encounter, ie, those moments where I'm feeling especially intimidated. It usually inspires me to do better, but it also reminds me of what a complete wimp I am in comparison to them. What happened? :D

I also believe that my grandmother Rose would understand my viewpoints and decisions better than my mother, aunt or grandmother. I think she was much more open-minded and independent than them. I tell my mother that every once in awhile. "Granda Rose would get it." :D
 
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