Heritage: Does it matter?

Does your heritage matter to you?


  • Total voters
    15

Kuzzle

Cadet
I was thinking about stuff, and I began to wonder why some people seem so concerned with their heritage. For instance, my mother's boyfriend acts all proud that he has both Irish and Native America heritage, but... I don't get it. I know that he talks about stuff his ancestors did, though. It's very boring.

Personally, I only know as far back in my family as I've met. That means I know back to three of my great grandparents, though, sadly, one of those three died a couple years ago. I know that I have all kinds of people in my family history, from four different kinds of Native American,(I know which kinds, but I can never spell a couple of them correctly...) to a whole lot of different kinda of European,(I don't remember these ones...) to an African American, way back a couple hundred years ago. I don't even know if they were male or female, though. *shrug* Other than that, though, I know nothing of my family history.

So, I guess I just thought I'd ask you bunch if you thought heritage mattered at all. I mean, I know that medical history matters, but beyond that... Well, beyond that, heritage doesn't really matter to me, and that won't change, but, again, I'm just curious asto the opinions of those at the Hall.
 
My mom was very big into the genealogy of our family. She had boxes upon boxes of papers dealing with it, I think she had traced at least part of the family back to North Carolina and even to Clan McMillan in Scotland. We even visited the Clan Home when we went to Scotland in 2000. That was exciting for both of us, though I think it was very different reasons. She loved it from the genealogy perspective and I was just ecstatic to be in Scotland. Beautiful place, I'd never have left if it was up to me.

Back on topic, I never really got into the genealogy as deep as she did. I helped her when I could, but mostly because I loved spending the time with her. She died in 2004 and I really haven't felt like messing with any of the genealogy stuff. I'd practically have to start over in order to interpret all of her notes and everything she spent years uncovering. I know my dad won't do it either, and my younger brother is in college and "has bigger fish to fry." So the boxes are all packed away in storage collecting dust.

Maybe one day I'll have time to go through it all, maybe when my daughter is older and it will be quite the experience looking through my mom's notes with the granddaughter she never knew. History is an amazing thing, and I suppose it is important to know where you came from. However, at this point in my life, I'm more concerned about where I'm going.
 
Already I can see I'm a minority on this, but nevertheless I stand by my decision.

If possible, I do like to know where I came from just because it offers insight into what I or my family was like in the past. I don't devote a tremendous amount of time on it, though I have found out a lot thanks to easy access of resources like ancestry.com or state online archives.

I think I also do it as almost an entertainment value. It always amuses me to see what turn my ancestors took in ages past - one family left England/Scotland for Nova Scotia to get away from the oppressive landlords in Yorkshire, another was a French-American family from the New York colony whose father became a British Sergeant in the French and Indian War, one was a long line of Massachusetts and Rhode Island shipbuilders that frequently married Irish or Native American spouses. There's even one that has Viking roots. There's always a good (or bad) story that comes out of the research, and regardless of the results, I find it fun to do at times.

In one case, I've found roleplay/character value. In the line of RI/Mass shipbuilders, I was able to create a semi-fictitious character for the Pirates of the Burning Sea game. Knowing vaguely what the family history was around that era (1720), I made someone that 'could' have lived around that time, and had fun with conjuring his attitude, looks, and allegiance for that time period.

Last, but not least, I love history, legend, and lore. If I knew I could fashion a successful career out of it, I would have tried to major in it in college. I'd still do it if I had the time and resources to do so. I love learning new things, whether good or bad, and sometimes like comparing what people have done in the past to what people are doing now.

It's all a personal preference and source of amusement I suppose. I don't obsess over my 'family tree,' but I do find it very fascinating to discover where I came from.
 
In today's melting pot we call the U.S., the whole geneology thing seems have taken a backseat.. Noone really cares as much where we came from, instead its all about where we're going... Planning ahead or living for today and tomorrow, and not thinking about the past. It used to mean a lot, but these days everyone is 10% this and 5% that and 30% of the other thing and 25% of something else, to the point where it really doesnt matter. We're all a mixture of mutts now. We're American, thats my heritage.
 
I said no because, while it's neat to see where I am from and might be inspiring like it is for Tyrson, it's not that important to me because it doesn't really shape me.

Although this is going to get me to looking.. Anything about my father's side of the family would be pure speculation. Dad may tell stories about being related to Indians and being descended from royalty, but there isn't really that much proof. Mom's side, however, does have a bit of information on one of our branches..

Seems back during the reign of Charles I, Edward Elmer came over on the Lion. He then went on a trek with Thomas Hooker some years later to settle in Connecticut. And that's where the family starts off in America. He was later killed by Indians. In fact, a lot of my ancestors were killed by the natives. An interesting bit is that there is a woman in my history that gained the nickname Hatchet Harriette from protecting her farm from Native Americans, scalping a few in the process.
 
I consider having at least basic knowledge of where we came from to be a simple matter of respect. Our ancestors and their actions are why we are here today. Personal history is just as important as world history. I don't see how people can consider the actions of generals or politicians of the past to be important without considering the actions of their personal ancestors to be important.

Lifestyles and attitudes and actions and personages of the past have made our lives today what they are. Even if you aren't into the whole "respect the hardships of the past" kind of thing, there are valuable lessons to be learned from family and world history. I also agree with Tyrson, learning about our ancestry is also fun.
 
In today's melting pot we call the U.S., the whole geneology thing seems have taken a backseat.. Noone really cares as much where we came from, instead its all about where we're going... Planning ahead or living for today and tomorrow, and not thinking about the past. It used to mean a lot, but these days everyone is 10% this and 5% that and 30% of the other thing and 25% of something else, to the point where it really doesnt matter. We're all a mixture of mutts now. We're American, thats my heritage.

That's one half of my family tho' I did do a bit of investigation into my family's orgin in America. It goes back far and is much too much to really concern myself over. My last name is actually the name of a place in Scotland so I know where we came from, plus we can break it down to about three different George's coming to America in the 1700s that started our family. Then they somehow got settled into the hills of Eastern Kentucky and we've been there 200 some odd years according to various legal documents.
My mother's side of the family came straight from Sicily into the area to dig tunnels in the 30s. They're all still rather Sicilian. LoL

It's fun stuff. I dunno, I'm into it for my own personal enjoyment.
 
I'm too much of a mutt to really care about my heritage. It's more important to my wife, but she's second-generation American (both her parents legally crossed the border from Mexico) so I can see how 'the old country' and having known relatives in another country/culture matters. My grandfather on my mom's side was born from an Italian couple that immigrated to the U.S. but other than that my tree goes back a couple more generations before it leaves the U.S.; if I have relatives in other countries, they're so distant that I've never been told of them.
 
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