What are your roots?

My old man had an intrest in this kind of thing, he told me he could trace his side back to the times of Hereward the wake.

Mind if it keeps the old bugger happy believing that I wont argue with him.
 
Old old Scottish stock (dumfries) on fathers side, failed contesters to the Scottish throne.
Irish on my mothers side.
 
I'm from Buckinghamshire but my parents were from Middlesbrough and Newcastle.

I saw a program once that said about a study of DNA on the English and it looks like, due to my parents northerness, I most likely have Viking DNA.
 
Glaswegian, born, bred and proud. On my father's side, Irish land owners and plenty of intrigue with my family fighting in the Irish Jacobite War and subsequently being dispossessed of their land and money due to their religion. They then came to Scotland to continue the fight in two more Jacobite Wars before finally settling in Glasgow. My grandmother was second generation Scots\Irish, with her family originally coming to Glasgow from Donegal.

On my mother's side, my grandfather came from a long line of Scottish Borders farmers in the Annan area. Over the years, the family grew too large for the farms to support all of them and my grandfather moved to Glasgow to work in the Clyde shipyards. Go back six generations and the cottage that housed my ancestors still stands and is in use as a guest house. My grandmother was second generation Scots\Irish, with her family originally coming to Glasgow from Donegal. Sound familiar? She helped push the cause for disabled workers and was a frequent visitor to Buck House.
 
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Not that sure really. It'd be pretty interesting to check my ancestry pretty far back. How would I go about doing this? :)
 
Dunks said:
Not that sure really. It'd be pretty interesting to check my ancestry pretty far back. How would I go about doing this? :)
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Ask your family & research.

Its always easier when you have or are told your history, not having to find it yourself. Not to say that its not impossible though.
 
1/2 French, born and raised part of my life in Paris. 1/4 Cypriot, lived there too for a while as well as being christened Greek Orthodox, 1/8 English and 1/8 Irish.

A Bit of a hybrid! :p

Surname (English side) was traced back to the doomsday book, and also seemed to originate from Somerset.

French side of the family were farmers/peasant/labourer types. Lost 1/2 of our family tree owing to WW1 and a couple of great-uncles in WW2 on the French side. The family in France is based in the NE of France towards Alsace but not quite that far.

Greek side comes from my father's side owing to my grandfather meeting my grandmother (Cypriot) when based in Cyprus and the Middle East with/for the British government.

Grandfather was 1/2 Irish, though born in Ilford - so I have Essex roots too! :D
 
Fathers side go back several generations around the Kings Cross area. I know his side of the family is French Hugenot in the distant past, due to some odd blood types running in the family. Our surname has French roots as well, though it is now a very British kind of surname.

Mothers side are Finnish farmers. My great great great Grandfather on her side is a famous Finnish witchdoctor. The family before then quite possibly originate from Karelia, which is now in Russia but was once in Finland.
 
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Biohazard said:
My family have had a hand in that book too! :p
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I've traced part of the family tree, but there's a "blank" for several hundred years which is quite weird. :( I haven't really got the time or resources to really investigate it properly. Thought it was quite interesting though. :)
 
Don't really know much about my families history, but my mother is from Dorset and father from Warwick (at the moment I live in Millom, Cumbria).

My fathers side, to my knowledge, has been around the Warwick/Coventry/Lemington Spa area for a long time. On my mothers side, I'm not sure were my grandfather is from, but my grandmother was born and raised in New Zealand, which is kinda cool :D
 
Dunks said:
Not that sure really. It'd be pretty interesting to check my ancestry pretty far back. How would I go about doing this? :)
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If you want to do it properly then spend £30 on family tree maker software. Start of with what is known, then you can trace birth, wedding and death certificates. Libarys have micro film you can search though, also sites like ancestry.co.uk and you can join a local group for help if you want.
 
LOAM said:
Ours to, we first entered England with old bill. The name then was de Magneville or de Maneville and was apparently a place in Normandy.
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Waaay! We both come from oppressive violent families! :p

Freefaller said:
I've traced part of the family tree, but there's a "blank" for several hundred years which is quite weird. :( I haven't really got the time or resources to really investigate it properly. Thought it was quite interesting though. :)
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But you can tie the two together? That is strange.

You should take the time if you can, you might learn something interesting in there :)
 
Jonny69 said:
That's really interesting! You probably know this but, on arrival in England, the Jewish were given surnames based on their skills or job. Mine were 'Magasiner' (newsagents) and the name survives today on my grandma's side.
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Yeah, I heard that. I'll admit that I don't know an awful lot, but it is quite interesting all the same and I particularly like when you learn little bits when you don't expect it either, for example if my mum is in Glasgow (where she was born) we'll sometimes drive down a street and she'll remember a tale which will then give more insight into my family.
Afaik, the Great Great Uncles/Aunts (and any children they have had - not sure as don't really have contact with them) still hold the name. There was a bit of a uproar when it came to my Gran's funeral, as they wanted her to have the Jewish ceremony which would mean she would have to be in the ground pretty rapidly after death (I forget exact time scale). In the end, the 'non-jews' (my Mum and her sister) won the case and the Jews just seemed to sit and drink their way through the bar!
I think it's quite interesting that in the Jewish faith the 'Jewness' is passed down the female side of the family.
 
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I know I should, it's just frustrating, and I've hit a few stumbling blocks from parts of the family that think I'm chasing inheritance. :( I can tie them owing to letters and deeds, birth and marriage records that some of the "locals" have traced and recorded themselves in Somerset. Then it goes blank, but the same ancestors and town names crop up in other wills some 200 years later. It's a tenuous link, but it's all I've got!
 
On one side it's broadly English for generations as one of the family worked out the family tree, going back several hundred years at least although with a few Scots thrown into the mix somewhere or other. On the other it's Scottish as far back as I know but that only covers a few generations, no one has been interested enough to trace it all that much from what I'm aware of. This puts me in the funny position of being much better able to prove my English roots than my Scottish antecedents.
 
I'm Scottish but dig far back enough (like, 1000 years) and my Dad's family are Irish (Mc's who used to be O's) and my Mother's were Vikings who came over here to rape everyone and nick all the shiney stuff, but liked it and decided to stay.
 
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