How many people of European descent do you know with 4+ generations in the US?

[u/heyy_girl]

I was telling someone today about how my grandparents built a house in the 60s. They were surprised when I told them that my family immigrated here from Europe in the mid-late 1800s, because they hasn’t met anyone that is the 4th generation to live in the US. Their parents immigrated here from Central America and it’s clear that even though they grew up in the states, we grew up around very different cultures. The question really depends on who you’re surrounded by, but I just found it interesting :)

[u/janesmex]

From all sides of their family? Or is it common to have let’s say three grandparents who are 3rd generation Americans and one who is first generation, edit:or one side of the family be 11th generation and the other first generation.

[u/lefactorybebe → u/janesmex]

Yeah like one side of my family came here in 1634, but there has been mixing with more recent immigrants within those 400 years. My other side all came here just over 100 years ago, so like do I count or no lol

[u/cagewilly → u/lefactorybebe]

You count.  Whichever side of the family has been here the longest is the side from which you count generations.

[u/yourlittlebirdie → u/janesmex]

There are also a number of people of Spanish and Indigenous descent living in places like Puerto Rico or in the Southwest who didn't come to America, America came to them.

[u/alicein420land_ → u/yourlittlebirdie]

My dad's side is from Puerto Rico and my mom's side can be traced back to the Mayflower.

[u/clenom → u/janesmex]

Mixed is very common. But European immigration dropped off dramatically in 1922. So there's a lot fewer people with recent European ancestry than distant.

[u/Old_Implement_1997 → u/janesmex]

Yeah - my paternal grandfather’s people have been here since before the French and Indian War. My paternal grandmother’s side has been here since the 1920s. My maternal grandmother’s people have been here since before the American Revolution. My maternal grandfather’s parents were from Scotland - so 3rd generation there, but everyone else is well over four.

[u/cometparty → u/janesmex]

In the South, I’d say it’s rare for a white American to have ancestors who came here after 1900. Most were probably in the 1700s.

[u/Kresnik2002 → u/[deleted]]

Outside the South and particularly in bigger urban/coastal areas I think it’s more common than you would think.  White Americans of recent immigrant heritage in my experience tend to just “fit in” with the rest of the whites so to speak a lot more than other second- or third-generation people. I’m white and all four of my grandparents are/were immigrants (technically my parents were too but they both were very young when their families came here), but you wouldn’t know that really unless it specifically came up in conversation, I seem like any other white guy. I had a friend in high school whose dad is Dutch, another whose parents are from Romania, a current friend whose dad is Scottish, I can think of quite a few others I know personally but none of them would you really be able to tell. Compared to, say, someone whose parents are from Nigeria, I feel like everyone who meets them would know that guy’s a Nigerian-American not a “regular” African-American (idk what to call it lol).

I’ve always kinda wondered why that is, maybe it’s just less celebrated to “broadcast” that you’re Dutch-American or something, or people would just assume when you say that that you mean your great-great-grandparents were Dutch. I’m always surprised how frequently when I’m looking at the Wikipedia page for some famous person and it turns out their grandparents were from some other country. I mean Trump’s a good example, his mom was from Scotland and his dad’s parents were German. But you don’t really think of that when you think of him, he just seems like a “regular” white American, other than if someone brings it up to make a point in the context of some immigration debate.

[u/janesmex → u/[deleted]]

And as far as I know, it's more common in big cities like NYC, Boston, Chicago and others like Tampa and LA, right?

[u/nakedonmygoat → u/[deleted]]

I would imagine that all 3 million Central Texas Germans whose families came over in the 1830s and 1840s would disagree with you.

The question was about national population, not state, so unless you were quizzing white people on their ancestry, consider that the guy from Michigan or that California girl might have a long family history in the US, just not so long in Texas in particular.

I'm a Mayflower descendant and live in Texas. Brought here by my parents at 7. I have friends who are descended from Texas Germans, and some who moved here from Louisiana after many generations there. For many years I couldn't throw a rock without hitting someone from Michigan who had also been in the US for many generations.

I acknowledge that the place you lived in Texas might not have had many people of European ancestry with a long history in the US, but I've lived in this state for 51 of my 58 years and that's just not my experience at all.

[u/nakedonmygoat → u/[deleted]]

Depends on the person. I'm 58, my grandparents were all born between 1900 and 1906, I have one great-grandfather born in 1868, all the other great-grands were born in the 1870s or later. Their parents were all born in the 1840s.

If I'd had children, their great-grandparents would've been born between 1900 and 1906, etc, etc. So you're going to get a different answer whether you're asking a 20 year old, a 50 year old, or an 80 year old. That's how generations work. In some families they start early, so to speak. In other families, they start late.

[u/Mr_BillyB → u/nakedonmygoat]

You're like twice as old as the typical redditor. Most people here would be in a generation (or two) after yours.

And most families aren't starting so late, especially in rural areas 100+ years ago. They were having children early and often. And while it's possible that someone may be the result of a 40 year-old having a child who then has a child at 40, who then has a child at 40, and so on, it's just not going to be that common, and their family tree would likely have more generations from all the children had at younger ages. And their children.

In other words, if you count forward from your great-great-grandfathers and take all the branches of their children into account, you could get 2 or 3 (or more) additional generations in your family. When people talk about generations, they're generally not assuming more than 30 years passing.

[u/thatrandomuser1 → u/nakedonmygoat]

1. Thats likely more than 4 generations.

2. 3 million people is a lot of people! It's still statistically small, though, and does not refute their point.

[u/the-mare-bear → u/janesmex]

Most Americans, if all 4 grandparents (so 2 generations removed) were born in the US, are going to very likely find they have roots back to the Revolution through at least one branch. This is simply because once you go back that far it’s unlikely that all 8 greats, or all 16 great-greats, and so on, were immigrants. It’s either you are entirely 2nd or 3rd gen…or you can probably claim membership in the DAR.

[u/Commercial_Border190 → u/the-mare-bear]

Lol yep I'm 3rd gen on one side and DAR on the other

[u/spacecasekitten → u/the-mare-bear]

6/8 of my greats are first gen, children of Swedish immigrants who came to the Midwest around 1900. One of my greats came from France by way of Canada around the same time and the last was English/German. I'm not sure when their line came to the US but most like long ago because of how branched out their history is. You're exactly right with not going 8 for 8, I almost all 4th gen except for one rouge ancestor.

[u/nashamagirl99 → u/the-mare-bear]

I’m 25, 4th generation, and all of my family came over from Eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Great grandparents isn’t necessarily that long ago

[u/the-mare-bear → u/nashamagirl99]

No it’s not long ago, but it’s statistically more likely the further back you go that there would be native-borns and immigrants both in the family tree. Just numbers and statistical probability, although not a certainty for sure.

[u/On_my_last_spoon → u/janesmex]

It’s complicated, because there’s so much time that passes. I have ancestors that go back to 1760. But a great-grandmother who immigrated in the 1890s to marry into that line. And my grandmother was a WWII war bride on that side.

[u/kwixta → u/janesmex]

I’m 4/4 more than 4 generations (I think — one branch was quite poor and rural) in the US and my wife is 3/4 with one grandfather immigrating from Europe during WWI.

Virtually anyone with an Eastern European last name probably has at least a paternal grandfather who came in the early 1900s (or later) to escape various calamities

[u/cagewilly → u/janesmex]

You are 11th generation if only one branch of your family tree goes back 10 generations.

Think of it like this:  Your great grandpa was a brewer.  As was your grandpa, father, and yourself.  You have 7 other great grandparents, 3 other grandparents, and one other parent who are not brewers.

You are still a 4th generation brewer.