Question for GbajiFollow

Oh FFS Joph.

Just ask him outright if he's jewish already

I don't care enough to remember it afterward, but I do care enough to make plenty of ethnic jokes in this thread.

Oohhhh... he's on. Let's see if he answers!

I need to find out if our baby will be at risk for Tay-Sachs.

In my experience, good luck.

If I've got to read about Gbaji banging some chick doggie-style, he can damn well confess if he's Latvian!

I've no idea what you asked him but I do think it's safe to say that I'm more fetching than you.

What if I bat my eyelashes?

Well, there was the rumor that the doggie style chick had an Adam's apple, so it might work.

Lol. Not that I'd be afraid of attacks based on anything. I'm pretty sure I've posted most of this in bits and pieces over the years anyway. And it's not like some folks wont just make up whatever history they want anyway... ;)




My ethnic background is primarily Caucasian, with a bit of Native American tossed in. My mom's side is mostly a mix of Irish and Polish immigrants. My dad's side is mostly Germanic (I think? Random White Folks really). He is 1/4 Sioux, but I couldn't tell you which of his Grandparents contributed those bits.



I'm part of the extended Bailey clan on the Irish side (my mom's mom is a Bailey). Specifically some guy named John Bailey who married some ancestor of the Aldens. So my European ancestry in the US goes back to the Mayflower. I have ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War, but I couldn't tell you there names right off hand.

Obviously, my ancestry goes back further on my dad's side, but the European's in that line are more recent (more recent meaning sometime in the 19th century). As far as I know every one of my grandparents were born in the US right around the turn of the previous century.



Not really. We've got old photos, needlepoint art, coins, antiques, and silverware floating around that my mom got from her parents. But aside from an "Yes. This was your great great uncle's clock from wherever", there wasn't much made of it.

Funny story actually. At Thanksgiving, we were at my sisters house pulling out the silverware (both my sisters inherited somewhat full sets when they married, that being the tradition in my family). We commented on how there were different styles in the box. My mom gave some explanation of how her great grandmother gathered up a bunch of sets, but then divided them among her daughters, and over time they all got kinda mixed up or something. I then posited an alternate explanation that she was really a closet cleptomaniac who attended fashionable social events and always pocketed a few pieces each time. Who really knows? Of course, this was after poking around in the little drawer in the box, playing with the ancient corkscrew, then selecting something that looked like a smallish pruning sheer, not being sure what it was for and deciding it was for the Bris (just in case!).


Hopefully that answers the "how significant is the ancestry to you" question?



Yes. My mom is pretty staunchly Catholic. My dad I think was Luthoran or something similar. Most of my cousins are Catholic, but don't practice. We're not fire and brimstone, but most of my immediate family attends mass regularly. All of my siblings were married in churches. I don't go to mass regularly at all. Basically, the occasional baptism or first communion for a niece or nephew, and the rare Christmas mass with the family is about it.

As to significance growing up? Not that much. We did all mostly attend Catholic private schools. My parents divorced when I was fairly young, and for a period of time we lived in Santa Cruz with my dad. During that time period, we attended public school. My older brother was already in High School at that time and stayed here. When we moved back years later, my oldest sister stayed up there to attend college. So it wasn't like we were all rolling together in one place in one school or anything.

When time to attend High School came around, I certainly could have chosen to attend a public school. It was an option and it was up to me. I choose to go to one of the Catholic High Schools instead (it's kind of a no-brainer when you're semi-poor and the alternative is a really crappy California public school). It was really about quality of the school, and certainly not about the religion. Aside from one nun and one priest I had as teachers, it wasn't really all that different from any other school. Fewer trouble maker kids I suppose...

Edited, Dec 10th 2009 5:18pm by gbaji

Okay, show of hands: who can trace back to at least one signer of the Declaration of Independence?

New Jersey (John Hart) reporting in here, I guess.

I can't trace my ancestry to a signer of the Declaration of Independence, but can do so to an early king of England, Aethelred the Unready. He was apparently unready to be king of England, since he only lasted a few months on the throne.

It was something of a shock when I learned of this, as I've always been told that we were of purely Irish extraction. Now I find out that I'm actually mostly English. Now I have strange desires to simultaneously oppress myself and blow myself up in retaliation.

Was there a breeze just then? Perhaps a buzzing insect? Hmmm... ;)

On my moms side we go back to colonial times.Her mother claimed to have a signer in the family, but my sisters research disproved that claim.
On my dads side to 19th century. My paternal grandmother came to the US at age 15. I think my GF was born in US. Dads Irish roots are Mace Co. Galway.


Elne Clare is also descended from the Alden branch from Mayflower. GBAJI you and she may be related!