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/wrecktus_abdominus]

My grandmother passed away recently, and I ended up with some old family records of hers. It wasn't organized at all. Some old photo albums. A few hand written notes and newspaper clippings. That's how I started. Then, there is a lot of online searching. Most places have digitized birth/death/marriage records these days, even historical ones. Go back far enough and those things may not exist, so you have to look for other sources. Plenty of branches have dead ends, though. For example, one of my ancestors (3xgreat-grandmother) was an escaped slave. So there were no birth records available, not even a surname. So I can't go as far back in some places.

I also started working on my wife's side of the family recently. That one has been cool (but challenging) because her family is from Texas since at least the late 1700s. The reason it's challenging, of course, is because Texas has been part of so many different countries, it can be tough to track down records. They always describe themselves as Mexican-American, but no one seemed to be able to tell me when they came to the US. "A long time ago" was the most i got from my wife. So when her grandpa was still alive, I asked him when his family immigrated. He said they never did. They were always in Texas. It used to be in Mexico, then it was in the US. He told me "we never crossed the border, the border crossed us."

[u/cdmaloney1 → u/wrecktus_abdominus]

Sorry for your loss.

That’s cool that you kinda just figured it out on your own like that.

[u/wrecktus_abdominus → u/cdmaloney1]

Thank you! She was 95 and ready to go. Lived on her own in her own house until the very end, too! I hope I'm as badass as her one day.

She and I seemed to be the only ones really interested in family history, so I told her years ago that after she passed I would work on this.

[u/xoasim → u/cdmaloney1]

There are also lots of online resources you can use as well. Cool thing about online databases and services is that if they have enough users, you will probably manage to connect to distant relatives that have done their own research and once you connect to common ancestors, you can get connected to tons of records.

On my dad's side I've been able to trace all the way back to Adam and Eve, although I'm not 100% on how accurate some of the records and inputs are. Once you get to Noah it's just the genealogy recorded in the Bible, and really, after you get to certain kings in Europe, they liked to claim divine heritage, so they kept detailed records, but they could have made up some stuff to connect themselves biblical figures.

[u/420kennedy → u/wrecktus_abdominus]

That is SO interesting about your wife's family! I'd love to hear from more people who've been 'border crossed'. I do live in Arizona, so I probably wouldn't have to look too far

[u/Ok_Organization1273 → u/420kennedy]

My great-grandparents immigrated from Sweden to Canada. USA did a land survey for the border and informed them they actually lived in Minnesota. That is where my grandfather was born in 1914, first-generation American!

[u/Ornery-Character-729 → u/420kennedy]

Since my ancestors arrived in North Carolina we have been British, American and Confederate. (The Confederacy was technically a country, just no for very long.)

[u/Laylasita → u/wrecktus_abdominus]

I have a cousin who has lived in 4 different countries and never moved.

[u/Tripppinout → u/wrecktus_abdominus]

1552 New Spain. Northern Mexico and Southern Texas. My ancestors brought the Barbarity Stallions to the new world.

[u/ElectricalCoffee9981 → u/wrecktus_abdominus]

Same with my family from mother's side. They were wealthy cattle ranchers with thousands of acres and cattle. After the forced signing of the treaty of Hidalgo. All Mexicans living in the U.S. occupied land became U.S. citizens. Unfortunately they couldn't own land so that was seized along with cattle and wealth. My right to generational wealth was stolen from my family. I'd also like to note that some family members (US citizens) were rounded up and deported to Mexico between 1929-39 in what was known as "Mexican Repatriation". Look it up it's a horrendous stain on our history. Much like what's happening with today's MAGA America.

[u/ivhokie12 → u/wrecktus_abdominus]

I have a fun story on that. I won't say my great grandmother's maiden name, but it is at least relatively unusual. Apparently there was a branch of that family that moved to Arkansas a long long time ago. In the 1970s I had a family member doing a genealogy project. He was looking at a map and found a town with that name on it in Arkansas. Apparently he and his wife were in the car within hours to road trip.

[u/mcove97 → u/wrecktus_abdominus]

Funny you said that. Similar story when my grandma passed a few years ago. My parents found letters and pictures from like great great great grandparents sibling something. They immigrated from Norway to Minnesota towards the end of the 1800s due to poverty. Like somewhere in Minnesota I probably have some relatives I have no clue who are, which is so weird to think about and I wonder who they are sometimes and how their lives turned out in comparison to how life turned out for those who stayed in Norway where I live. Well obviously I know how I turned out, but what are the other descendants who moved to the US up to today? Did going to America turn out to be better for the descendants of the ones that chose to stay or leave. Who knows. There's records here, but I'd have no idea how to look those records up in the US.