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 most 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 one of the largest migrations of humans since they came "out of Africa" into the Middle East, 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 descendents from that first Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock is around 3%, or approximately 10 million people, so it did add up.
Our nation's founding documents did not establish a favorable bias attached to the date of a person's arrival in America. Insofar as I can tell, none of my original "Old-World" relatives were Puritan and did not arrive on the first Mayflower voyage; but I do have relatives (Richard and Ann Ingersoll) that were on a subsequent Mayflower voyage, arriving at Salem Massachusetts on May 15, 1629. They managed to arrive 147 years and 2 months before the Declaration of Independence was drafted. They were not instant American citizens since there was not yet a unique American Country; they were English Subjects. Yet, as a descendent, I should not be accorded special recognition any more than someone who became a naturalized citizen yesterday. Respect for ancestors, or lack thereof, should not bestow a good or bad reputation on their offspring - we must each earn that.
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 reestablished 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 saw Denmark and never got closer to Scotland than Yorkshire; but, I saw Ireland once - the southern edge - from an airplane at 20,000 feet. People were right: it appeared very green - mostly. Begorrah!
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 royalty in the late middle ages of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Europe, some were famous - like William Shakespeare (belay thou thy smirk of doubt and disbelief for there's proof enough I bear and cleave to mine bosom!) The vast majority of my forbearers were just common ordinary folks; I've identified a few that were downright scoundrels.
No matter how many generations my family has lived in America, I descended from immigrants and their sons and daughters. Every American family line immigrated from somewhere else to get to this country, including all indigenous Native American people who beat everyone else by over 20,000 years. No one land was designed by nature for exclusive habitation by any particular race or creed of people. That damn well should allow some perspective on who can call themselves Americans and it challenges our primitive human propensity to apply our own narrow qualifiers based merely on racial purity, creed, or 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 Idaho State line to keep those Californians out!' "
That is our immigration policy in a nutshell!
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