My mother’s heritage is of German descent. My father’s heritage is of English descent. If their families did not immigrate to America, I would not be here. My mother was born in Minnesota and her mother was from Bavaria Germany. My dad was born in Iowa and his roots trace back to England, Scotland areas. They met in Colorado, married and seven years later my time on earth began. This is an abbreviated version of my parents’ story.
My mother’s mother immigrated to America sometime in 1890. All I have heard was that she was seven years old at that time and she came from the Bavaria Germany area. I never heard who she came with or how she ended up in Minnesota. During that time, I read somewhere that many children were sold to couples that were going to America those days so that child could have a better life than what was going in Germany at that time. I will never know the true facts on this history. My DNA tests show that 42% of my heritage is of German Descent.
My father’s heritage is from England and the Scotland area. My dad had an uncle that traced their heritage to Cornwall England back to 1532. That area apparently had tin mines and as the need for tin diminished and many started to immigrate to greener pastures. Many moved to Australia and America. My dad’s family migrated to America before the Civil War and sometime ended up in Iowa as farmers. My DNA shows that 49% of my heritage is of English descent.
The remaining 8% DNA shows Scandanavian, Norway, Sweden Area heritage or Viking history.
With that, I am most interested in my grandma’s history. How did she get to America and who did she come with? What part of Bavaria did she come from? Also, where did the Viking heritage come from? Were my relatives’ victims of the Vikings when they were attacking and pillaging England? I doubt I will ever know anything about this history.
I am proud that my families were able to live and suffer the adversities of immigrating to another country and start a new life that is the base of the life I have been very fortunate to live. This is the last frontier. If things go bad, there is not a wild frontier in the world. It will be up to the ones living here to fix the country.
TomT2.0 