Like most Americans, my family is made up of many different ethnic groups. Mymoms side is Irish Protestant descent. My dads side is mostly Englishdescent and a little of Native American descent from his mother.
There is somein which I do not know because my dad does not know who his dad is. He wasadopted by a man named David Mitchell, this is where my last name comes from. Mygrandmother died and never told my dad who his dad was. My dad could find outfrom his birth certificate, which is sealed in Albany, who his dad is. He has nodesire to do that though. Over the summer, I tried to find out about myfamilys ancestry.
I only searched on my moms side since it is easier. Thisis for two reasons, first my moms parents are still alive. Second becausethey came to the United States only about one hundred years ago. Both mygrandparents families came from Northern Ireland. My grandparents were bornin the United States. My grandfather brought me over my cousins house becauseshe had a copy of my great grandmothers birth certificate.
This told me whattown she was from. I also found out that I had other cousins that live in Canadathat were from Northern Ireland. Many Irish people immigrated to Canada becauseit was cheaper than going to the United States. She told me that they would havemore information of family that lives in Northern Ireland. My grandfather gaveme a book called ” The World Book of Craigs ” which is his last name. Itgave me places to write to for further information and also gave me addresses ofall the Craigs all over the world.
I learned that my grandmothers familyis from Belfast and my grandfathers family is from a town called Bellymena. They are both located in the county of Antrim in Northern Ireland. Theydescended from Presbyterian Scots who settled in Northern Ireland in theseventeenth century. In doing further research I found that the Irish, bothProtestant and Catholic, was the largest immigration group in the United States.
At one point there were more Irish in the United States than in Ireland. TheIrish immigrated in two waves. The first wave was Scotch Irish from 1760 – 1775. They found it easy to sustain old world ways because they came over in such alarge group. This is because they settled into towns.
They were fleeing fromeconomic distress and religious distress since Irish laws favored Anglicans overPresbyterians and Catholics. They wanted to obtain land and to make a profit inthe New World. The second wave came around 1845 – 1849. They were IrishCatholics. The reason that they migrated to the United States in such massnumbers is because first of overpopulation and then because of the Great Famine.
The failure of the staple crop, the potato, caused many Irish to starve todeath. When my ancestors migrated to the United States around the turn of thecentury, like most immigrants they came for a better way of life. At the time inhistory, Ireland was slowly getting over the Potato Famine and struggling withEngland for independence. My family had an easy transition in the United Statesbecause they already had family in New York and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Unlike Catholics which faced discrimination, my family didnt because theywere Protestant.
The Catholics were discriminated because of fear that theunskilled Irish Catholic would displace American craftsmen. Also because theslums inhabited in part by the Irish were undermining the nations values. Every social problem from immortality and alcoholism to poverty and economicupheaval was blamed on immigrant Irish Catholics. The country was Protestant -biased. On my fathers side, I know very little. I have learned that myancestry runs all the way back to the seventeenth century from England.
Theywere one of the first people in the New World looking for wealth andopportunity. I had ancestry that fought in the American Revolution. I also haveNative American ancestry from Cherokee and Iroquois. My grandmothers lastname was Partington, which is a name of nobility in England.
They wereloyalists. There was a Partington that died in the Civil War at the Battle ofGettysburg. There was another ancestor by the name of Terry that was a commanderin the Civil War. This is all I know about my fathers family. I think thatall or most of our traditions are Americanized. We go to a Protestant church,have turkey on Thanksgiving, put a real Christmas tree up at Christmas time andget together on birthdays.
Our family just does not have that many bigtraditions that stand out. Though on Christmas Eve we go over my parentsfriends house and we eat German food, even though we are not German. BibliographyMoody, T. W. (1995). The course of Irish history.
Boulder: Robert Rinehart. Vaughan, W. E. (1989). A new history of Ireland 1801-1870. New York: OxfordUniversity Press.
Reeves, P. (1991). Ellis Island. New York: Michael FriedmanPublishing Group. (1968).
Encyclopedia of Ireland. Dublin: Allen Figgs. Ernst,R. (1949). Immigration life in New York City 1825-1863.
New York: Octagon Books.
