Am I Irish or British?

Question

I have never lived with my father. I recently found out that his parents were either Irish or British. Their last name is Norton. My mother believes that it was my grand-father ( Father's side ) who immigrated to Canada from Ireland as a child, where as my grand-mother ( Mother's side, written three books of geneology and spends her days rebuilding family trees ) believes they came from Britain (England).

To add something, my mother's side is mainly composed of Quebecers and Acadians.

Answer 1

Looking at the origin of the name Norton this is what Ancestry.com has to say:

"English: habitational name from any of the many places so called, from Old English norð ‘north’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. In some cases, it is a variant of Norrington.

Irish: altered form of Naughton, assimilated to the English name.

Jewish (American): adoption of the English name in place of some like-sounding Ashkenazic name."

This basically supports the idea it could be either. The English "conquered" Ireland many times. English landlords owned much of Ireland at one time or another. The tenants sometimes took the name of the landlord in order to seem more English and receive more privledges.

The Canadian records for immigration are pretty good. A lot of Irish came through Nova Scotia. This is substantated by the fact that most settled in New York.

In 1891 most of the Norton's (13%) were in Yorkshire and a London (16%).   There's a pretty steady immigration of them through the mid-1800's the peak being about 1865.

I would get all the ideas people have and then start to check them out by looking a census which list where a person is from, some even have the immigration year. Your local family history center can help and the rootsweb message boards are great free resources.

Good luck, keep digging!

Answer 2

http://www.surnamedb.com/surname.aspx?na...

Surname: Norton

This ancient name, is of ENGLISH locational origin from any of the several places named with the Olde English pre 7th Century "north" meaning north, plus "tun", a farm or settlement; hence, "north tun" i.e. a homestead or village north of another. These places include Norton in Hampshire, recorded as "Nortone" in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, dated 903; Norton (Staffordshire), entered as "aet Northtune" in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (951), and Norton in Cheshire, Durham, Somerset etc., written as "Nortune" in the Domesday Book of 1086 for those counties. The surname first appears on record in the late 11th Century. Other early recordings include: Leofwin de Norton (Lincolnshire, 1177), and Ralph de Norton (Yorkshire, 1273). Among the several interesting namebearers mentioned in the "Dictionary of National Biography" are Sir John Norton (deceased 1534), knight of the body to Henry VIII, and Caroline Norton (1808 - 1877), afterwards Lady Stirling-Maxwell, a poetess, distinguished for her beauty and wit. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Osuuardus de Nordtone, which was dated 1086, in the "Domesday Book of Kent", during the reign of King William 1st, known as "The Conqueror", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

www.ancestry.com adds this--In some cases, it is a variant of Norrington (topographic name for someone living to the north of a main settlement, Middle English north in toun, or a habitational name from any of the places named with this phrase (Old English norð in tune), as for example Norrington in Wiltshire)

Irish: altered form of Naughton, assimilated to the English name (habitational name from a place in Suffolk, named in Old English with "nafola", navel, +"tun" enclosure ‘settlement’, i.e. ‘settlement in the "navel or depression". ’The Irish form is shortened from McNaughton, or Scottish and Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Neachtain, a patronymic from the personal name Neachtan, a name of the god of water in Irish mythology. This is cognate with Latin Neptunus ‘Neptune’, the Roman sea-god.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acadians

  The Acadians (French: Acadiens) are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia (located in the Canadian Maritime provinces — Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island — and some in the American state of Maine).  Although today most of the Acadians and Quebecois (pronounced [kebeˈkwa]), are francophone Canadians, Acadia was founded in a geographically separate region from Quebec ("Canada" at this time) leading to their two distinct cultures.

     The settlers whose descendants became Acadians did not necessarily all come from the same region in France. Those settlers also blended with the Mi'kmaq, a native tribe, and Acadians and their descendants are ethnically tied to these people. Acadian family names have come from many areas in France from the Maillets of Paris to the Leblancs of Normandy. Acadian families originated from various regions in France; for example the popular Acadian surname 'Melanson' has its roots in Brittany, and those with the surname 'Bastarache', 'Basque', can find their origin in the Basque Country which is in the region of France(www.acadian-cajun.com,www.acadian...

     In the Great Expulsion of 1755, around 11000 Acadians were deported from Acadia under the direction of British colonial officers and New England legislators and militia; many later settled in Louisiana, where they became known as Cajuns. Later on many Acadians returned to the Maritime provinces of Canada, most specifically New Brunswick. During the British conquest of New France the French colony of Acadia was renamed Nova Scotia (meaning New Scotland).

(Sounds like Norton could be all 3--English, Irish, and Scottish, with a touch of French Canadian.)

Answer 3

The answer is completely simple... that is, find their historical records (ie census, immigration, naturalization, obit, etc).

I really don't understand, if grandmother has background in genealogical research, it seems like she would be aware that these records exist.

The last name, by the way, is not relevant.  Their ACTUAL place of birth/ origin is what counts.  

If you know the names of the grandparents (assuming they are dead) and have an approximate estimate of date and location.. you are welcome to post that. We have persons here to do courtesy lookups all the time.

edit

replying to those who say you "are" more what your mother is, because that is where you were born... that information/ viewpoint is contrary to what GENEALOGY is about.  The concept of ancestry has to do with finding the heritage of your family, which INCLUDES your father's side.

The other factor in this.. research comes down to facts, not opinions.  What you identify yourself as, is certainly your option. WHERE your father's family comes from.. isn't based in "maybe" or opinion.

Answer 4

Go to the Mormon Genealogy Library on-line.

They have the most extensive and accurate

family records of any such service in the world.

You don't have to be Mormon. Just be armed

with a few key facts...which you already seem

to be.

The story "Roots" took Alex Haley more than

5 or 6 years to research.

After the book was completed and work was

beginning on the televison series, he heard

about the Mormon Genealogy Library.

Curious as to whether they had any information

on his family roots, he checked with them.

Low & behold...it was ALL there the whole time,

just waiting for him to discover. He then said, if

only he had known of this, he could have written

"Roots" in less than 6 months.

And I'm no expert, but Norton sounds a lot more

like a British name than an Irish name to me.

Answer 5

Hello

I hate to tell you but i don't think your name matters all that much. Think of it this way, you have 2 parents, who each had 2 parents so thats 4 names (4 grand parents) they each had 2 parents so thats 8 great grand parents and thus 16 great great grand parents.

So even if Norton in English, perhaps two of those other 16 names are Irish and then your more Irish than English. Really i think you are Canadian if you dont mind me saying. I think its where you grow up that makes you who you are, your values and beliefs stem from your own personal experiences, not where your great great great grandmother ate lunch.

Answer 6

It could be either...Norton is both an Irish and a British last name. I guess you'll have to believe the one with more proof.

Answer 7

Since you have never lived with your father I would identify you as Quebec And Acadian like your Mother. Be proud of your heritage! Thats a very interesting culture you got there :)

Answer 8

pretty much they are all the same people as far as race is concerned - the rest is social behavior and language

Answer 9

Your a half half probably, half brit, half irish!

Regardless you are made up of a beautiful ethnicity!

Answer 10

With no proof of birth places, it sounds like you have no concrete proof that you are one or the other. You might even have some French in there too, from your mother's side.

I gave up trying to figure out my ancestry because I can't pin down exactly where all my ancestor's came from in Europe. So I'm happy using the term..."Northern European mutt".