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Who among us have immigrant grandparents or parents?

What country did they come from? Are you proud of their journey for a better life?
My grandparents immigrated from Italy on Moma's side and England on Dad's side. From Italy they came through Ellis island, same with my English side:)
I am very proud they wanted to come to the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

Posted - January 27, 2019

Responses


  • 13277
    Who doesn't? Mine were Ashkenazi Jews from Austria, Poland, and Russia who were fortunate to get out before Hitler rose to power and terrorized Europe. One uncle escaped Austria the day before the Nazis marched into Vienna in 1938, literally at the last minute.
      January 27, 2019 8:38 PM MST
    5

  • 16826
    Who doesn't? Me. All eight of my great-grandparents were born in the colonies that became Australia. One more generation and you get a few blow-ins - mostly Irish, one Canuck. One branch of the family goes back 40,000 years plus as Australian.
      January 27, 2019 8:53 PM MST
    3

  • 53524

      Lots of people don't, Stu. The question specifies grandparents and parents, so theoretically, anyone whose great-grandparents or previous generations to that were the last to emigrate belong in the "who doesn't" category.
    ~ This post was edited by Randy D at January 29, 2019 10:37 PM MST
      January 29, 2019 6:18 AM MST
    2

  • 11151
    My Grandparents  came from the Ukraine. Cheers! 
      January 27, 2019 8:39 PM MST
    3

  • 13395
    Father's dad came from England around 1910 , mother's side came from Ireland around year 1600 AD.
      January 27, 2019 8:54 PM MST
    4

  • 53524

      Unfortunately, my family's origins in this country took a much different path than that, and choice was not part of the equation . . .



    ~
      January 27, 2019 9:06 PM MST
    7

  • 10052
      January 27, 2019 9:46 PM MST
    4

  • 19937
    Paternal grandmother came from Russia, paternal grandfather Poland; maternal grandmother and grandfather were born in the USA.
      January 27, 2019 9:39 PM MST
    5

  • 10052
    I know that all of my great-grandparents were born in the US. Some, perhaps all of my great-great grandparents were born here, too. I know I've got English, French and Scottish ancestry and some American Indian as well (allegedly). 
      January 27, 2019 9:40 PM MST
    5

  • 5835
    My great grandfather was Napoleon.

    Napoleon Sure, not Napoleon Bonaparte!
      January 28, 2019 12:30 AM MST
    3

  • 6988
    My great grandparents came from England. They did not try to sneak in but came through Ellis Island. They had come from Sheffield, where the only decent paying jobs were in the metal-working trade and plating business. The problem was the plating business had poisonous fumes that killed employees after just a few years. So they headed out to America where land was cheap and they became farmers. Well, that was hard work, so they decided to become house painters. They painted all types of rich folks mansions including at least one U.S. President's estate. I personally painted the wrought iron fence around the President's grave. 
      January 28, 2019 6:48 AM MST
    2

  • 44649
    Maternal only grandparents either from Russia or the Ukraine. We have a written record going back to the 1860s, but it scetchy as to the exact location. Grandma's family moved to Halifax, then Portland, ME. Grandpa's family immigrated directly to Portland. I know nothing about my father's family.
      January 28, 2019 9:45 AM MST
    2

  • 34432
    Both my grandfathers were first-generation Americans one from Sweden and one from Germany.
      January 28, 2019 5:06 PM MST
    2

  • 5835
    My g'g'father Napoleon ran a boat on the Darbonne River in Louisiana. The Darbonne is a lake now. G'father got religion and moved to a farm in Tahellandgone, Utah and g'mother left him. So dad was raised by a frustrated religious nut. 

    Maternal g'mother died in the flu epidemic so g'father split up the family, sending kids to different states. Mom was 12 when she learned that the woman she thought was her mother was actually her sister. Life in this family was like living in a bus station: lots of familiar faces but nobody wanted to get chummy.
      January 28, 2019 11:25 PM MST
    1

  • 1893
    Let me see on my Dads side of the family Germany, earliest family grave 948 in Alsace.  My dads mothers family had been in the US since 1848

    My moms side is a bit of a mut story - he maternal line goes all the way back to Connecticut 1531, before that they were English after 1066, before that they came from France.  Her dads father came out of Switzerland in the 1870's
      January 29, 2019 7:22 PM MST
    1

  • 604
    both my parents' parents came from Italy.......

    I am so glad they did......my poor mom's mom was pregnant with my mom on the boat...my aunt told me that she said it was the most miserable trip ever...being sick and on a boat for the first time..


      October 9, 2019 8:25 AM MDT
    0