My European Origins

Marty and Karla Grant

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My European Origins

[Genealogy Home] - [Origins Home] - European Origins

It is not realistic for Americans to make statements about your ancestry by saying something like “I’m Scots-Irish” or “French” or “African-American,” because truth be told, very few Americans are pure anything, other than purely human. There are exceptions of course (not to being pure human!).

I can say I’m 100% American, and 99% North Carolinian (I was born in South Carolina and lived briefly in other states).

As far as ethnicity or race, I’m “White” or “Anglo-Saxon” or “Caucasian,” whichever you prefer, though none of those descriptors are really accurate.

As far as my ancestral origins are concerned, I haven’t proven all my lines back to the immigrants, but all of my known ancestors were in America by the 1600s and the 1700s, mostly from Europe it would seem.

I claim the following European ancestry based upon research:

∙ Scottish (Scotland) - Confirmed by DNA evidence.

∙ Scots-Irish (Ulster Scots from Northern Ireland) - Confirmed by DNA evidence.

∙ Northern Irish - Confirmed by DNA evidence.

∙ Irish from the Republic of Ireland - Confirmed by DNA evidence.

∙ English (England) - Confirmed by DNA evidence.

∙ Welch (Wales) - Confirmed by DNA evidence.

∙ German (from the various Germanic states) - Confirmed by DNA evidence.

In addition to European ancestry I also claim these as ancestors:

∙ African - Senegal proven by DNA, other regions may also be ancestral for me.

∙ Native American - Cherokee most likely, though none actually proven thus far either by regular research or DNA.

Truthfully, I am only interested in my ancestry back to about 1500 A.D. I believe that anything before that is just too far back to prove to my satisfaction. However, once you get back that far, and into the remote mists of time, I could probably claim all kinds of ancestry, heretofore unknown to me, such as Roman, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Russian, and who knows what else. But like I said, it is too far back to be of much interest, except in a general sense.

I have not done much European genealogical research, nor do I plan to do any, at least until I’ve fully documented my own American ancestry. Since I’m a 10th (or more) generation American, it could take all my life to find out all about my American roots. However, it is a journey that I'm willing to take (metaphorically), given proper access to European records via the Internet.

Revised: August 2, 2026

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