I know my Uncle Walter (my dad's uncle, actually, but he was known as "Uncle Walter" throughout the family, and my brother-in-law has said that he really felt like he was part of the family the day he could suggest someone use Uncle Walter's knife for something and knew what he meant when he said it) was not named Walter Johnson before he came to the US, but no one knows how or why he changed his name. He was the first of my Russian relatives to immigrate, when he was 17 and didn't have much English. I have no idea how he swung that. But he's the one that got everyone else over after WWII.
I really doubt ancestry.com could tell me any of that because my dad's naturalization information was obscured when the original documents were bound into books (some key numbers disappeared into the bound part, apparently). OTOH, I think my mom does consult it for her genealogical research because she'll use whatever tools are available.
THAT'S why I had a dream last night that I accidentally joined the FLDS.
...so what explains my dream about being a pirate's daughter and needing to smuggle artwork into the US from a castle in Mexico so I could somehow save him? (no, I had not been reading trashy romances before bed!)
The 75% of my family that is traceable is all Scottish and English, and recently so. Therefore, many things can be found. Woo!
Of course, the whole reason I signed up was that I didn't know my Grandfather's parents' names, and I *still* don't know that. (Neither does my Dad. In his defense, his father did leave home at 13. So.)
Paul's family is creepily American. I find mine more entertaining.
...so what explains my dream about being a pirate's daughter and needing to smuggle artwork into the US from a castle in Mexico so I could somehow save him? (no, I had not been reading trashy romances before bed!)
You had a better dream fairy assignment last night?
JZ! You're Mexican like I am Cuban!
My family is, in a way, creepily American. There's a branch that goes back to the Revolutionary War (although we have yet to determine which side, if any, they were on) but that branch married immigrants pretty close to once a generation. Very American!
I also don't like the FLDS connection, but I use it. However, my grandfather's father's name is John Taylor, and no family members know more than I do about the family, and it is HELL.
Amy, my iCloud account, apparently, sucks ass and isn't sending any messages? Feb 10th 11:00 AM is exactly right. I have your phone number and I'll call on speaker from my cell. My book club kids are excited!
On my mother's side, they've been here (well, or Canada) forever (literally almost 500 years in some cases), but on my father's side, my great-grandfather was from Germany and my great-grandmother was from the Cayman Islands. Which I learned on Ancestry. I knew someone was from the Caribbean, but wasn't sure who.
I knew a lot more than I do now, I forgot stuff. I know 1 of Mom's sister has done a lot of research into their dad's side, including a lot of stuff on his father, who was Comanche, and was in the same bad as Quanah Parker, although we aren't related to him.
