My Ancestry - How I came to be an American
Whatever hopes and anticipations our ancestors might have had, immigration is an event fraught with contradiction, fear, joy, and desperation; thus it is not for the faint of heart.
According to some experts, the North and South American Continents were slowly settled by wave upon wave of indigenous people who crossed over the Bering Strait or floated over from present day Siberia and Asia up to 30,000 years ago continuing through the ending of the Ice Age. DNA evidence and artifacts strongly support the theory. It was the largest migration of humans since they came "out of Africa" into Europe and Asia. Newfoundland was visited as early as the year 1000 by Vikings - long before the Caribbean Native Americans discovered Chris Columbus lost at sea in 1492. The Spanish settled on the Florida coast in 1513 followed in 1607 by the English at Jamestown in present day Virginia and the Dutch in New Amsterdam (New York) about two decades later. So, my ancestors were "early" late-comers. It's interesting that 25% of Euro-Americans think or say they are descended from the Pilgrim passengers on the "God Scip" Mayflower who landed in the "New World" on November of 1620. The actual number of Mayflower descendents is around 3%, or approximately 10 million people.
Insofar as I can tell, none of my original "Old-World" relatives were Puritan and did not arrive on the Mayflower; still, they managed to arrive about 150 years before the Declaration of Independence was drafted. Both sides of my family line derived from the diverse stock of folks who sought new opportunities, bringing with them their nostalgia for the "Old Country;" meaning, they wanted their old culture reborn in a new realm of "hope." During my military service, I was able to visit some of the lands of my forbearers - England, France, Germany. I never got closer to Scotland than Yorkshire; but, I saw Ireland once - the southern edge - from 20,000 feet. People were right: it appeared very green - mostly.
My ancestors served in British, European, and American militaries, generation by generation, for over 600 years. They fought in ubiquitous wars in England, Scotland, and Europe. They served during the American Revolution (both sides) and the American Civil War (both sides.) Some of my ancestors were heroes, some were famous, and the majority were just ordinary folks; odds say that a few were bound to be scoundrels. According to Ancestry.com® and MyHeritage.com®, my immigrant ancestors came from England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Germany, Denmark, and the other Nordic lands around the Baltic Sea. Apparently, my most famous relative is my 10th generation Uncle named William Shakespeare through his sister Joan Shakespeare - who was my 10th generation Grandmother - and her marriage into the Hart family and their offspring who then married into the Milligan's. Whew! That's not my fault; it's not something I planned. Being identified as worthy of a linage is not a requirement for being born.
No matter how many generations my family has lived in America, I descended from immigrants and their sons and daughters. I am no more or less a citizen than the person who was naturalized yesterday. Every American family line immigrated from somewhere else to get to this country, including all indigenous Native American people. That damn well should allow some perspective on who can call themselves Americans and it challenges our primitive human propensity to have our own narrow qualifiers based merely on racial purity and national origin. Being human does not mean we are always humane; citizenship without equality is an insult and a contradiction of human rights.
"I had a good friend who lived in my home town in Idaho. His brother had moved from California to Idaho back in the late 1950's. His brother once told us, 'The first thing we need to do is put up a barrier on the Nevada line to keep those Californians out!' "
That is our immigration policy in a nutshell!
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