Ancestry

[thehehe]

I don't think I will ever understand and relate to Americans' passion for ancestry!
Excepted my Italian grandfather who came to France after the WWII, everybody is French. Excepted they come from very different regions, and so, no one could ever think they could relate to each other. They indeed felt very different and spoke very differently.

But we probably have Slovenian blood from the Italian side. In fact, I really don't care, as my ancestors cared even less about that. But I can understand that it must be very important and fascinating for you!

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

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[Archie the Preacher]

I betray my Irish and Viking ancestors by not liking beer lol. Maybe I haven't tried the right kind of something

Don't be so hard on yourself, Saucy. There were probably one or two Vikings or Irish who washed regularly, too.

 

[Cearbhall]

-The first surprising results is it also says I'm 29% Scandinavian. This is very interesting to me, as I've always been fascinated with the Viking culture only to find out I share ancestry with them!

I had the same surprise with my results. Going by my tree, I should only be a couple percent Scandinavian, but it was nearly as high as yours.

 

[Saucy]

I just heard an interesting theory. There's a term called "black Irish" where there are a group of Irish people who have black hair and have darker features. It's funny because friends were joking with me before about not looking like your typical Irish person. I appeared more like an Italian with my black hair and darker complexion. I guess I fit this description of "black Irish".

Reading deeper into it, the theory is that a lot of people who colonized England and Irish were from Spain and co-mingled with people already living there. So, these black Irish are their direct descendants. My Ancestry test does say I have DNA from the Iberian Peninsula. That's pretty cool.

 

[Archie the Preacher]

Unverified, but sounds right. The main genetic input for 'Black Irish' were the survivors from shipwrecks occasioned when the Spanish Armada found the typhoon in 1588. At least, that's what a women claiming to be an Irish historian told me.

 

[Cearbhall]

So, these black Irish are their direct descendants. My Ancestry test does say I have DNA from the Iberian Peninsula. That's pretty cool.

Wow, we have a lot in common. I, too, have a few percent of Iberian Peninsula in my DNA, but absolutely no trace of it in my tree. We've always suspected that we were black Irish because of our coloring, and it was neat to see it pretty much confirmed by my results.

 

[Saucy]

Wow, we have a lot in common. I, too, have a few percent of Iberian Peninsula in my DNA, but absolutely no trace of it in my tree. We've always suspected that we were black Irish because of our coloring, and it was neat to see it pretty much confirmed by my results.

Aye, cousin!

 

[Saucy]

Another cool thing I just discovered is I just asked my mom for my mom's maiden name. It's "Dare". This is where the Native American 'myth' came into my family. She always said she was 100% Cherokee Indian. She was very pagan and one with the earth and a crazy woman. I inherited her beautiful hazel-green eyes (hey, it's the only part about myself physically that I like, so I can say they're beautiful lol).

When I looked up the name Dare, it's VERY English and means "wild animal". The name first appears in Essex and has been around a very long time, even before the Normans invaded. It has very pagan connotations, as they held beliefs before being Christianized of gods that were half-man, half-animal.

 

[OcifferPls]

Another cool thing I just discovered is I just asked my mom for my mom's maiden name. It's "Dare". This is where the Native American 'myth' came into my family. She always said she was 100% Cherokee Indian. She was very pagan and one with the earth and a crazy woman. I inherited her beautiful hazel-green eyes (hey, it's the only part about myself physically that I like, so I can say they're beautiful lol).

Interesting. I have hazel eyes as well, with connections to the Cherokee nation being a part of family lore, although, they were more green when I was younger. Now, they're nearly black as death.

When I looked up the name Dare, it's VERY English and means "wild animal". The name first appears in Essex and has been around a very long time, even before the Normans invaded. It has very pagan connotations, as they held beliefs before being Christianized of gods that were half-man, half-animal.

Well, technically, we're all half centaur, don't you know? Jokes aside though, personally I suspect some of the Native Americans may have been much more "spiritual" and closer to God than some of the europeans that migrated here. The Cherokee's even believed in a great sky spirit, which is not so unlike judeo-christian beliefs.

People throw around the word "pagan" too liberally. Early christians were eager to interact with the pre-christian world, and reconcile, not destroy it, which makes sense given their world view which was much bigger, in a sense, than existence within a tiny bubble within reality, comparatively speaking, everything outside of it basically being the devil.

 

[Saucy]

Yeah the reading I did yesterday shared how the Christians of the time really couldn't describe the Vikings or any un-Christian people they came across, so it was easiest to describe them as pagans. "Pagans from the North" or even "Sea Wolves" were used a lot. I wonder how different the rituals were for the Greeks, Romans, and Norse who all had similar, but different gods and worshiped in their own way.

 

[Archie the Preacher]

Saucy, Ociffer Pls, this is getting rather far afield from ancestry. Which is how many of my conversations go anyway.

In the original sense, 'pagan' meant 'other than Christian or Jewish'. (Actually, it is older still and once meant 'villager' or 'rustic'; then it was adopted in the religious sense.) The derogatory connotation grew with time.

It has since been adopted by others in slightly other connotations.

A heathen is essentially a 'pagan' without 'culture' (to the degree of the 'cultured' observer).

Eye color is genetic. But it's developed (the understanding, not the actual process) since I was in High School. It is 'possible' but rather unlikely for a 100% Cherokee to have green eyes.

I've been told, by people who claimed to know such things, in the United States there are precious few people who are 100% anything.

 

[Saucy]

Archie, we are just discussing theories and family stories. If you heard my grandmother speak, you'd think she was a regular Cherokee princess. But DNA testing and actual studies of last names and origins proves her story false.

We were so convinced that we had a lot of Native American in us, because of our darker complexion and hair, that we wondered if our mom would qualify for benefits.

Turns out the dark complexion is the black Irish and my grandma's nationality was really English. Growing up in Oklahoma, she probably became fascinated with the culture.

 

[OcifferPls]

Saucy, Ociffer Pls, this is getting rather far afield from ancestry. Which is how many of my conversations go anyway.

Your point?

In the original sense, 'pagan' meant 'other than Christian or Jewish'. (Actually, it is older still and once meant 'villager' or 'rustic'; then it was adopted in the religious sense.) The derogatory connotation grew with time.

The Jewish world view incorperates everything, basically, as sharing common origins, and the overall picture is a little bit more complicated than european christianity's view of the subject.

It has since been adopted by others in slightly other connotations.

A heathen is essentially a 'pagan' without 'culture' (to the degree of the 'cultured' observer).

Eye color is genetic. But it's developed (the understanding, not the actual process) since I was in High School. It is 'possible' but rather unlikely for a 100% Cherokee to have green eyes.

I've been told, by people who claimed to know such things, in the United States there are precious few people who are 100% anything.

I'm not 100% cherokee, and I've never had green eyes.

 

[Cearbhall]

I inherited her beautiful hazel-green eyes (hey, it's the only part about myself physically that I like, so I can say they're beautiful lol).

If you download your raw DNA data, you can search for the SNPs on this up-to-date flow chart of the genetics of eye color.

Source

 

[Saucy]

It's funny, my grandparents had five kids. The first four were dark hair, dark eyes. The last kid was blonde hair, blue eyes. So funny! We often say grandma nailed the mailman haha.

 

[Ffraid]

I know there are shots of Saxon, Norman, Welsh, Scottish, Irish and Jewish in my cocktail. I wouldn't be surprised if a DNA test added more.

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

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[OcifferPls]

Genealogy isn't easy. I don't know much about my ancestry, besides that I have some Cherokee in my line, and that my family's name can be traced to northern England and the Armstrong clan.

It can be fun to research.

Addendum to my previous posts: this source (which goes into an offensive level of detail) has a supposed report from the U.S. Government near the turn of the last century which reports hazel eyes among native americans.

I have traced my family line to the North Carolina and Tennessee Appalachian regions, and, according to the same source, it is an area that was inhabited by Cherokees, which confirms my previous findings, and at least supports my family's story about some of our history. Additionally, there's more background info about interactions between Scots and Cherokee that might provide a feasible context for co-mingling.

I'm not sure why I should have to defend that or why anyone would want to dispute it. I mean, it is what it is. It's not like it proves me to be royalty or something lol.

 

[MehGuy]

It was such a shame I did not inherit my father's black hair. I always found black hair attractive and I ended up with blonde hair.

I also used to have blue eyes but they changed color like a chameleon over the years and now they're hazel. My ID says they're grey.

Yeah, my father has black hair too. Although I seem to have inherent my mother's hair color (dark brown) sometimes I wish it would turn black. Although who knows, later in life it might continue to get darker and darker.

I have green/hazelish eyes.. really depends on the light..