I always used to feel like people would just claim they were from this place or that place without having any validity behind those claims. Yeah, I'm Scottish, or I'm French. When I went to Scotland, my friends laughed at the idea of people who came over and claimed they were Scottish. They had never been to Scotland, knew very little about Scottish culture, and yet they claimed that they were Scottish. When I had my Scottish friend put it this way, I started to discount any heritage I had as well....until I went to Ireland.
When I was younger, my family and I went to Ireland with my grandfather on a special trip to reconnect with our roots, so the speak. My grandfather had long wanted to go back to Ireland to look up our family history, and it became a really special trip that we were able to take with him. At that point, his back had become so painful for him though that we had to be sure not to walk or stand for long periods of time. In order to help with this, we ended up renting a van to drive us to the various destinations that he wanted to see and get the most out of our trip while we were there.
Along the way, we stopped at a number of historical sights, ate traditional foods and met some pretty amazing people. We stopped at interesting castles all along the way, saw the Eye of Ireland and kissed the Blarney Stone. It was all so amazing and so special that we were able to have our grandfather with us to enjoy the trip.
When we got to Dublin, we stopped into this place where we were told we would be able to find the names of our distant ancestors. I was a little skeptical about this idea at first, but when we came across our last name in the book, my grandfather was ecstatic. The whole idea that he was there with us experiencing all of this made it ten times better. We drove out to a river that was supposedly named after our family line, and stopped to take a picture.
My grandpa had to be in a wheelchair for this event, so we wheeled him up to the river (it was more a stream than a river, but we were still impressed), and took a picture of him. It is so great to look back at that and remember how happy he was to be there and to be sharing this experience with both him son and his grandchildren.
After that trip, I started to appreciate the reality behind my Irish roots. I was always proud to have a little Irish in my blood, but going there and seeing it for myself, and having this experience with my grandfather made it that much more memorable. I started to realize that being from the US means that you have to of come from somewhere else (in most instances). Just because you aren't from Scotland or Ireland doesn't mean that you can't appreciate your past!
Have you ever gone back to find your ancestors? What was your experience?
Comments (11)
That is so true. Glad it was special for you. My great, great grandfather emmigrated to South Africa as a pharmacist. He also conducted an orchestra. His brother stayed in England. He was a solicitor. I have letters of theirs written to each other....his brother talking about the fact that King Edward abdicated. I started tracing my family and got back to about the 1700's. I have since connected with a distant cousin here.....where all my ancestors came from. It was amazing to hear that his dad too is a conductor and they are well into music and playing classical instruments etc. Must be in the genes!!! Just love finding out about all these things.
My great grandparents came to the united states when they were in thier early twenties. I claim my irish and my cherokee heritage. i have visited my cherokee ancestory with my 100% cherokee grandfather. i have never visited my irish heritage other than the stories of my great grandparents. when i graduate college i plan on visiting ireland. i recently found out i have a house in ireland that my great grandparents have for me. Im extremely excited and i cant wait!
I wish I was Irish
your so lucky!!
I don't know any family members beyond my grandparents but I would love to look into my family's past.
I've been to Italy and my father's family homes many times. I even stayed with them for a month before getting my own place a hundred miles away. In Portugal the family has all but died out or left for Brazil where I have plenty of family still and visit annually. Getting back to your roots and finding where your ancestors came from is like a living history.
I'm Irish as well, and have been researching my family's past for some time now. I never knew my grandpa, as he died when I was two. As I grew, I began to become fascinated with my heritage. The Irish are an amazing people, with a very rich history most aren't aware of. I am very proud to be Irish, to bear an Irish surname, and to claim that heritage on both sides of my family. What's even better, is my wife, who is not Irish, loves everything about the people and their culture. I am blessed all around!
It's hard for me to not constantly be reminded of my roots. My parents are still very stuck in the past, 12/14/1994 to be exact since that was when we left Vietnam.
Every time I've gone back to visit so far has been amazing. But I did feel like I'm a little more removed each time due to cultural difference in how women are treated and viewed.
reading your post especially about how your family wheeled your grandfather to the river of your ancestors and took a picture of him there made me really happy, lifted me up. just something about your post that made me feel really good. thanks. =)
also, my 'immediate' ancestors are from the philippines, although if i were to really go back then i would find myself somewhere in china, in japan, even in spain too.
I find it annoying when people say they're something when they so obviously not, and a lot of people DO actually do it.
I've got roots native to this country and Britain aswell, I'll get to Britain one day, not really too interested in my roots here, if we're being honest.
I would love to go to Ireland and do stuff like that.
My dad has a family tree that's written in a Bible.. And various letters from a geneticist that my grandpa had hired. My grandpa found out that he had family from Ireland and stuff.
I would love to go back to my Irish roots. =P
I visited the village in the Netherlands where my grandfather was born. I was struck by how familiar it felt. It looked much like the area of Michigan where I had grown up with its immaculate family farms and imposing churches. The names on the businesses were familiar too because many people from this area had emmigrated to the Grand Rapids area where I was raised. Most striking of all was the stoic hospitality of the residents of Koudum. Just like the elders of my family, their smiles were few but their welkom was genuine and unmistakable.