Can you help me with a heritage problem?

Question

People out there in the world; I've been asking my family for a very long time and looked on the internet and have found no answers. My last name is Cory and I'd really like to know where we can from. I live in the United States so my family must of immagrated from somewhere. You can also try Tomasello.(Thats my mom's last name.) If you know anything or any history on these names please help me.

Answer 1

The only way you can really know your ancestry is to trace it starting with yourself and working back. Surnames in themselves can be very misleading.   The same surname can frequenlty come from more than one national origin and not everyone with the same surname are necessarily related or shares ancestors even those of the same national origin.

Also you have to realize that your parents' names are just a small part of you.  You go back 10 generations and you are directly descended from over a thousand people.  You go back 20 generations and you are directly descended form over a million people.  It pyramids.   A person can have an Irish name and have so little Irish in their ancestry, you would say they are Irish in name only.  

I live in Beaumont, Texas. We have never had white ethnic neighborhoods here.  We have always had a sizable Italian population. Actually back when there were family owned grocery stores, a large portion of them were Italian owned. Still they lived among all of us.  However, there was a parish established for the Italian speaking.

It was said that people from one part of Italy sat on one side of the church and people from another part sat on the other side of the church. Then something happened that really shocked all of them. A fella and a girl from different sides of the church wanted to get married.  Then they had a meeting with both sets of parents. Finally, the question came up that was really bothering them. "What side of the church are you going to sit?"  You know they had a great solution. They said that on one Sunday, they'll sit on  his side of the church and the next Sunday on her side of the church.  Isn't that marvelous?

Anyway today when you look at wedding announcements, you notice brides and grooms with Italian names have grandparents with English, Irish, French(we have Cajuns here) and many other names, and brides and groom with English, Irish, French names have grandparents with Italian names.

So you have to look at the complete picture to really know what your heritage is.

Answer 2

Tomasello is Italian;  Cory is either Irish or Scottish  (both languages are from the same origin, so the name could be from either country).

Answer 3

cory is a scottish name.  it comes from a town in scotland. i couldnt find an origin for tomasello though.

Answer 4

This is one explanation :-

(1) English: from the Old Norse personal name Kori,  which is of uncertain meaning.

(2) Northern Irish: variant of Curry.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names (2003)

Answer 5

One major suggestion from me (that always stops people cold, at least at first)-

you are not tracing surnames.  You trace ancestors to find your heritage.. because a NAME might be from one place, but your ancestor is NOT always from there.  Any sites, etc about surnames will only be generic, not necessarily *you*.

By the same token.. names don't have a history.

You already understand that your parents each have their own birth surname (always using women's maiden names for research).  4 grandparents.. 8 gr grandparents, the concept is the same, that EACH of those will have a different last name, with the surname coming "through" the paternal side. Of your gr gr grandparents.. only one has the name Cory.

You need to work back on THAT, to determine where your specific ancestor comes from. As you go along, you'll also be more aware of the other ancestors and all being equally part of you. It is completely possible that the Cory spelling could have been Corey to start with. You HAVE TO FIND YOUR IMMIGRANT ANCESTOR.  

If your immigrant ancestor is John Cory, who was born in London in 1917, YOU are of English background through that side.  If it turns out to be a Michael Coery, born in Dublin in 1785.. then you have Irish lineage.  You may find many records of that PERSON online.. once you know who it is that you are actually related to. It isn't a "we".  When you only search for a surname.. it won't work that way, and (for many sites), what they give as a generic answer.. may be incorrect.

You might take a few minutes to stop at www.rootsweb.com, and on the front page, is a guide to starting research. Start collecting your documentation, working back, and come back here when you need help.  

Apply the same idea to each ancestor.

Answer 6

God has blessed you with a desire to know who you are and from whence you came.  Your search will benefit you and your family in many ways.  Go to a large library in your area and you will find that they have a genealogy section or they will direct you to the library that either has a strong genealogy section or perhaps devotes all of its efforts to genealogy. Get some "Family Group Sheets " from them and start talking to everyone in your family and use the family group sheets to record and organize what you learn.  Your Grandparents are going to be very proud of you because they are going to understand that the life that they have lived and the things that they have cared about are not going to be forgotten after they are gone.  If you pursue this effort you are going to meet many wonderful people that you never knew existed and they are going to hold you in high esteem,  and well they should.  There are many "How To" books available. Your library will have some. Best of luck and may God bless you.

Answer 7

tomasello is an italian name and cory sounds like it was changed in the past from something else. possibly irish, german, or english