Your ethnic composition?

[TeePee4Prez]

75% Irish- Catholic and from all over primarily Mayo, Laois, Limerick, and Dublin
12.5% Welsh- Methodist.  Not sure from where.
12.5% German-  Lutheran.  Researched last name as Hanoverian or Hessian (North German).

[Verily]

50% English (Smith, Gough, Bacon, Mason) [I think Gough might be Welsh, actually, not sure.]
25% Scottish (Abercrombie, Roberts)
12.5% Irish of dubious origin (Byrne)
12.5% Swedish (Feldt)

This is my great-grandparents.

The Irish is of dubious origin because, while the family name on that line is the very Irish Byrne, my great-great-great-grandfather Peter Byrne appears to have been an orphan and was possibly adopted into/fostered by a family with surname Byrne rather than born to it. Peter Byrne also pretended to be the illegitimate grandson of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Salmon Portland Chase but probably was not.

This is further complicated by the fact that he abandoned his wife (Bridget Heaton, so that's a bit more English) without divorcing her and fled New York City to marry another woman in Alabama. Bridget Heaton stopped using her married name and pretended to be a widow, so we have no records from her as to almost anything about Peter Byrne's life. Also, Byrne would be a very Catholic Irish name, but that line of the family is Protestant as far back as can be traced--which would be very, very odd for a name associated strongly with Catholic Ireland.

[ilikeverin]

Verily, that's fascinating... whenabouts did they live?  I could try to find census records for you, if it's 1850-1930 (though 1890's were burnt to a crisp).

[MaxQue]

15/16 French, 1/16 Native.

[??????????]

Verily, that's fascinating... whenabouts did they live?  I could try to find census records for you, if it's 1850-1930 (though 1890's were burnt to a crisp).

Actually, they weren't burnt. Part of them were burnt, and the water that was used to put out the fire made the pages of the census stick together and then grew moldy. [/useless trivia technicality]

[Rob]

Mainly Irish (my surname is Irish, as well), with significant German, Dutch and Swedish. A trickle of Sioux, too.

[Verily]

Verily, that's fascinating... whenabouts did they live?  I could try to find census records for you, if it's 1850-1930 (though 1890's were burnt to a crisp).

Trust me, the family has tried. There are some very dedicated genealogists in parts of the Byrne line who have tried, but they all say things dead end with Peter Byrne and Bridget Heaton. (The rest can be traced at least to colonial America except the Feldts, who immigrated from Sweden in  the 1890s.) As I recall, Peter Byrne and Bridget Heaton would have been in the 1860s or so, with Peter Byrne abandoning her around 1870. And actually he must have been my great-great-great-grandfather, thinking about the dates. I get it all confused.

We do know that Bridget Heaton claimed to be a widow on her census forms even though Peter Byrne was definitely alive and well and filling out census forms in Alabama. The trouble is with finding out anything about their families; even if they weren't either of them orphans, both clearly came from very impoverished New York City families. But neither mentions parents on their census forms.

[ilikeverin]

Verily, that's fascinating... whenabouts did they live?  I could try to find census records for you, if it's 1850-1930 (though 1890's were burnt to a crisp).

Actually, they weren't burnt. Part of them were burnt, and the water that was used to put out the fire made the pages of the census stick together and then grew moldy. [/useless trivia technicality]

No genealogical trivia is too trivial

[??????????]

Verily, have you had any chance to look through Irish church records? My wife says that once you get them traced back to Ireland that's all you can use.

[Verily]

Verily, have you had any chance to look through Irish church records? My wife says that once you get them traced back to Ireland that's all you can use.

Ah, but it's the getting to Ireland that's the trouble. And there are too many fecking Byrnes and O'Byrnes and various alternative spellings in Ireland to be making guesses about Peter Byrne's parents or grandparents. (Like I said, we're not even sure they were Irish.)

[??????????]

Verily, have you had any chance to look through Irish church records? My wife says that once you get them traced back to Ireland that's all you can use.

Ah, but it's the getting to Ireland that's the trouble. And there are too many fecking Byrnes and O'Byrnes and various alternative spellings in Ireland to be making guesses about Peter Byrne's parents or grandparents. (Like I said, we're not even sure they were Irish.)

Yeah, I dunno. I'm sure my wife will read my posts here and have a better response. She's the genealogy master of the family.

[12th Doctor]

My background is a heavy mix of Northern European.  I generally tell people that I am just "German and Irish" for short, but there is a bit more to it than that.

First, as far as I know, my real father was pure German.  So, I likely start off 50% German right off the bat, but I have no idea where they were from, or if his mother is German.

Second, the two main branches of my Irishness (my mother's mother) come from the Kelley's and McManus'.  The spelling "Kelley" is typically associated as being slightly more Anglo, and is somewhat uncommon.  It allows us to isolate the probably location of my ancestral home to about 5 sq miles in county Mayo, where the English had more pull than in most of western Ireland, and that spelling is more common.  The McManus family were black Irish, and came from County Cork.  The McManus family came in the 1820's, the Kelley's sometime in the 1840's during the famine... both landed in the Philadelphia area.

Third, on my mother's father's side, we have the Soult's and the Rumley's.  The Soult's first came over about a decade after William Penn founded the colony and seem to have been one of those families that continued to move as new lands became available... by the War for Independence, they were somewhere in the Lehigh Valley, we think.  The "Soult" name was originally spelled "Solt" (they came from the Palatinate region of Germany)  but the family changed it in the 1810's after Nicolas Soult became famous, in France.  They eventually moved even further West, until they became one of the first groups to settle what is now Clearfield County, PA and founded the town of Clearfield.  We don;t know much about the Rumley's except that we have an ancestor who was a pirate, and that he likely settled in North Carolina after making his fortune on the high seas.

In terms of "minor" ancestries on both sides, I can't confirm this 100 percent, but I think I share a common ancestor with Herbert Hoover, through part of the then "Huber" family that settled in Philadelphia and married into the Soult's.  I am also a Spencer, through the Soult family, and thus distantly related to Winston Churchill and Princess Diana... though we aren't sure how.  Through the Rumley's I am a direct descended of William Blount, the signatory of the Constitution from North Carolina, and first man ever to be expelled from the U.S. Senate... and the only one not expelled for being a Confederate sympathizer... and also the "Blunt's" who are so prominent in Southern politics... Roy Blunt, etc.

So, as a wrap up I am Irish, Scottish, English, northern and southern German... and that is not taking any account of human migration patterns prior to 500 years ago.  Some of my ancestors were likely in Normandy 1000 years ago and, of course, they came from Scandinavia 300 year prior, and so on.

[Verily]

Verily, have you had any chance to look through Irish church records? My wife says that once you get them traced back to Ireland that's all you can use.

Ah, but it's the getting to Ireland that's the trouble. And there are too many fecking Byrnes and O'Byrnes and various alternative spellings in Ireland to be making guesses about Peter Byrne's parents or grandparents. (Like I said, we're not even sure they were Irish.)

Yeah, I dunno. I'm sure my wife will read my posts here and have a better response. She's the genealogy master of the family.

There's all sorts of other interesting stuff going on in the family, too. George Washington is my cousin some dozen times removed, as I'm descended from his aunt (which is as close as you can get, I think; every line closer has died out). That goes Ball (his mother was Mary Ball Washington, her sister was Sarah Ball Haynie) -> Haynie -> Blackburn -> Mason -> Byrne -> Abercrombie (my own surname). My great-grandmother Evelyn Gough was the first woman to get her PhD from Columbia University. I think that's it for interesting family trivia.

We're probably related to the Abercrombies of Abercrombie and Fitch, too. David Abercrombie's parents moved from Alabama to Baltimore after the Civil War, and our Abercombie line were definitely plantation owners in Alabama. But that's not confirmed, and it's not really something to be proud of, anyway. Although I think someone way back on that line was Governor-General of the Colony of South Carolina, too.

[patrick1]

Verily, have you had any chance to look through Irish church records? My wife says that once you get them traced back to Ireland that's all you can use.

Ah, but it's the getting to Ireland that's the trouble. And there are too many fecking Byrnes and O'Byrnes and various alternative spellings in Ireland to be making guesses about Peter Byrne's parents or grandparents. (Like I said, we're not even sure they were Irish.)

Well Byrne is one of the ancient Royal families in Ireland and quintessentially Irish.  Further Bridget was such a stereotypically Irish name that servant girls were called Biddies in the old slang.   Heaton while not of direct Irish origin was found in many parts of Ireland.  The English often tended to anglicize an Irish name to its closest English equivalent.  Ill have to face it that your likely part paddy.

If it is any use- there was a Bridget Heaton who arrived into NYC as an infant in 1852 from Liverpool by way of Ireland.
Another Bridget Heaton arrived from Ireland into NYC in 1865 at the age of 15.

Lastly there was another Bridget Heaton who arrived in 1849 likely Ireland via Liverpool born 1835.   Let me know if any of these fit a description and I could probably email or pm you the manifest.  Hope you dont mind the prying- I pay for a subscription so I like to get some use out of the site every now and then

[12th Doctor]

Verily, have you had any chance to look through Irish church records? My wife says that once you get them traced back to Ireland that's all you can use.

Ah, but it's the getting to Ireland that's the trouble. And there are too many fecking Byrnes and O'Byrnes and various alternative spellings in Ireland to be making guesses about Peter Byrne's parents or grandparents. (Like I said, we're not even sure they were Irish.)

Well Byrne is one of the ancient Royal families in Ireland and quintessentially Irish.  Further Bridget was such a stereotypically Irish name that servant girls were called Biddies in the old slang.   Heaton while not of direct Irish origin was found in many parts of Ireland.  The English often tended to anglicize an Irish name to its closest English equivalent.  Ill have to face it that your likely part paddy.

If it is any use- there was a Bridget Heaton who arrived into NYC as an infant in 1852 from Liverpool by way of Ireland.
Another Bridget Heaton arrived from Ireland into NYC in 1865 at the age of 15.

Lastly there was another Bridget Heaton who arrived in 1849 likely Ireland via Liverpool born 1835.   Let me know if any of these fit a description and I could probably email or pm you the manifest.  Hope you dont mind the prying- I pay for a subscription so I like to get some use out of the site every now and then

Have you ever met an Irish person who wasn't descended from royalty?

[12th Doctor]

BTW... I almost forgot, through the McManus' I am related to the O'Connell's.  Daniel O'Connell is a great (6 or 7 times) uncle of mine.

[patrick1]

Verily, have you had any chance to look through Irish church records? My wife says that once you get them traced back to Ireland that's all you can use.

Ah, but it's the getting to Ireland that's the trouble. And there are too many fecking Byrnes and O'Byrnes and various alternative spellings in Ireland to be making guesses about Peter Byrne's parents or grandparents. (Like I said, we're not even sure they were Irish.)

Well Byrne is one of the ancient Royal families in Ireland and quintessentially Irish.  Further Bridget was such a stereotypically Irish name that servant girls were called Biddies in the old slang.   Heaton while not of direct Irish origin was found in many parts of Ireland.  The English often tended to anglicize an Irish name to its closest English equivalent.  Ill have to face it that your likely part paddy.

If it is any use- there was a Bridget Heaton who arrived into NYC as an infant in 1852 from Liverpool by way of Ireland.
Another Bridget Heaton arrived from Ireland into NYC in 1865 at the age of 15.

Lastly there was another Bridget Heaton who arrived in 1849 likely Ireland via Liverpool born 1835.   Let me know if any of these fit a description and I could probably email or pm you the manifest.  Hope you dont mind the prying- I pay for a subscription so I like to get some use out of the site every now and then

Have you ever met an Irish person who wasn't descended from royalty?

Yeah me.   I'm probably descended from Travellers.

[12th Doctor]

Verily, have you had any chance to look through Irish church records? My wife says that once you get them traced back to Ireland that's all you can use.

Ah, but it's the getting to Ireland that's the trouble. And there are too many fecking Byrnes and O'Byrnes and various alternative spellings in Ireland to be making guesses about Peter Byrne's parents or grandparents. (Like I said, we're not even sure they were Irish.)

Well Byrne is one of the ancient Royal families in Ireland and quintessentially Irish.  Further Bridget was such a stereotypically Irish name that servant girls were called Biddies in the old slang.   Heaton while not of direct Irish origin was found in many parts of Ireland.  The English often tended to anglicize an Irish name to its closest English equivalent.  Ill have to face it that your likely part paddy.

If it is any use- there was a Bridget Heaton who arrived into NYC as an infant in 1852 from Liverpool by way of Ireland.
Another Bridget Heaton arrived from Ireland into NYC in 1865 at the age of 15.

Lastly there was another Bridget Heaton who arrived in 1849 likely Ireland via Liverpool born 1835.   Let me know if any of these fit a description and I could probably email or pm you the manifest.  Hope you dont mind the prying- I pay for a subscription so I like to get some use out of the site every now and then

Have you ever met an Irish person who wasn't descended from royalty?

Yeah me.   I'm probably descended from Travellers.

I was joking anyway and even if half the people who claim to be descended from Irish royalty really are (and I doubt it is close to that many, at least in any significance beyond other people's royal blood ties) the claim becomes far less impressive when you realize that there were usually as many as 20 "kings" in Ireland at any one time.  Each clan had one.  There was, intermittently, one High King, but it wasn't like what you had in England.

[patrick1]

Yeah supposedly 3 million people (including Skip Gates) are descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages. For me I'm under no allusions My paternal ancestors came from a "tinker" town, all had tinker jobs when they came to the states and were generally ne'er do wells. Hey, you plant a cabbage you get a cabbage. 

The descending for Kings i.e. delusion of grander sterotype with the Irish was actually damaging throughout history and helped foreign invaders hold, divide and conquer.  It was a case of all Chiefs and no indians.

[12th Doctor]

Yeah supposedly 3 million people (including Skip Gates) are descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages. For me I'm under no allusions My paternal ancestors came from a "tinker" town, all had tinker jobs when they came to the states and were generally ne'er do wells. Hey, you plant a cabbage you get a cabbage. 

The descending for Kings i.e. delusion of grander sterotype with the Irish was actually damaging throughout history and helped foreign invaders hold, divide and conquer.  It was a case of all Chiefs and no indians.

There was always a very strong aversion to central authority, throughout the Celtic cultural domain.  The organization of Celtic society was far loser than that of many of the Mediterranean societies.  It didn't keep them from achieving, as Roman historians would have us believe... at least not on the Continent.  In fact, in many, many ways, Celtic society was far more advanced than that of Rome.  This level of advancement was likely a large part of the reason that Celtic was once, by far, the most wide spread of the PIE language continuums.

[dead0man]

Paternal side is 100% German (Hessen)....mom's side is mostly English (York) with some garbage thrown in here and there.

[phk]

North Indian/Persian/Turk.

[Eraserhead]

Italian and Irish

[opebo]

Lilly white.  English/French, but look like a Jew.

[Plant City Rebel]

Purebred American Mutt, or in other words: English, Irish, Native American, German, Welsh, Dutch, French, and Scottish.

Verily, I can feel you on the variations.  My current stumbling block is my Maguire line  (my maiden name).  It seems that the males on my line only have 4 names, used alternately as first and middle combos. William, James, Patrick and Hugh.   The rest of the family lines have been relatively easy, with the exception of one ancestor who changed his name post 1865, we can't find him prior to the war with the name he enlisted under in any records.

Having brought out records, did any of the census records list a place of birth for either Bridget or Peter, we've broken several walls with those.  Of course they won't list city,  just state or country, but, that will help at least establish which course you need to run.