Tryting to find out how much american heritage i have?

Question

Tryting to find out how much american heritage i have?

Answer 1

I'm unclear on what your question means, exactly.

My advice is to update your Q more info so we can be of more assistance.

Are you saying you are interested to know how long ago your family came to the United States?

Or are you saying you are interested to know if you have Native American ancestors?

If the latter, keep in mind that America is not really the name of a country. It's the name of two continents--North America & South America--so which Native Americans from which continent?

Answer 2

Try:

Oh, yes!  I want it, and I want it now, and it must be free.  Does that about sum it up? (I hope so, because that is what I always want...)

You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history.  Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department.  Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc.  Our public library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for anyone to use (no library card required).

Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers.  They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you).

A third option is one of the following websites:

http://www.searchforancestors.com/...

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...

http://www.cyndislist.com/

http://www.geni.com/

Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever.

Of course, you may be successful by googling: "john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts" as an example.

Good luck and have fun!

Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA.

I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.

Answer 3

technically only one group of people have a true American heritage-- the native American Indians.  everyone else came from the other parts of the world.  My family have lived in America for nearly 500 years- but even though I am an American, my heritage is that of western Europe.

Answer 4

I think what the other posters are saying is don't confuse nationality with ancestral heritage, race or ethnicity.

American is a nationality.  It isn't a specific race or ethnicity.   Some say the American Indians are the only natives but that isn't correct.  If you are born here you are actually a native American.  Also, genealogy DNA indicates the socalled American Indians( I didn't say proves)  came from East Asia many thousands of years ago.

I divide my ancestry between colonial and immigrant.  The colonials were here when this country was founded and the immigrants came after.  If you refer to all of them as immigrants then there hardly isn't a country on the face of the earth that the total population isn't immigrant.  Afterall, all of our ancestors were nomads at one time.

I believe probably a good part of Americans of European stock are a mixture of colonial and immigrant.  

The only thing you can do is to trace your ancestry starting with yourself and working back one generation at a time.   Anytime you wish to do this, there are lots of good people on this board that can give you some great tips and advice.  Just ask.

There are DNA tests but they are not specific regarding ethnicity. They can identify you as Northern European etc and unless it is done with autosomal DNA it will be very incomplete.

Y DNA goes from father to son only.

Mitochondrial DNA goes from mother to both sons and daughters but only the daughters pass it on to their children.

Y & Mitochondrial are used in genealogy as both go down a straight line unchanged through the generations.  

Most of your DNA is autosomal and you get it 50-50 from both parents.  It is a more complicated to use it to match your family up with others.  

If you get back to your 6xgreat grandparents, barring any duplicates, you are directly descended from 510 individuals.

You get your Y DNA from 8 and your mitochondrial DNA from 8 but you get your autosomal DNA from all 510.

Answer 5

You have to do the research on your family.  Where do you live?

Generally, if you live in the US, you have American nationality and other heritage, depending where your ancestors came from.