How many actual Irish are there here?

[Archae]

I have a little Irish in me, on my Mom's side.

[Suich]

1. Great-grandparents on my Dad's side-100%.

So that makes me 12 1/2%?

[rug]

2. 7/8 Irish.

1/8 French.

[Taverner]

3. Me too - I have a little Irish and Welsh in me.

[RebelOne]

4. Irish on both mother and father's sides. n/t

[HopeHoops]

5. Irish my drink was ready.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. I have Irish ancestry from my paternal grandmother...O'Sullivan.

I don't think there's any on my mom's side of the family...

[ohiosmith]

7. Mother: Irish Welsh. Father: Irish German.

[mrmpa]

8. 50%........

I always say the better half of me, paternal grandmother born in Ireland in 1890. My other 50% is Polish, my maternal grandfather was born in Poland. So my parents were really 1st generation Americans.

My parents were the first in their families to marry someone of another cultural background.

[Moondog]

9. Some, from my father's side.

Mostly Scots and English.

On edit: But I am drinking some Bushmill's as I type this.

[frogmarch]

10. No Irish in my family tree, but

my English puritan 8th great-grandparents emigrated from colonial Massachusetts to Ireland in the 1600s when they became disillusioned with life in New England. I wish that counted, because I’d love to be part Irish, but it doesn’t.

[mackattack]

12. Wait a second!?!?

What a fascinating story. I would love to hear more about that if you are willing to share.

seriously.

[frogmarch]

17. Long before the American Revolution

early colonists protested against taxation without representation. Governors were appointed by the Crown and sent to the colonies from England. Colonists had little say or representation in colonial government.

My puritan Massachusetts ancestor John Tuttle owned a trading company that did business in MA and Barbados, and he became so fed up, that he left his wife, Joanna, and their son Simon, my 7th great-grandfather, in charge of the business, and John sailed to Ireland, with plans of buying Galway. Joanna later followed. John died before the property transaction was completed in Ireland. He died in Carrickfergus, and Joanna died there too, years later.

Their son Simon remained in Massachusetts and ran the business, but he was always shooting off his mouth in protest against the Crown, and he was imprisoned several times and fined.

Here’s a page from the 1664 court records describing one of Simon’s crimes against the Crown. (Simon’s father and mother, John and Joanna, were in Ireland by this time.) The portion pertaining to Simon a.k.a. Symon is on the bottom half of the page.

[Bryn]

37. Very interesting!

Thanks for sharing.

[Neoma]

11. I have a wee bit of Irish in me.

[Warren Stupidity]

13. Irish and sober.

I'm guessing that is a vast minority today.

[hedgehog]

14. You and me, so that's two of us.

My Dad's been assembling the family tree. His Great Grandfather came over, got off the boat and joined the Union Army. Everyone along the way married an Irish immigrant or child of Irish immigrants.

My husband is mostly German, although they lost track of kin during the First World War and pretty much buried the heritage by the 2nd World War. Part of the family lived in Alsace. We we in Strasbourg a few years back, and someone asked my husband for directions, taking him for a local!

My daughter is married to a Pole, and my son is marrying a girl this summer who is a real mixture including some sort of American Indian. There was a great great grandmother who was kidnapped and came back pregnant. I'll have to get the details on that sometime.

So, it took a while, but I guess we're finally assimilating!

[baldguy]

15. 1/2 Irish on my mother's side.

Well, 7/16ths really. Great-great grandmother was English, but nobody on mom's side will admit it.

[knowbody0]

16. 50%

and that's just enough. spawned a few red headed grand kiddies. Erin go Braugh!

[nolabear]

18. I'm about 3/4

The rest is Choctaw. Maybe a little English on my mother's side. I'm supposedly Kennedy kin several generations back. One of these days I'd like to visit.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

19. a wee bit on me da's side.

Last edited Sun Mar 18, 2012, 10:26 AM - Edit history (1)

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. My great-great-grandfather came to America as a child during the potato famine.

He ended up in Lousiville, Kentucky and was a teacher at St Xavier School; his wife, my great-great-grandmother, was a descendant of English Catholics who emigrated to Maryland in the 1600's.

Altogether my ancestry is probably about 1/8 Irish, another 1/8 Welsh and Scottish, 1/8 French, German and Dutch, and about 2/3 English.

[applegrove]

21. Great, great grandfather on my dad's side.

[whistler162]

22. I may have a little Irish

on both sides.

Depends on whether any of my ancestors stole an comely Irish wenches when they went a viking!

[riderinthestorm]

23. I'm an Irish citizen. Spent the day gardening but am now on my second glass

Lá Fhéile Pádraig!

[csziggy]

24. My "Irish" ancestors came through Northern Ireland

Every time I find a line that came to America from Ireland, it turns out the family only spent a generation there. Most came from some place in England, some from Scotland, even one family that probably was from Germany before they got to Ireland.

Every one of them was some sort of Protestant troublemaking sect - some were Quakers (in one family the mother was repeatedly fined in Ireland for distributing Quaker tracts) and bought land from William Penn while he was recruiting in Ireland. It was confusing that their land ownership predated their arrival in Pennsylvania!

[shanti]

25. yes, on my maternal side

great grandmother was full irish from conakilty, county cork, but i also have a LOT of french, english, and dutch. it probably works out to about 1/4 of each.

[abbeyco]

26. 99% Irish, 1% Welsh

Irish from both sides of my family and the little bit of Welsh comes in from my Dad's side 5 generations ago.

Redhead - check
Fair skin - check
Freckles - check

When I finally traveled to Ireland I felt like I'd really gone home.

[alphafemale]

27. Scottish. My father declared the movie Braveheart as FILTHY PROPAGANDA!

When I pressed him a bit he said...

Are you Catholic?

Well you would have been if William Wallace had won.

I think he saw the Mel Gibson train wreck before many of us did.

[KT2000]

29. Paternal grandparents

came over from Ireland, they met and married in the US though. My Dad, though born in the US was pure Irish. Tea at 4 PM.

[LeFleur1]

30. Tis Irish I am.

A fourth Irish. My great grandfather was born in Ireland, came to Canada. His son, my Grandfather, a surveyor, homesteaded in US. I still own some of that homestead land.

[libodem]

31. I have a pinch

From my mom's dad, he was the Hinds 57. Welch, Dutch, Irish, French and Native American.

[Simo 1939_1940]

32. 25% (Mom's side)

Charles Butler McVay III was my Mom's cousin.

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

[elana i am]

33. scotch irish

one side of the family is half and half.

[a kennedy]

34. Thought I was a total Irish lass....then reading through my parents papers...

I find out my great grandmother was a smidgen Norwegian!! Not that there's anything wrong with that.... Salient

[Avalux]

35. I've got the black Irish in me.

Great grandmother came here from Ireland as a young woman; she was a tiny little thing with black hair and olive-toned skin. Those traits were passed to me through my grandfather (her son); his children didn't get them and I'm the only grandchild who did (out of 7). Amazing to me how genetics work.

Incidentally, the term 'black Irish' isn't used in Ireland, and although there are theories as to why some Irish are dark, there isn't a common explanation.

[LaurenG]

36. Some from the Whalen's side, Dads grandmother.

[Motown_Johnny]

38. my best guess is 3/4 Irish 1/4 German

based on Grandparent's last names. Would need to go to great grandparents to have a better guess.

[OriginalGeek]

39. Got that and Scottish from both sides

2 of my younger brothers have orange hair but I got stuck with boring brown. Although there's a red strand in my beard every now and then.

My Grandpa just told me the other day that I have a little French in there from somewhere too. That prolly explains my love for fries and kissing.

My great grandmother (dad's mom's mom) was from Ireland - she married a German who was fleeing Germany and moved to the USA sometime between the WWs. My grandma on my mom's side was born a Kelly. But I don't much before that on her side - I need to talk to my aunt some about that...

[LibertyLover]

40. Pretty much 100 per cent

My paternal grandparents immigrated from Ireland. Their children were all born here, but were first generation American citizens. My mom's mother's side of the family was a bit earlier - her maternal great grandmother immigrated from Ireland as did her maternal great grandfather. On her father's side however they were here much earlier - roughly 1800 or before. One of her paternal relations was a Lake sailor during the War of 1812. Also, one of her paternal direct relatives was from Scotland. Everyone else on my mom's side was Irish. I still have paternal relations - 2nd cousins - living in Ireland.