Mayflower Descendants?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I'm a typical mix.  My 25% French-Canadian ancestors arrived in 1634 in Quebec during the Percheron Immigration and meet Champlain himself.
My 25% Polish side arrived in the 1790's and my big fat Italian side arrived in the 1920s. 
I've done Ancestry.com.  The results matched mostly as expected.  (although 3% Greek must come from the Sicilian branch.)
The one thing I find interesting is who takes the test.  I can count hundreds upon hundreds of matching French-Canadian relatives but only 10 or so on the Italian side and the same on the Polish side.  I'm surprised to show no matches in Europe either.  Seems like none of the Italian or Polish descended want to take the test?  Don't know if it's a cultural thing?

This is a guess but I'm married to a full blooded Italian and know several full blooded Pollacks Poles. I think both of those cultures have more of an expectation to marry someone from within the tribe. While that's becoming less and less common, it's possible that there just simply isn't a need to take the test because they already know the results are going to be 90%+ one heritage.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I am fairly certain I am not a Mayflower descendant but find the whole Ancestry DNA science fascinating.

I got the Ancestry DNA test maybe 2 or 3 years ago, and there's been changes in my Ancestry DNA profile each time it's updated.  I think the first time I got the results, it said I was like 11% Scandinavian.  Then the next time my results were updated, the results were 0% Scandinavian but some Portuguese was added.  For brief periods my DNA showed Spanish, Portuguese, Lithuanian/Baltic, and Greece.

3 years later, the Scandinavian stuff is back with 5% Norway and 2% Sweden and the Spanish, Portuguese, Lithuania/Baltic, and Greek are gone completely.  Oh well, it was fun claiming I was Greek for awhile there.   

Truth be told, the only places I have known ancestors from are Germany, France, and Luxembourg, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the distant Scandinavia DNA is correct as I am the typical Blonde (at least when I had hair it was blonde) Blue eyed fair skinned type. 

It would have been fun to have known all my ancestors who came to the US in the 1800s and find out what their reasons were, it's something that I will never know completely.  Pretty cool for those who know their ancestors were on the Mayflower and planted roots here and started something amazing. 

Remember that Sweden fought a war in what is now Poland and Lithuania.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Remember that Sweden fought a war in what is now Poland and Lithuania.

The Czarna Madonna painting you see in every Polish church has a slash mark from a Swedish soldier.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

This is a guess but I'm married to a full blooded Italian and know several full blooded Pollacks. I think both of those cultures have more of an expectation to marry someone from within the tribe. While that's becoming less and less common, it's possible that there just simply isn't a need to take the test because they already know the results are going to be 90%+ one heritage.

All of the Polish immigrants my wife knows are married to other Polish immigrants except her.   When we get invited to gatherings my kids affectionitnally refer to a get-together with the "Polish Mafia". 

[Warriors4ever]

In my parents generation, everyone married someone else from the Polish community. Not so for the next generation.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

This is a guess but I'm married to a full blooded Italian and know several full blooded Pollacks. I think both of those cultures have more of an expectation to marry someone from within the tribe. While that's becoming less and less common, it's possible that there just simply isn't a need to take the test because they already know the results are going to be 90%+ one heritage.

Pollacks?  That's an insult, you know.   

(Hey wades, I'm not triggered, just helping a fellow out with the PC terms, hey.)

[lawdog77]

Pollacks?  That's an insult, you know.   

(Hey wades, I'm not triggered, just helping a fellow out with the PC terms, hey.)

Maybe he meant Sydney Pollack and was doing a chico-esque name drop?

[HouWarrior]

My wife, who is from Poland, did it as she received as a gift. 
No surprise, it came back 97% Eastern European.  The 3% was Finnish which was interesting in only that I work for a Finnish company
My Finnish friends said way back when Finland was part of the Kingdom of Sweden and the Swedish king would draft the Finns to do the dirty work when war happened.

My mom was of 100% Finnish ancestry. She'd ask if we were finished with our meal...at 6, it was so funny to me to respond "I'm only half Finnish mom".

I heard many Finn stories around my grandpa's table, including his farm neighbors describe how they came from a town far away from the others back in the old country. In college I travelled through the same towns in NW Finland. But...A local cemetery bore all of the same last names as Grandpa's neighbors in Finlayson MN.

Turns out...They were only Kilometers apart in the old country... likely, travel by foot made the distances seem greater to their memory. A Swedish land broker,  Johan Finlayson, sold many families on a mass migration/land buy to Finlayson MN in the 1870's. Finn neighbors there became Finn neighbors here.

Finn surnames track the land feature of the family home example ; Kukkula (hill). The rest of Scandinavia,  pre 1900, took the surname by dads first name  Hansen, Anderson, Jensen...resulting in differing/confusing  surnames every generation. Of course, as ancestry buffs note ... much of the rest of Europe used land features (Hill, Ford,etc) or professions (Schneider, Mueller, Cooper).

 DNA tracking has improved the tracking of actual chains and sometimes surprised/corrected those whose surname history misled them to believe in other origins/connections

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

My mom was of 100% Finnish ancestry. She'd ask if we were finished with our meal...at 6, it was so funny to me to respond "I'm only half Finnish mom".

I heard many Finn stories around my grandpa's table, including his farm neighbors describe how they came from a town far away from the others back in the old country. In college I travelled through the same towns in NW Finland. But...A local cemetery bore all of the same last names as Grandpa's neighbors in Finlayson MN.

Turns out...They were only Kilometers apart in the old country... likely, travel by foot made the distances seem greater to their memory. A Swedish land broker,  Johan Finlayson, sold many families on a mass migration/land buy to Finlayson MN in the 1870's. Finn neighbors there became Finn neighbors here.

Finn surnames track the land feature of the family home example ; Kukkula (hill). The rest of Scandinavia,  pre 1900, took the surname by dads first name  Hansen, Anderson, Jensen...resulting in differing/confusing  surnames every generation. Of course, as ancestry buffs note ... much of the rest of Europe used land features (Hill, Ford,etc) or professions (Schneider, Mueller, Cooper).

 DNA tracking has improved the tracking of actual chains and sometimes surprised/corrected those whose surname history misled them to believe in other origins/connections

Cool houwarrior.
I'm actually learning Finnish on Duolingo.  Maybe I get a transfer option in the future which I've been told is possible.
  I had to go to HQ in Pori for training back in 2018.  Very cool visit especially with it occuring in June.  If anyone makes it to Helsinki for a visit I recommend a 20 minute ferry ride out to Suomenlinna.  Swedes built as a fortress to protect against the Russians.  Now the island is a beautiful national park, with the fortress, walking trails, great views and the Finnish National Military Museum.  My co-worker missed the trip out to the island because he was too hungover.

[dgies9156]

My mom was of 100% Finnish ancestry. She'd ask if we were finished with our meal...at 6, it was so funny to me to respond "I'm only half Finnish mom".

I heard many Finn stories around my grandpa's table, including his farm neighbors describe how they came from a town far away from the others back in the old country. In college I travelled through the same towns in NW Finland. But...A local cemetery bore all of the same last names as Grandpa's neighbors in Finlayson MN.

Turns out...They were only Kilometers apart in the old country... likely, travel by foot made the distances seem greater to their memory. A Swedish land broker,  Johan Finlayson, sold many families on a mass migration/land buy to Finlayson MN in the 1870's. Finn neighbors there became Finn neighbors here.

Finn surnames track the land feature of the family home example ; Kukkula (hill). The rest of Scandinavia,  pre 1900, took the surname by dads first name  Hansen, Anderson, Jensen...resulting in differing/confusing  surnames every generation. Of course, as ancestry buffs note ... much of the rest of Europe used land features (Hill, Ford,etc) or professions (Schneider, Mueller, Cooper).

 DNA tracking has improved the tracking of actual chains and sometimes surprised/corrected those whose surname history misled them to believe in other origins/connections

I used to work with a Finlander when I interned in Superior, WI in college. guy’s name was Bronco Skudsted. I kid you not.

In NW Wisconsin, they tell Finlander jokes. And, for years, there was a chartered Finnair flight to Duluth to link the old and new country.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Pollacks?  That's an insult, you know.   

(Hey wades, I'm not triggered, just helping a fellow out with the PC terms, hey.)

Honestly didn't know. Thank you for pointing it out.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

In Polish the Polish word for Polish man is Polack and Polish women is Polacka.

[HouWarrior]

I used to work with a Finlander when I interned in Superior, WI in college. guy’s name was Bronco Skudsted. I kid you not.

In NW Wisconsin, they tell Finlander jokes. And, for years, there was a chartered Finnair flight to Duluth to link the old and new country.

Finn jokes are told like Polish jokes (or as TAMU knows-- Aggie jokes are like 'Pollack' jokes- lol)

......Here are some told me by Finn folk'

Toivo was passing a store with Lutefisk hanging in the doorway. When offered some,... Toivo responds..."  No Tanks I stepped in dat stooff once and dat was nuff fur me."

Toivo returns from ice fishing with his catch in the basket at his side. Fritz, the smart German, challenges Toivo ..."If I guess how many fish you got in there, can I have half of them?"...
. Toivo out wits him (Finn style)...."Tell you vat if you guess how many fish I goot in here Fritz, you can have both of dem. "

A horse Crupper is a leather strap wrapped around a horse tail to, among things, lift the tail up and away while it sh&^ts. Only five years old and walking with my Finn Grandpa through the farm sheds, I am asked ...Chimmy you know what dat ees? ....No Grandpa....Why any horse's ass knows whut dat ees, Chimmy. .....I blushed...My devout Luteren Finn grandpa said his first and only swear word to me.  I have a Crupper hanging in my Den today. Good times

When Grandma died in the 80s, we were allowed to take a few things . I like memories, not things. Besides the Crupper, I grabbed a round piece of wood traversed by two wood planks about a foot long . Think of a roundshape  O and X nailed in the middle.  I got it home and redwood painted it pretty. I proudly gave it to my wife as "Grandma's pot warmer pad"  Faithfully my wife put the "pad"  out with our Thanksgiving feasts  for 3-4 years. In year five leave it to my visiting brother to ruin my private Finn joke when he blurted out to her ....
"Why do you have Grandma's outhouse seathole cover on this table?"
......Not sure my wife has ever forgiven me for that one.
..but I still chuckle.

BTW the  Iron range area had lots of strong kids named Bronco.
.... Often traced back to Bronko Nagurski ....the pride of Bemidji High was a College(U of Minnesota) and Pro football Hall of famer( Chi Bears), who wrestled professionally back when it was still a real sport

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

The rest of Scandinavia,  pre 1900, took the surname by dads first name  Hansen, Anderson, Jensen...resulting in differing/confusing  surnames every generation.

Iceland still does this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_name

[Billy Hoyle]

Iceland still does this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_name

Iceland also has an app to help people figure out if they’re related when they start dating.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/icelands-incest-prevention-app-gets-people-to-bump-their-phones-before-bumping-in-bed

Sleeping with a relative is more of an issue in Iceland than most other territories due to the country’s small size—Iceland has just 320,000 residents, compared with more than 300 million people in the U.S.—as well as the lack of immigration and the peculiar way that surnames are constructed in the country.

Your surname is not passed down through the generations as it is in most Western cultures. Instead, your surname is your mother or father’s first name, with the word “son” or “dottir” suffixed.

[The Big East]

I don’t know my descendants as they were murdered in a genocide and all the records were kept in churches that were destroyed . I wonder what they were like.

[Scoop Snoop]

I don’t know my descendants as they were murdered in a genocide and all the records were kept in churches that were destroyed . I wonder what they were like.

Armenian?

[Scoop Snoop]

Quite a number of interesting stories. I have spent a lot of time researching on Ancestry and after finding ancestors I learned about the history of their locations to better understand their lives and why they left their native countries.

Poland was divided up by Germany, Austria and Russia for about 130 years (1792-1919). The Russians and Germans tried to stamp out the Polish language and Germany got a head start on developing WW2 concentration camps with their extreme suppression of all freedoms. Poles, likely including my great grandfather, were considered stupid because they were illiterate. When even basic education is prohibited, this is what happens. Poland's history over the last few centuries is an absolute nightmare. The Russians prohibited Polish men from higher education and all women were prohibited. Marie Sklodowska Curie left Warsaw to go to college in Paris. She hated the Russians and walked to the center of Warsaw every day just to spit on the statue the Russians erected to honor themselves. She named one of the elements she discovered Polonium to honor her homeland.

My Italian boss enjoyed telling me "dumb pollack" jokes (pre politically correct times) so once I asked him "did you hear the one about the pollack who greased his car?"  He laughed. "No! Tell me". I replied "He ran over an Italian." His expression quickly changed. Then he said "You know what happens when you mess with an Italian? You end up in the trunk of a car!" He never told me any more stupid jokes after my greased car joke.

On my mother's side, I learned, much to my surprise, that some of our ancestors were wealthy and powerful people in England. When I began to tell my sister about their coziness with the monarchy (several captains of the King's Guards), she said "I don't care about all that. I just want to know where is the money? Gone. Long gone.
 

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

One of my great grandfathers was an orphan who was put on a boat from somewhere German. He was adopted by a German family and renamed. He ended dying pretty young, right after my mom was born and never wanted to talk about it. My mom did a bunch of research a few years ago and could never figure out who he was or where he came from.

[dgies9156]

My wife%u2019s father%u2019s family had a similar story. Came from Ireland, near Waterford, and found their way to SW Wisconsin during the potato famine. There s almost nothing written about her family as her great-great grandfather also was an orphan.

We found a church north of Waterford where there supposedly was a relative. Walked the cemetery and looked for the grave but the stone they used as markers falls apart after about 100 years.

Funny part was we were in the town of Ring, where my father in laws family departed for America. Stopped into a pub there and sat down for a drink. After a couple of beers, we left and I remarked to my wife I thought the bartender was attractive.

She looked at me, almost startled, and said, you damn well should have.... the woman looks just like I did at her age! She actually did.

Ya never know.

[HouWarrior]

I don’t know my ...descendants ....as they were murdered in a genocide and all the records were kept in churches that were destroyed . I wonder what they were like.

How were you able to predict such a dystopian future for your descendants, and that, in the future, we will store records in churches?