Friday, November 06, 2009

The Mayflower, Tulips, King John Lackland and Shaking off the Norman Opressors

In Commander C's quest to earn his "Heritage Belt Loop" we have been doing a little family history. Today's project was to learn what countries our family hails from.

This is what we learned. I actually find this surprisingly homogeneous all things considered. Moose is more of a purebred than I am, his people all coming from 2 countries that are neighbors. My blood is a little mixed but I think that makes my genes stronger.
England- All parts, including Yorkshire, which makes us hardy.
Wales- The reason I love to sing and my striking resemblance to Catherine Zeta Jones?
Germany- The reason I enjoy kneading bread and the reason Moose and his children would easily have been passed over by the 3rd Reich.
Holland- This is all Moose's side not mine, perhaps we should start investing in Tulips.
Sweden- To be honest I have a hard time reconciling this one, I have never felt drawn to the Swedes. This sounds like an opportunity for research.

Other tidbits from my family history.
Many of my ancestors were part of the Mormon migration from Europe but others have been in America since the boat that followed the Mayflower.
Amongst our hearty ancestors is King John of England, that's right John Lackland ridiculed and despised in literature and lore since the day he was born. He probably deserved it but is defense of my great grand sire I have 2 words "Magna Carta." Sure, he was strong armed into signing it, but still, he signed it. One of the world's first attempts at freedom.We decided to eschew our French blood and not recognize our Norman ancestors, figuring that if it happened before the Battle of Hastings, it doesn't count.

Sadly there is no luck of the Irish for us (though some of our English ancestors were landholders in Ireland) and we are not Scottish which I find hard to believe since I am so frugal.
While La Keira's children are known affectionately as Beanerschnitzel's (Mexican and Dutch) my children have a few more nationalities to incorporate into their recipe. Submit the name for our mixed heritage in the comments. there will be a winner.

3 comments:

Keira said...

Smorgas-brits.

That's all I've got.

grandmawhitehouse said...

Heinz 57

joy said...

I love family history! what a fun ancestry you both have. We have some things similar; england & wales. We are also native american, norwegian, a smidgen of italian. Do you know very many stories? that's my favorite part. Love the post! Thanks-Love, Joy