What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

Riddle me this. We always thought my mom's great-grandparents were children of German immigrants. And it started out that way back in 1900, but by 1920, the census records have them claiming French and Canadian ancestry.

Could this be due to WWI? Changing it to avoid discrimination against German-Americans during and after the war?
 
Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

FadeToBlack&Gold said:
Riddle me this. We always thought my mom's great-grandparents were children of German immigrants. And it started out that way back in 1900, but by 1920, the census records have them claiming French and Canadian ancestry.

Could this be due to WWI? Changing it to avoid discrimination against German-Americans during and after the war?
Click to expand...

Yes, it's possible. There are cities in MN where German was the primary language spoken until WWI happened. German pubs had entire walls repainted, and until recently - the last 15 years or so - all German traces were erased except for the city name and its inhabitants' names. English became the primary language, and all of it done for two purposes. First, these people wanted to show their loyalty to their adoptive home of America. Second, there was a serious anti-German sentiment sweeping through the Midwest at the time, largely because of the large number of German families that settled here over the prior few generations.
 
Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

FadeToBlack&Gold said:
Riddle me this. We always thought my mom's great-grandparents were children of German immigrants. And it started out that way back in 1900, but by 1920, the census records have them claiming French and Canadian ancestry.

Could this be due to WWI? Changing it to avoid discrimination against German-Americans during and after the war?
Click to expand...

Was 1920 a one off or did they keep using those in future years? It might be a neighbor or someone else who answered the person doing the census that year.
 
Drew S. said:
Was 1920 a one off or did they keep using those in future years? It might be a neighbor or someone else who answered the person doing the census that year.
Click to expand...

By 1930, great-great-grandma was widowed, so he's no longer listed. She, however still claims Canadian parentage.
 
St. Clown said:
Yes, it's possible. There are cities in MN where German was the primary language spoken until WWI happened. German pubs had entire walls repainted, and until recently - the last 15 years or so - all German traces were erased except for the city name and its inhabitants' names. English became the primary language, and all of it done for two purposes. First, these people wanted to show their loyalty to their adoptive home of America. Second, there was a serious anti-German sentiment sweeping through the Midwest at the time, largely because of the large number of German families that settled here over the prior few generations.
Click to expand...

As soon as mom described what she was seeing, I immediately suspected this theory. Impossible to really confirm, but thanks.
 
Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

My last name was changed in that same era. It sounds the same, but they changed a couple letters so it didn't look so Germanic. (Swedish)
 
Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

Family Tree Maker 2017 is now available. Connects with Ancestry and Family Search.
 
Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

FadeToBlack&Gold said:
Riddle me this. We always thought my mom's great-grandparents were children of German immigrants. And it started out that way back in 1900, but by 1920, the census records have them claiming French and Canadian ancestry.

Could this be due to WWI? Changing it to avoid discrimination against German-Americans during and after the war?
Click to expand...

Maybe they were from the Alsace which was in Germany before WW-I but became French after the war.
 
Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

Mom's Dad's family was from MountCharles in County Donegal in the Irish Free State and Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her Mom's side was from Breman and Lower Saxony, German Empire.

Interesting times in the Great War. Grandfather was an importer and lost his business and fortune during the war. He did not take it well and became a vicious drunk.
 
Drew S. said:
Is it better than just using Ancestry? I'm still a novice and any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...

The biggest advantage is the ability to keep things offline. You may not want all family photos and documents to be on the internet.

This is also the first fully new version by MacKiev. The product was discontinued in 2014. They picked it up and made a small patch version 2014.1. No releases since then.
 
Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

Ralph Baer said:
Maybe they were from the Alsace which was in Germany before WW-I but became French after the war.
Click to expand...

Possible but the census tries (at least retroactively) to define birthplace according to the political situation at the time of the birth. For example, I have relatives who come from a particular BFE town in present day Slovakia. Depending on when they were born they are listed as being from the Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the "Slovak Republic" (a Nazi-occupied client state), Czechoslovakia again or Slovakia. In each case their American census lists them as from the country of their birth even after several gyrations of the region. Sometimes they screw up (IINM the 20s Census tends to have messed up possibly because of untrained data workers) but typically whatever you were, it sticks.
 
Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

I determined this week that I am apparently distantly related by marriage to the late actress Gita HALL whom I had never heard of. Her last husband and the father of two of her three children, Mitchell MAY III, was a great-great-great-grandson of Dolz (Therese) BAER, the eldest sister of my great-great-grandfather Lazarus BAER. Although she was more than 14 years older than me, I am a generation older. That isn't surprising since it is my male line.

The "apparently" in the first sentence is because it is through a probably illegitimate daughter of Dolz whose birth appears to have been in a three-year break in the copy of the birth records which are on line on the state archives website. I haven't heard back yet from the town where the originals are.
 
Last edited:
Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

Ralph Baer said:
I determined this week that I am apparently distantly related by marriage to the late actress Gita HALL whom I had never heard of. Her last husband and the father of two of her three children, Mitchell MAY III, was a great-great-great-grandson of Dolz (Therese) BAER, the eldest sister of my great-great-grandfather Lazarus BAER. Although she was more than 14 years older than me, I am a generation older. That isn't surprising since it is my male line.

The "apparently" in the first sentence is because it is through a probably illegitimate daughter of Dolz whose birth appears to have been in a three-year break in the copy of the birth records which are on line on the state archives website. I haven't heard back yet from the town where the originals are.
Click to expand...

I wondered what happened with that. Cool
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top