My Heritage

i'm ashamed to say i have lived most of my life up to this point mostly unaware of where i come from. i know who i am in many senses of the word, but as far as my ancestry, i've been laxed to say the least.

i knew bits and pieces here and there, and from time to time, i would feel an interest in it, but never took the time to sit down and talk to my folks about it all.

this weekend i did. and we talked for a longggggggggggg time.

firstly i'm a 3rd generation native texan (woo-hoo) from my mother's side of the family. that's always something to be proud of. i may move out of texas eventually, but it will always be my home & my base root. and despite some "people" (if you can even call them that) that are tagged with being from here that are less than desirable, i'm definitely proud of my state. those are just a few bad seeds. :-p

i've forever been enthralled with native american culture. i was never sure if it was envy or if it really is a part of me. i knew when i was a little girl and my hair was long and straight as a board in the summers i would get so dark and tan that my mother used to comment that she really could see the indian in me. i never paid much attention to it. turns out i'm 1/32nd choctaw for a fact. my grandmother's ancestors (mom's mother's side) mostly came from louisiana near lake pontchartrain and natchitoches (which is pronouced "nacotiche" - also where they filmed the movie "steal magnolias").

on my grandfather's side (my mom's father's side), we have ancestry dated back to the revolutionary war - somehow it's been traced back that we are kin to zachary taylor. kinda groovy there.

on my dad's side of the family, we definitely have some cherokee, but it is unknown exactly how much (i might actually start doing some research on this on my grandmother's side of the family). my grandfather's (dad's father's side) is full of western european ancestry. (must be why whenever i have met someone overseas, each one of them has said that i "look" european - who knows).

my dad's father's side and mother's father's side have really been researched and traced back very far. there are still some loopholes on my dad's mother's side and mom's mother's side that are unknown and i think i might take it upon myself to do some research. not sure what all that would entail, but i am pretty interested in finding out. even though i never met my mom's mother, i've always felt a strong connection to her...when i see her pictures or read things that she wrote, etc. i think that must be calling to me.

so there's the basics. basically i am a huge MUT, but now atleast i know the combination of it all. :)

in finding all of this out, i found a connection with a very close friend of mine on the louisiana/choctaw side. i've spoken with him and we are actually going to plan a visit to the land of my ancestors. i am so excited to be able to see it and see if i truly feel the physical connection of the land itself.

what is your ancestry and do you feel connections from distant kinship?