Up until a few years ago, I didn’t know anything about my family’s heritage. My husband – then boyfriend – asked me about it. He is Irish, Scottish, English and German, and wondered about my background.
Curious for the first time in my life, I called my dad. Come to find out, I am Irish, Scottish and German. Since then, I’ve thought many times about where my family came from and what life must have been like immigrating to the United States.
With yesterday’s Saint Patrick’s Day festivities, I found myself taking some pride in my Irish heritage.
I enjoyed a dinner of potatoes, cabbage and corned beef.
Sported my green shirt.
Me and Angela
And then I went to ancestry.com and started doing some research on my family’s lineage.
So far, I’ve found that my family is from northern Ireland. Interestingly, I’ve found two family crests – one from Ireland and one from Scotland. So, I’ll continue to do some research to see what I can find out.
Another thing I found out is why my mom always cooked sauerkraut on New Year’s Day. It’s a German/Pennsylvania Dutch (I’m from northwestern PA) tradition that is supposed to bring good luck for the year to come. For my family, it was tradition to sit down a dinner that included: sauerkraut, pork chops and potatoes.
Anyway, after doing this research, I have to wonder:
Do you know about your ancestry?
Do you associate yourself with your family’s heritage?
Do you follow family traditions?
Or do you just consider yourself an American?
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How interesting that your husband and you are both Irish, Scottish, and German.
I know a little bit about my ancestry but one of my grandfathers was adopted so we don’t know anything about his background. My family is a hodge-podge of different cultures. We really just consider ourselves American.