One of the boats my family came over to America on
(This is after the boat was sold to Japan and used as a hospital ship in WWII)
I love history. It always has fascinated me. As time goes on how things evolve to shape the future.
Recently I decided to try and trace my own family history.
The Amazing world we live in now makes finding your family history a lot easier. Technology, the internet, and of course tales from the older generations of your family.
I started with my wife and I taking a DNA test. She was suppose to be a bunch of different things and I was suppose to be Turkish and Palestinian. We were wrong. My wife is more the "purebred" and I am the "mutt" My wife came back 88% English and the rest Iberian. Me I came up 68% Turkish 13 % Greek (funny because the Turks and Greeks don't like each other historically) 9 % North African ( for me Libya and/or Egypt) 4% Middle Eastern and a few percent Melanesian. The last one they say may not be correct because the very small percents can be mislabeled.
Still that is a lot of stuff I am mixed with. I also think it is good to see that the people that we historically have fought wars with and have hatred carried over to the present day we can be mixed with. For me I try not to hate people based on what country they are from but go a few generations back and it was not like that. These hatreds are passed down to us from our parents and was passed on to the from their parents. So really don't be so quick to follow your parents and grand parents hatred because you may find out the people you hate may actually be part of you. Lucky for me I seem to get a long with everybody :)
After the DNA stuff my wife and I started searching records from when our families got to the USA. Her family can be traced back to the 1700's mine to the early 1900s. She found records for her family fighting in the revolution and civil war.
In this picture you can see my wife's great grandma (the baby on the right being held) her great-great grandma (holding the baby) and her great-great-great- grandma on the left standing The picture was taken in 1929 and the caption says 1st LDS Sunday School in Jackson, Mississippi.
For my family I found some records of my great grandfather coming over in 1916 and his wife (my great grandma) came over 5 years later in 1921. I thought to myself, "Wow that would be so hard to leave my wife for 5 years." They also had 2 kids at that time so he also had left the kids behind. They came with their mom in 1921. My Grandma was born a few years later in America.
SS. Dante Alighieri (The boat my Great Grandfather came to America on in 1916
SS King Alexander the boat my Great grandma came with her 2 kids on in 1921
Here is a picture of my Great Grandfather I think from the 1940's From what I have read there was a law passed in 1940 that let immigrants become US citizens