Anonymous
10/20/2025 12:06
Subject: What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?
I have been to an area where a branch of my family was from. They were extremely poor.
I was able to visit some of the churches where they were baptized and married, and generally walk the streets they might have walked. They were there for many generations- I trace them back to the very late 1600s in that area, but it gets hazy after that. Too many related families giving their babies the same names!
What was it like? It was very cool to think about being in places where 3-4-5+x great grandparents had been. To stand in front of the same altar where some had been married and to see the font where some had been baptized and think about what their lives must have been like.
Would I want to live there? No, I like where I live now. It could be fun to stay there for a few months though for a limited time job assignment or sabbatical perhaps.
I was able to visit some of the churches where they were baptized and married, and generally walk the streets they might have walked. They were there for many generations- I trace them back to the very late 1600s in that area, but it gets hazy after that. Too many related families giving their babies the same names!
What was it like? It was very cool to think about being in places where 3-4-5+x great grandparents had been. To stand in front of the same altar where some had been married and to see the font where some had been baptized and think about what their lives must have been like.
Would I want to live there? No, I like where I live now. It could be fun to stay there for a few months though for a limited time job assignment or sabbatical perhaps.
Anonymous
10/20/2025 11:50
Subject: What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?
My parents live in the same town (in the US) where my mother’s family has lived since the 1770s. There are times when I feel a pull to move there, but it’s a town of 14,000 (and dwindling), so in reality I do not want to live there. Most people are like my mother - they move away for college and don’t move back until they’re retired.
I haven’t yet visited any of the places in Europe my family came from, so I’m not sure how I’ll feel, but I am a highly sentimental person, so…
A couple of years ago we visited the country my husband’s family fled as refugees when he was a wee tyke. Both my FIL’s childhood home and the house where my in-laws lived when my husband was a baby are still standing, so we were able to see them. My husband found it interesting but nothing more. I think I was more moved than he was (see: highly sentimental, above).
I haven’t yet visited any of the places in Europe my family came from, so I’m not sure how I’ll feel, but I am a highly sentimental person, so…
A couple of years ago we visited the country my husband’s family fled as refugees when he was a wee tyke. Both my FIL’s childhood home and the house where my in-laws lived when my husband was a baby are still standing, so we were able to see them. My husband found it interesting but nothing more. I think I was more moved than he was (see: highly sentimental, above).
Anonymous
10/20/2025 11:46
Subject: What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?
Anonymous wrote:My family lives in occupied Palestine going back many generations. Yes, I have been. I think you probably have an understanding that it’s hell on earth but some of the most historic and meaningful places in the world are there.
Seems pretty ugly judging from everything I see. And that was long before the current war. Most of the Middle East is not attractive and I've traveled widely in the region. And FYI there was never a country called Palestine. I can tell you're emotional about what the Gazans brought onto themselves.
Anonymous
10/20/2025 11:38
Subject: What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?
^ sounds interesting 10:55
Anonymous
10/20/2025 10:55
Subject: What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?
Speaking as one of the whitest of white Americans,
I did visit the region where a lot of ancestors came from in Sweden. We have a genealogy that dates back to the 1600s and there are several small towns in Varmland (some now have different names or don't exist anymore) and I was actually able to find records at old churches and see a burial site of a 5xgreat grandparent. It was really cool.
What I would say is people were very receptive, more than I thought (Scandinavians are known to be rather cold and reserved) because I introduced myself as an American interested in her ancestry with family records and I wanted to learn things. DO NOT introduce yourself as Swedish (or Irish or Norwegian or what have you) and act like you are from there or of that culture, because you're not. You're American. And that's fine.
I'm also really into outdoors tourism so I went kayaking on a big lake that is near the largest modern town where I have documented ancestry, went hiking and camping. It was a good trip.
I did visit the region where a lot of ancestors came from in Sweden. We have a genealogy that dates back to the 1600s and there are several small towns in Varmland (some now have different names or don't exist anymore) and I was actually able to find records at old churches and see a burial site of a 5xgreat grandparent. It was really cool.
What I would say is people were very receptive, more than I thought (Scandinavians are known to be rather cold and reserved) because I introduced myself as an American interested in her ancestry with family records and I wanted to learn things. DO NOT introduce yourself as Swedish (or Irish or Norwegian or what have you) and act like you are from there or of that culture, because you're not. You're American. And that's fine.
I'm also really into outdoors tourism so I went kayaking on a big lake that is near the largest modern town where I have documented ancestry, went hiking and camping. It was a good trip.
Anonymous
10/20/2025 10:17
Subject: What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?
Anonymous wrote:Two lines of my family are from remote Irish islands that are no longer habitable. One near Galway has a Facebook group of descendants from the island, which has been interesting to follow. Apparently you can get someone to row you over to it and see the ruins. So we couldn't live there if we wanted to, and it is clear that life there was very challenging, but stories are of happy childhoods and a close knit community.
Interesting
Anonymous
10/20/2025 10:16
Subject: What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:A Native American reservation. where the members look at you confused: you're a Native Amrican?
If you were American Indian you’d know it either by your CDIB or your tribal card.
Not necessarily. My family is legally African American, but I have white and Native American —probably Muscogee Creek— ancestors as well. Due to the one drop rule, it was economically beneficial to the whites of the day to deem people like my ancestors Black, so, unfortunately, I don’t have cultural or familial ties that go back beyond African American communities in the Late 1800s. I have visited places where my grandparents and great grandparents and their extended families lived in Alabama and Georgia. My grandparents all lived in DC by 1920, so, seeing small cities and towns in the Deep South was a shock to my very urban teenaged self. I was curious about these places, but didn’t feel strong connections to them.
How could you find out (if you wanted)?
Anonymous
10/20/2025 10:15
Subject: What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:A Native American reservation. where the members look at you confused: you're a Native Amrican?
If you were American Indian you’d know it either by your CDIB or your tribal card.
Not necessarily. My family is legally African American, but I have white and Native American —— ancestors as well. Due to the one drop rule, it was economically beneficial to the whites of the day to deem people like my ancestors Black, so, unfortunately, I don’t have cultural or familial ties that go back beyond African American communities in the Late 1800s. I have visited places where my grandparents and great grandparents and their extended families lived in Alabama and Georgia. My grandparents all lived in DC by 1920, so, seeing small cities and towns in the Deep South was a shock to my very urban teenaged self. I was curious about these places, but didn’t feel strong connections to them.
Any way you could find out (if you wanted)?
Anonymous
10/20/2025 08:52
Subject: What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?
My Mom's family is easy - she's first generation US born and there are still cousins that live in the family village in Slovakia. It's beautiful - at the foot of the Tatra mountains near the border with Poland.
But, it's really small. There's about 1500 folks that live there. Many of the younger generations have moved to larger nearby towns.
Sometimes think about what it would be like to live there.
I've gone twice - once after college and again about 20 years later with my own kids. I thought it was important for them to see.
My Dad's side is harder - his side has been in the US for many generations and we know the town in Germany where some of his relatives were born. His Dad was born and raised in Pittsburgh and his Mom was born in Baltimore, so that's not too exacting. Heck, my Dad still lives in the house that he was raised, so going back to Pittsburgh is pretty easy to see "history!"
At this point in my life, I would be open to moving "home" to Pittsburgh.
But, it's really small. There's about 1500 folks that live there. Many of the younger generations have moved to larger nearby towns.
Sometimes think about what it would be like to live there.
I've gone twice - once after college and again about 20 years later with my own kids. I thought it was important for them to see.
My Dad's side is harder - his side has been in the US for many generations and we know the town in Germany where some of his relatives were born. His Dad was born and raised in Pittsburgh and his Mom was born in Baltimore, so that's not too exacting. Heck, my Dad still lives in the house that he was raised, so going back to Pittsburgh is pretty easy to see "history!"
At this point in my life, I would be open to moving "home" to Pittsburgh.
Anonymous
10/19/2025 21:19
Subject: What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?
One of my mom’s first cousins still owns and operates the family farm in Ireland. I’ve been there a dozen times in my life. It’s…basic. No one to take it over when he passes, he had no children and is the youngest of the first cousins by 10 years, at 69. My grandfather came from the neighboring farm, it was sold and then abandoned decades ago.
We’ll be visiting the still operating farm again this summer. It’s interesting to see, the old one room previously thatched roof home where my grandmother and all her siblings and previous generations were raised is still on the property. There are 4 remaining in the older generation, including my mom. Next are 14 of us.
We’ll be visiting the still operating farm again this summer. It’s interesting to see, the old one room previously thatched roof home where my grandmother and all her siblings and previous generations were raised is still on the property. There are 4 remaining in the older generation, including my mom. Next are 14 of us.
Anonymous
10/19/2025 19:23
Subject: What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My family lives in occupied Palestine going back many generations. Yes, I have been. I think you probably have an understanding that it’s hell on earth but some of the most historic and meaningful places in the world are there.
You don't know what we think understand or that we agree with your loaded set of statements.
No, my dear, I think most people on DCUM who are educated and follow the news understand occupation and apartheid. Nothing loaded about that!
More projection. Your passion and fervor and Iran-sponsored propaganda campaign do not define truth.
Anonymous
10/19/2025 19:13
Subject: What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My family lives in occupied Palestine going back many generations. Yes, I have been. I think you probably have an understanding that it’s hell on earth but some of the most historic and meaningful places in the world are there.
You don't know what we think understand or that we agree with your loaded set of statements.
No, my dear, I think most people on DCUM who are educated and follow the news understand occupation and apartheid. Nothing loaded about that!
Anonymous
10/19/2025 18:46
Subject: What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?
Yes. I've visited the Scandinavian countries where family is from. In one, some relatives still live there and have a co-owned property on a lake. I was overwhelming devastated that my side of the family left particularly in this rife moment of American history. I'm nearly certain our family would have been successful and comfortable in those countries as well. Would move back in a second if a job was available..
Anonymous
10/19/2025 18:23
Subject: What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?
My grandparents were from northern Korea before the Korean war. I have never seen them (not even pictures) and I can't go back. Sad.
Anonymous
10/19/2025 18:13
Subject: What was it like visiting birthplace of your ancestors?
All 4 of my grandparents were from Ireland. I have visited and met up with family members. It’s a beautiful place to visit, but no, I don’t have any interest in living there.