Heritage questions
Aug. 4th, 2002 01:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rickvsLet me preface my answers by stating that I'm adopted, and know nothing about my biological parents. My responses pertain to what I know about the families of my Mom & Dad ...and my Dad's family hasn't been much into genealogy until recently.
1) What is your lineage? Where are your ancestors from?
On my father's side, I dunno -- the name "Salsbury" sounds English, but isn't spelled the usual way. On my mother's side, we get back into the Carters, Fishbaughs, and Hesses -- so English and German, as I recall. I know I'm distantly related to the author, Herman Hesse, but haven't read any of his stuff.
2) Of those countries, which would you most like to visit?
England. I don't know any German.
3) Which would you least like to visit? Why?
Um, Germany, by the process of elimination. While I wouldn't mind doing some sightseeing for the sake of sightseeing, Germany doesn't have many monuments that I'd like to see -- which frankly figures more into my decision than tracking down my hypothetical relatives. If my wife and I could afford to travel, I'd rather drag her around the Mediterranean Sea, which I visited as a child.
4) Do you do anything during the year to celebrate or recognize your heritage?
Nope. We used to attend family reunions for my Mom's side of the family, but I've not been to one in quite a while. I guess I attach more importance to lateral ties with people currently alive than vertical ties with dead ancestors. And if someone has good stories to tell about long-dead folks, I'd want to hear them whether I was related to them or not.
5) Who were the first ancestors to move to your present country (parents, grandparents, etc.)?
I'm not sure. My last exploration of my own genealogy was in grade school, when I picked the brain of my grandmother, now deceased. According to my recollection of her recollection, a lot of our relatives moved to the USA no later than the end of the nineteenth century.
While I enjoy learning about history and family, I fear that single-minded pursuit of my family tree might bring me into more of an "us versus them" mentality than I'd like to hold. I assume that I could be proven related to any stranger off the street, and I'll take that proof as a given -- but I don't want to do the legwork, as I'd get about halfway finished, and probably mentally categorize him as outside the "us" circle.
Instead, I prefer to think that that we're all "us". Some of "us" are assholes, but I'd like to deal with such people based on their behavior, and not be tempted to cut them slack just because they're family, if I wouldn't cut a stranger off the street the same slack.
Does that make me an elitist, or does it make me whatever the antonym of that is?
1) What is your lineage? Where are your ancestors from?
On my father's side, I dunno -- the name "Salsbury" sounds English, but isn't spelled the usual way. On my mother's side, we get back into the Carters, Fishbaughs, and Hesses -- so English and German, as I recall. I know I'm distantly related to the author, Herman Hesse, but haven't read any of his stuff.
2) Of those countries, which would you most like to visit?
England. I don't know any German.
3) Which would you least like to visit? Why?
Um, Germany, by the process of elimination. While I wouldn't mind doing some sightseeing for the sake of sightseeing, Germany doesn't have many monuments that I'd like to see -- which frankly figures more into my decision than tracking down my hypothetical relatives. If my wife and I could afford to travel, I'd rather drag her around the Mediterranean Sea, which I visited as a child.
4) Do you do anything during the year to celebrate or recognize your heritage?
Nope. We used to attend family reunions for my Mom's side of the family, but I've not been to one in quite a while. I guess I attach more importance to lateral ties with people currently alive than vertical ties with dead ancestors. And if someone has good stories to tell about long-dead folks, I'd want to hear them whether I was related to them or not.
5) Who were the first ancestors to move to your present country (parents, grandparents, etc.)?
I'm not sure. My last exploration of my own genealogy was in grade school, when I picked the brain of my grandmother, now deceased. According to my recollection of her recollection, a lot of our relatives moved to the USA no later than the end of the nineteenth century.
While I enjoy learning about history and family, I fear that single-minded pursuit of my family tree might bring me into more of an "us versus them" mentality than I'd like to hold. I assume that I could be proven related to any stranger off the street, and I'll take that proof as a given -- but I don't want to do the legwork, as I'd get about halfway finished, and probably mentally categorize him as outside the "us" circle.
Instead, I prefer to think that that we're all "us". Some of "us" are assholes, but I'd like to deal with such people based on their behavior, and not be tempted to cut them slack just because they're family, if I wouldn't cut a stranger off the street the same slack.
Does that make me an elitist, or does it make me whatever the antonym of that is?
