Let's go Ethno-Genealogical

[caroljane]

It's March 17 and I have just crept home in shame because I can't wear green though it is my favourite colour. My maternal grandmother's forebears were Kilpatricks but apparently they were English protestants since the 18th century, and the rest of my uneventful ancestors (except the tarred and feathered one in 1781 - thanks a lot, Sons of Liberty) were Scots, English or Passamaquoddy (conjecture here but highly likely).

I love genealogy stuff (I am an addict of "Who do you think you are?" on TV, and have already guessed some of yours from your names. Coates, I have high hopes that you are of English descent and related to John Coates who wrote the best Jane Austen continuation ever written (of the Watsons).I'd like to see if some of my guesses were right.

I guess I get no prize for Kelly.

S. Beallieu, a lost Cajun?

Scherk - Swiss, Dutch, German,

Transylvanian?

Baal/Bob, you have given enough clues. Even Ashkenazi or Sephardi seems clear.Poland, Russia, Germany?

Edited March 17, 2011 by daunce lynam

[kiaer.ts]

It's March 17 and I have just crept home in shame because I can't wear green though it is my favourite colour. My maternal grandmother's forebears were Kilpatricks but apparently they were English protestants since the 18th century, and the rest of my uneventful ancestors (except the tarred and feathered one in 1781 - thanks a lot, Sons of Liberty) were Scots, English or Passamaquoddy (conjecture here but highly likely).

I love genealogy stuff (I am an addict of "Who do you think you are?" on TV, and have already guessed some of yours from your names. Coates, I have high hopes that you are of English descent and related to John Coates who wrote the best Jane Austen continuation ever written (of the Watsons).I'd like to see if some of my guesses were right.

I guess I get no prize for Kelly.

S. Beallieu, a lost Cajun?

Scherk - Swiss, Dutch, German,

Transylvanian?

Baal/Bob, you have given enough clues. Even Ashkenazi or Sephardi seems clear.Poland, Russia, Germany?

Bob is from Contraria. None of my known ancestry traces to lands within the Roman Empire.

[Philip Coates]

> Coates, I have high hopes that you are of English descent

Daunce, the way I understand it (my father, the soused cahhew-eating military man, muttered some clues under his goddawful breath from time to time as though he was ashamed to admit it), is that Coates is a Scottish name. But, given the belligerence and the "born to go to hell or get arrested" tattoos of the generations of hells angels and rednecks and rum-running hillbillies skulking around in our family tree and their sneaking admiration for various alcoholics and reprobates in history and in particular for the Indian-murdering and -dispossessing Andrew Jackson (Old Hickuppy)-- I suspect we must be Scots-Irish.

> and related to John Coates who wrote the best Jane Austen continuation ever written

Based on the specimens I met on my father's side, the likelihood of them even being able to -read- Jane Austen, let along write a sequel is vanishingly small.

Da-Da liked to tell it that our ancestors were palace guards somewhere out in the boonies, but then again he always claimed to have won WWI, WWII, and the Korean war all by himself so I gather that I am instead descended from a long line of con men, murderers, grave robbers, claim jumpers, gypsies, tramps, and thieves.

(Submitted Proudly, etc., etc.....)

[Philip Coates]

> I can't wear green though it is my favourite colour.

Daunce, the Coateses were allowed to wear green but it was usually vomit.

> None of my known ancestry traces to lands within the Roman Empire.

Ted, clan Coates was not from the Roman Empire either. Hadrian built a wall just to keep us out.

Edited March 18, 2011 by Philip Coates

[kiaer.ts]

> I can't wear green though it is my favourite colour.

Daunce, the Coateses were allowed to wear green but it was usually vomit.

> None of my known ancestry traces to lands within the Roman Empire.

Ted, clan Coates was not from the Roman Empire either. Hadrian built a wall just to keep us out.

I was speaking of all known ancestors lands of origin on all sides - although mom's mom's mom was apparently Jewish. My last name is Danish.

[Philip Coates]

Ted, I hope you weren't taking my posts 3 and 4 too seriously. If so, and no one enjoys this sort of joking then I'm leaning against to ambivalent about presenting the other side of my family tree, the one from Belgium, as Belgians are known wafflers.

[kiaer.ts]

Ted, I hope you weren't taking my posts 3 and 4 too seriously. If so, and no one enjoys this sort of joking then I'm leaning against to ambivalent about presenting the other side of my family tree, the one from Belgium, as Belgians are known wafflers.

I hope for your sake that you have only one great grand parent born a Coates.

[syrakusos]

No Irish here, though my mother did have red hair and green eyes, as did Genghis Khan.

Paternal

Grandmother - Corsica, they say

Grandfather - Palermo, Sicily

Maternal

Grandmother - Croatian in Hungary

Grandfather - Hungarian in Hungary

My parents were both born here. (One uncle born in the old country.)

The rule was that we spoke English at home, but with a few relatives in the living room, Hungarian was inevitable. (Roman Empire?? Piffle! We were Huns.) I learned some Italian via a community ed class for tourists, the same way I learned some Arabic.

I am ethnically American.

[william.scherk]

Resurrecting this thread briefly to answer Carol's inquisition on origins, and to catch more clues on Michael Marotta's forefathers and foremothers. Like Carol, I have a not-so-secret interest in 'heritage,' having been born in a major knot of aboriginal cultures (Prince Rupert, 1958) and having heard lore of the Norwegian Village. I am afraid to look to see if I have already answered Carol, but will check this answeragainst earlier remembrance.

I wonder, having had my uncle Jack stamp out some family myths of origin, how many families have soft spots in their narratives and lore of 'who we are and how we got here.' The family historian until her death, my auntie Shirley, she stressed our English roots for some reason, perhaps aspiring to a genteel middle class correctitude associated with the old country. So she gave us absolutely nothing based on Nana's old-country cookery, just Melton Mowbray pies and Baked Pudding with Hard Sauce that she had learned from a book. The most ethnic she got was imported American Velveeta.

My maternal grandmother's forebears were Kilpatricks but apparently they were English protestants since the 18th century, and the rest of my uneventful ancestors (except the tarred and feathered one in 1781 - thanks a lot, Sons of Liberty) were Scots, English or Passamaquoddy (conjecture here but highly likely).

I love genealogy stuff (I am an addict of "Who do you think you are?" on TV, and have already guessed some of yours from your names.

[ . . . ]

Scherk - Swiss, Dutch, German,

Transylvanian?

No, but. Yes, but. Yes, but. And no.

Scherk itself is the same as Sherk, Shirk and a few other respellings. The greatest concentration of Scherks is in southern Ontario. None of my elder Scherk's spoke other than English in my memory, but I assume a German-land, as we are associated with Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch) and the Mennonite sect. Apparently in the recent centuries, my Scherk family had origins in southern Ontaria via Pennsylvania via Netherlands. In the mix were a Belgian (Walloon) maternal admixture. The Anabaptists had to head for the hills if from Germany, the hills led them to other regions less hostile to the sects over time. Scherks are to be found from Serbia to France, and through Hungary to the Carpathians.

Grandma one was last born to a family from Bergen, Norway, and ever behind. Norse all the way back to Neanderthal.

Other grandma born to a family from north of Bergen, Norway, though lore suggests a certain tiny stature in that line came from Sami (Lapp) inmixture.

Other Grandpa all the way back to London and some bog in Ireland, of Protestant Scot stock that blurred in and out in the melting pot until it went to sea to America (half that generation is still south of the line) and Canada in the late 1900s.

Family lore (debunked in part) suggests this maternal great-grandmother was a Anglified Jew. I believed it all those years and secretly treasured my Irish Jew heritage, wrong as it was.

The only ethnic food I ever got at home was Norwegian (courtesy of first grandma).

Paternal

Grandmother - Corsica, they say

Grandfather - Palermo, Sicily

Thank you for this. I shall maybe fork up Grandpa in the Ellis Island documents before you get back on line.

Edited October 24, 2012 by william.scherk

[BaalChatzaf]

It's March 17 and I have just crept home in shame because I can't wear green though it is my favourite colour. My maternal grandmother's forebears were Kilpatricks but apparently they were English protestants since the 18th century, and the rest of my uneventful ancestors (except the tarred and feathered one in 1781 - thanks a lot, Sons of Liberty) were Scots, English or Passamaquoddy (conjecture here but highly likely).

I love genealogy stuff (I am an addict of "Who do you think you are?" on TV, and have already guessed some of yours from your names. Coates, I have high hopes that you are of English descent and related to John Coates who wrote the best Jane Austen continuation ever written (of the Watsons).I'd like to see if some of my guesses were right.

I guess I get no prize for Kelly.

S. Beallieu, a lost Cajun?

Scherk - Swiss, Dutch, German,

Transylvanian?

Baal/Bob, you have given enough clues. Even Ashkenazi or Sephardi seems clear.Poland, Russia, Germany?

All. Surely you have heard of the Wandering Jew.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[caroljane]

Resurrecting this thread briefly to answer Carol's inquisition on origins, and to catch more clues on Michael Marotta's forefathers and foremothers. Like Carol, I have a not-so-secret interest in 'heritage,' having been born in a major knot of aboriginal cultures (Prince Rupert, 1958) and having heard lore of the Norwegian Village. I am afraid to look to see if I have already answered Carol, but will check this answeragainst earlier remembrance.

I wonder, having had my uncle Jack stamp out some family myths of origin, how many families have soft spots in their narratives and lore of 'who we are and how we got here.' The family historian until her death, my auntie Shirley, she stressed our English roots for some reason, perhaps aspiring to a genteel middle class correctitude associated with the old country. So she gave us absolutely nothing based on Nana's old-country cookery, just Melton Mowbray pies and Baked Pudding with Hard Sauce that she had learned from a book. The most ethnic she got was imported American Velveeta.

My maternal grandmother's forebears were Kilpatricks but apparently they were English protestants since the 18th century, and the rest of my uneventful ancestors (except the tarred and feathered one in 1781 - thanks a lot, Sons of Liberty) were Scots, English or Passamaquoddy (conjecture here but highly likely).

I love genealogy stuff (I am an addict of "Who do you think you are?" on TV, and have already guessed some of yours from your names.

[ . . . ]

Scherk - Swiss, Dutch, German,

Transylvanian?

No, but. Yes, but. Yes, but. And no.

Scherk itself is the same as Sherk, Shirk and a few other respellings. The greatest concentration of Scherks is in southern Ontario. None of my elder Scherk's spoke other than English in my memory, but I assume a German-land, as we are associated with Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch) and the Mennonite sect. Apparently in the recent centuries, my Scherk family had origins in southern Ontaria via Pennsylvania via Netherlands. In the mix were a Belgian (Walloon) maternal admixture. The Anabaptists had to head for the hills if from Germany, the hills led them to other regions less hostile to the sects over time. Scherks are to be found from Serbia to France, and through Hungary to the Carpathians.

Grandma one was last born to a family from Bergen, Norway, and ever behind. Norse all the way back to Neanderthal.

Other grandma born to a family from north of Bergen, Norway, though lore suggests a certain tiny stature in that line came from Sami (Lapp) inmixture.

Other Grandpa all the way back to London and some bog in Ireland, of Protestant Scot stock that blurred in and out in the melting pot until it went to sea to America (half that generation is still south of the line) and Canada in the late 1900s.

Family lore (debunked in part) suggests this maternal great-grandmother was a Anglified Jew. I believed it all those years and secretly treasured my Irish Jew heritage, wrong as it was.

The only ethnic food I ever got at home was Norwegian (courtesy of first grandma

I dunno that you're so wrong. There's a saying, "Everybody's a little bit Jewish."

That said, you sound like the blondest person in Vancouver.

[syrakusos]

Thanks to William Scherk in the "Gary Johnson" thread, I went to the Ellis Island website.

William, that is an impressive piece of work, all of it. I will bow to you and admit that what I thought I knew might be urban myth and family lore. I did not see my grandfather, Joseph (Giuseppi, of course), on that list. It is not a big deal for me, either way. But thanks!

--------edit------------------------------

I did find my maternal grandparents. My father's side is still something of mystery. My parents were divorced when I was five. I saw my father a couple of times after that. He said that the family came from Palermo. (Indeed, the ship did depart from Palermo, as I found out here and now.) However, later, my oldest half-brother told me that he had some of the original papers from Grandpa and there were from a town called "Sant'agatha." I found that Giuseppe Marotta, arrived 1920 from S. Agata, Messina... which is on the other side of the island. The problem is that I was also told that my oldest uncle was born over there and no child appears; also, no wife arrived at that time, though he is listed as "married." (My grandmother's name was Rose.) So maybe this is not him... or the oral history is flawed... or Grandma had different given name and just was called "Rose."

But I did get the distaff side and I appreciate that opportunity.

[BaalChatzaf]

I am descended from a tribe of eastern European horse thieves. That is why I am so high strung.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[caroljane]

I am descended from a tribe of eastern European horse thieves. That is why I am so high strung.

Ba'al Chatzaf

lol. You Galiziners have such a great comedy tradition. Of course your jokes are all stolen.

[caroljane]

Any Hungarians we can ethnically insult? You know the famous recipe for goulash.."First, steal a chicken..."

[BaalChatzaf]

I am descended from a tribe of eastern European horse thieves. That is why I am so high strung.

Ba'al Chatzaf

lol. You Galiziners have such a great comedy tradition. Of course your jokes are all stolen.

Nu??? So what else is Nu????

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Xray]

Scherk itself is the same as Sherk, Shirk and a few other respellings. The greatest concentration of Scherks is in southern Ontario. None of my elder Scherk's spoke other than English in my memory, but I assume a German-land, as we are associated with Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch) and the Mennonite sect.

Here's a link to the surname history of "Scherk": http://www.ancientfa...-history/683114

[caroljane]

Scherk itself is the same as Sherk, Shirk and a few other respellings. The greatest concentration of Scherks is in southern Ontario. None of my elder Scherk's spoke other than English in my memory, but I assume a German-land, as we are associated with Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch) and the Mennonite sect.

Here's a link to the surname history of "Scherk": http://www.ancientfa...-history/683114

Wow , so little known - where did they come from? Someplace here on earth?--Nooobody knows... the Scherks appear to always have been individualistic, enigmatic and unique . Sounds familiar for some reason....

[caroljane]

This is just an lol shoutout to our webtrotting Ninth Doctor, re his sly and funny response on OO to the lonely Scottish Objectivist. On behalf of my friend Nick however, I should clarify what you deliberately beclouded. Herefordshire is close to Wales, not Scotland, --I don't think there are any Welsh objectivists either however.

Also he isn't an Objectivist anymore, he is an anarchist now.

PS - as to the guy who wants a new name, what's wrong with Freeman?

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Carol,

How about a link?

Michael