St. Patricks Day

[Murfreesboro]

I'm like Pumpkin and have a host of nationalities/ethnicities in my background, Irish among them. I guess for me, St. Patrick's Day is more about fun than anything seriously religious or honoring my ancestors. However, I do enjoy reading about the Irish experience around that time of year. I also try to have an Irish meal that night. My Irish ancestry dates back more to the 1700s, so I don't have that more recent immigrant experience (1840s forward) that bonds so many American Irish together. I'm not even sure that mine were Catholic. I think they may have been more Northern Irish, although some of my English ancestors for sure came through Dublin (they were publishers who printed something the government didn't like in the early 1800s and had to flee London, so they went first to Ireland, then here).

The Catholic ancestry I know of for sure is through my German great-grandmother, who was orphaned in Europe and raised by nuns.

I do try to take the 4th of July seriously, because I, too, feel a lot of patriotism toward the US, and I am a great admirer of our Founding Fathers. Of course, I also have fun that day!

[Pumpkin56]

I'm like Pumpkin and have a host of nationalities/ethnicities in my background, Irish among them. I guess for me, St. Patrick's Day is more about fun than anything seriously religious or honoring my ancestors. However, I do enjoy reading about the Irish experience around that time of year. I also try to have an Irish meal that night. My Irish ancestry dates back more to the 1700s, so I don't have that more recent immigrant experience (1840s forward) that bonds so many American Irish together. I'm not even sure that mine were Catholic. I think they may have been more Northern Irish, although some of my English ancestors for sure came through Dublin (they were publishers who printed something the government didn't like in the early 1800s and had to flee London, so they went first to Ireland, then here).

The Catholic ancestry I know of for sure is through my German great-grandmother, who was orphaned in Europe and raised by nuns.

I do try to take the 4th of July seriously, because I, too, feel a lot of patriotism toward the US, and I am a great admirer of our Founding Fathers. Of course, I also have fun that day!

I have pretty deep American roots as well, Murf. I think the most recent European ancestors of mine were mid-1800's and they were my great-great-great grandparents. They were from Switzerland and Germany (or Prussia, as it said on the census that I found). I guess they were bringing up the rear-- everybody else in my family came to America much earlier than that.

[Murfreesboro]

Yes, you and I sound like we have similar backgrounds. My most recent ancestors came over from Germany in 1865. They were both German, but they met and married in NYC. One was Catholic, the other Lutheran. They would never have met in Germany.

The earliest of my ancestors I know of came over from England in 1720. That was my father's mother's family. My mother's father's people were here in the 1730s. But my father's father's family (the publishers) came over from England, through Dublin, in the early 1800s.

As far as I know, I am English, Irish, and French through my father, and a lot of other things through my mother--her dad's family was Welsh & Scotch-Irish, with an admixture, perhaps, of Cherokee, and, certainly, of one German Jew. My mother's mother's family was German in nationality, but my great-grandmother, who was raised by nuns, was probably 3/4 French.

[Pumpkin_Man]

That's very interesting, Murf and Pumpkin. My sister in-law (Wife and widow to my late brother Jack) is Italian, Polish, German, French-Canadian, Irish, Welsh, Russian, and Sweedish. IT's almost impossible to keep track at that point, so she just say's she's American, which is the truth.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

I usually just tell people I'm Southern. My family has been in this part of the country for so long now that I feel it's fair to call that my "ethnicity."

[Pumpkin_Man]

I look at it the same way. My family has been in the U S for so long, that as far as I 'm concerned, America IS the "old sod."

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

I do think family history is fascinating, though, and not just mine. I think it is very intriguing to explore why people immigrated here. Especially back then, when people rarely ever went "home" again, you have to wonder what was so bad about where they were that they were willing to give up everything and start over.

In the case of my German great-grandmother, I know. She was an orphan from the age of 3, and the nuns who raised her told her when she was 13 that she would have to become a nun if she wanted to stay with them. She didn't want that, so she took a job as a waitress in a gasthaus (a sort of family-owned restaurant), where she roomed with the family. She saved her money for 6 years and sailed to America with a girlfriend when she was 19. So she really didn't have family or position to cling to. She just came with an open heart, I guess, and all the optimism of youth.

I often think that young people, who frequently find history boring, would be more interested in that subject if they were encouraged to connect it to their own forebears. Like, studying about the Irish potato famine would be more interesting if they knew that one of their ancestors had come here because of that.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Your grandmother had to have a lot of guts to do something like that. There are very few things tougher in this life then to be alone. Orphans were often looked down on, too.

My ancestors came over mainly to be offorded oportunities that were not available to them. They suffered discrimination in the "old country" mainly because of their Catholic faith. I also went to school (college) with a Jewish guy who's father snuck out of Germany during the Holocaust. He told me that when his father arived in the U S in 1929, he had about a dollar and a half in his pocket. He spoke no english, and had very few sailable work skills. He became very wealthy over time, though.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Yes, I often think how brave my great-grandmother must have been. I guess she was a really spunky girl.

I know the Irish Catholics faced a lot of discrimination, not only in Ireland under English rule, but even when they arrived here, in places like NYC and Boston. It amazes me the prejudice that Protestants had against Catholics even not so long ago. I guess it was a carry-over from those European wars of religion in the 16th & 17th centuries.

The Jewish people have had a long history of discrimination, too. They have fared better in America than in Europe because of our Constitutional protection of freedom of religion.

I think all recent immigrant groups have worked very, very hard to establish themselves here and to prove that they are deserving of the same respect as everyone else. That is still happening today.

[Pumpkin56]

I agree with Murf. I think the 'American Dream' is still alive and well as long as a person has the focus and determination to achieve it. My sweetie is an immigrant and he came here alone. He rarely talks about it, but the few times that he has, I got the impression that he grew up without much. But he went to a good school on scholarships and was hired right out of college. His career led him here and although he is pretty young, he makes more than both of my parents!

As far as the heritage thing goes (from earlier in the conversation on this thread), I refer to myself as an American, but if more detail is needed, I just say that I'm a mutt

[Murfreesboro]

Hooray for mutts! They are the strongest of all dogs.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Here here. Muts all the way.

Mike

[Werewolf Hunter]

What are you all going to eat on St Patty's Day? We will have corn beef, cabbage, potatoes and corn bread.

[Pumpkin_Man]

The St. Patty's Day dinner menu will consist of the following:

Oven baked for 12 hours at a low setting Corned Beef
Barbecued for 12 hours at a simular setting Corned Beef
Simmered cabbage with a pice of corned beef for added flaver
Baked potatos (out on the grill)

My nieces are bringing White and Rhy home made bread. My sister is bringing salad and my sister inlaw is bringing Eclair Cake and extra moist bananna cake with cream chese frosting died green for the ocassion.

This is going to be a FEAST! Wish you could be there.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Man, I wish I could be there, too!

I'll probably make soda bread, but we are still several days away from pay day, so I might not be able to make much of a meal, not the way I'd like. I love corned beef & cabbage, also Irish stew. I'd happily do either of those things, if I could afford it.