The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #45951   Message #3198621
Posted By: GUEST,mg
30-Jul-11 - 03:35 PM
Thread Name: American ancestry
Subject: RE: American ancestry
Someone asked if Scandinavians don't celebrate their heritage here. Ja sure they do...can't throw a stick in my neck of the woods without hitting some sort of Scandinavian event. They used to speak Finnish, which of course is a Nordic and not Scandinavian group according to my mentor..in the next town from me till WWII..Finns and nonFinns..towns where I grew up spoke only Swedish and one I am just finding out only Croatian. I can't tell if OP was serious or joking..there are all sorts of immigrant groups, some of whom assimilated or intermarried more than others. I can think of Slavic groups, Scandinavian groups, Dutch, German, Polish..Northern US tended to receive Northern Europeans..probably not as much vise versa because industry and jobs were in the north and south was more agriculture...I think..Lots of Italians and Greeks here and there...Porteugeuse from Azores in East Coast. French descent in New England and midwest and Louisiana. Germans and Mexicans in Texas, which was Mexican territory and maybe still should be. Japanese and Chinese on west coast. All sorts of people...some brought here in chains..Africans of course but possibly others. Some groups tended to go to Canada..especially if they were part of the British Empire...and it was often cheaper. Ukranians in Manitoba. Russians in ?? Scots were sent to Cape Breton. People went where they had relatives, or they were lured to specific mining or whatever jobs, or the boat went from their country to a particular harbor..all sorts of reasons.

Now..pure English ancestry in U.S...there was a lot of intermarrying so you don't hear of it much. I think early on they married with German and Dutch especially. You don't hear of festivals etc. of English..part of it might be that they feel a sense of cultural embarassement because rightly or wrongly some of America's troubles are laid at their feet. So anyway, lots of sources of our population..most get along most of the time...terrible problems over the years but also very good people at the heart of it all. mg