Who do you think you are?

[NorthernDave]

On my mum's side we're pure Yorkshire at least 4 generations back. My dad's dad (my granddad) was also a Yorkshireman, but my grandmother was born in Ireland - which means I qualify for an Irish passport if the Brexit palaver all goes belly up

Interestingly my family name has strong links to the North East and we (apparently) still have family up there - some of whom might have a castle...
In fact the name can be traced right back to the time of the Norman invasion and beyond. And if the internet is to be believed my lineage goes right back via Alfred the Great, to Egberht, the first King of England. Egberht was the King of Wessex who defeated Mercia and Northumbria, thus uniting the heptarchy into one country and giving the name of England to the new united nation, and all the way to Mark Anthony (the Roman General of Cleopatra fame, not the bloke who was married to J-Lo)

 

[Gravity Aided]

I am becoming one of the few locals around here. As work in the States moves a lot of people around from place to place, I and Mrs. GA are some of the few that were born and raised in this locality. My family came to this area (great grandmothers' side) when the British left, about 1790. All others were here by the early 19th century. I've lived where I currently live since 2000, and am the longest term resident on my block.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

I am becoming one of the few locals around here. As work in the States moves a lot of people around from place to place, I and Mrs. GA are some of the few that were born and raised in this locality. My family came to this area (great grandmothers' side) when the British left, about 1790. All others were here by the early 19th century. I've lived where I currently live since 2000, and am the longest term resident on my block.

I have relatives in Alplaus NY and when we visited years ago my wife's elderly uncle took me for a walk around the village late one night. As we trudged through the snowbanks and skirted the white picket fences sticking up through the drifts he gave me a potted history of every house and every family who lived there. It was striking that there was only one family who had been there pre WWII. At one point I heard a distant train whistle - that distinctive sound that I'd only heard in the movies before and I sorta understood it was a call to keep moving. Places like Mechanicville and a dozen small ghost towns along the Hudson had magnificent buildings fallen into disrepair and lying derelict because the owners just upped sticks when the jobs dried up and moved on.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I have relatives in Alplaus NY and when we visited years ago my wife's elderly uncle took me for a walk around the village late one night. As we trudged through the snowbanks and skirted the white picket fences sticking up through the drifts he gave me a potted history of every house and every family who lived there. It was striking that there was only one family who had been there pre WWII. At one point I heard a distant train whistle - that distinctive sound that I'd only heard in the movies before and I sorta understood it was a call to keep moving. Places like Mechanicville and a dozen small ghost towns along the Hudson had magnificent buildings fallen into disrepair and lying derelict because the owners just upped sticks when the jobs dried up and moved on.

To be fair, you were standing in the middle of the level crossing with the driver... Sorry, Engineer shouting at you to get out the way after having had to stop the train, weren't you?

Seriously though, I never knew this about the U.S.

 

[Mrs M]

C'mon, who is a 'local'??:

View attachment 137569

Where d'you get that piccy of Mr m and me?

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Where d'you get that piccy of Mr m and me?

The Crimewatch Website

 

[Mrs M]

Mum's family from Derbyshire and Dad's from Ireland and Glasgow.

The Crimewatch Website

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Mum's family from Derbyshire and Dad's from Ireland and Glasgow.

We can't all be perfect!!

 

[Mrs M]

We can't all be perfect!!

Explains a lot

 

[Flying_Monkey]

On my father's side: his paternal grandfather was a vaudeville artist and minstrel (yes, the B&W kind) from somewhere in the Yorks / Lancs borders but spent most of his early professional life in the USA, along with the rest of his travelling player familty, before coming to London to make it on what were then the biggest stages in the world. There he met and married an Irish woman, who was working as a cleaner. She died young and my grandad never liked talking about her. On my Dad's maternal side, it's about half and half split between Norfolk carters and Eastern European Jewish immigrants to London at the end of the C19th. They lived in Peckham and most of them were killed in the early days of the Blitz by a parachute mine.

On my mother's side, her father's family are all Highland Scots (Munros, Mackenzies and Dunbars) back to as back as anyone can trace. Her mother's family are Welsh borders with a dash of French Hugenot somewhere in the mix. We know a lot less about them, though.

People have been asking me if I'm Jewish more and more often lately. Particularly Jewish people.