German Workers Dot Org?

[FarawayFriend]

You are so right. One Brazilian. I never thought of that! The one in the left rear?

Yes, could be. That's the one who I also thought might be Brazilian.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Yes, could be. That's the one who I also thought might be Brazilian.

That leads me to a question- were any of the counties of immigration now written off as ' German ' actually one of the border countries, and could account for a man with less fair skin? It's not as silly a question as it sound, witness our Welsh. When I lived in the UK, was too polite to ask plus what on EARTH do you say " Why do some people have those incredible gray eyes and deep black hair and bronze skin? " SO stunning, and within the area between say, Harrisburg and Scranton. Less, looking over the Bristol Channel. ( Yes, I understand the shipwrecked enslaved people theory- if that is true, they were not African slaves, have the Welsh DNA which says so )

Reason I'm asking- keep tracking back parts of family thought to be German, find they were not THIS Germany- Swiss, or Alsace, but anywhere else? There's this decent percentage of DNA claiming Greek/Italian, was wondering if that heritage tied in anywhere within the German borders historically. And could explain this man?

 

[FarawayFriend]

Well, he could be as much German as the other three. In fact I had never questioned his "being German" had Mike Serpa not quoted that Wikipedia entry.
But you did make a good point concerning your errant DNA particles that hint to Italy or Greece. Indeed there is a region in the Alps called Südtirol, which is now Italian, but the inhabitants claim to be German and are not overly happy to be Italians. In this region maybe Italians and Bavarians have mixed and that could be where your Italian DNA might come from (if it is Italian and not Greek)

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Well, he could be as much German as the other three. In fact I had never questioned his "being German" had Mike Serpa not quoted that Wikipedia entry.
But you did make a good point concerning your errant DNA particles that hint to Italy or Greece. Indeed there is a region in the Alps called Südtirol, which is now Italian, but the inhabitants claim to be German and are not overly happy to be Italians. In this region maybe Italians and Bavarians have mixed and that could be where your Italian DNA might come from (if it is Italian and not Greek)

It could very well be Italian- I only said ' Greek' because it got stuck in my head, there being a few Greek families in the teeny towns around where this part of my family is from through a couple centuries or so. I saw that, many less Italians, so assumed somewhere, somehow, must be a Greek! Thanks VERY much for that- I'd known the borders of Germany slid around considerably through the centuries, would have to guess the various DNA slid around a LOT more than the actual borders! It really must have been maddening to ' be ' one nationality, then POOF, someone, somewhere, changes a border and POOF, you're told you are magically an entirely different nationality! Try telling that to your DNA, much less your grandmother, right? One's grandmother would be the harder sell. VERY helpful to have that area's name- will see if anyone was accurate as to where someone came from. If so- might have it finally! It's SO, so funny, this ' Greek/Italian thing is the second highest concentration in the DNA, which we would have sworn would be - I don't know- Netherlands, after Scotland/Great Britain-or Swiss- so it's extremely, extremely odd! Only thing we can think of, some places folks look like they were from, as far back as we have them, they migrated to. Would have thought more German, but nope- so maybe that's where it went, too. My grandmother's maiden name was ' Steigerwalt'! What happened to THAT? DNA tests sure open up more questions than they answer sometimes.

 

[FarawayFriend]

It could very well be Italian- I only said ' Greek' because it got stuck in my head, there being a few Greek families in the teeny towns around where this part of my family is from through a couple centuries or so. I saw that, many less Italians, so assumed somewhere, somehow, must be a Greek! Thanks VERY much for that- I'd known the borders of Germany slid around considerably through the centuries, would have to guess the various DNA slid around a LOT more than the actual borders! It really must have been maddening to ' be ' one nationality, then POOF, someone, somewhere, changes a border and POOF, you're told you are magically an entirely different nationality! Try telling that to your DNA, much less your grandmother, right? One's grandmother would be the harder sell. VERY helpful to have that area's name- will see if anyone was accurate as to where someone came from. If so- might have it finally! It's SO, so funny, this ' Greek/Italian thing is the second highest concentration in the DNA, which we would have sworn would be - I don't know- Netherlands, after Scotland/Great Britain-or Swiss- so it's extremely, extremely odd! Only thing we can think of, some places folks look like they were from, as far back as we have them, they migrated to. Would have thought more German, but nope- so maybe that's where it went, too. My grandmother's maiden name was ' Steigerwalt'! What happened to THAT? DNA tests sure open up more questions than they answer sometimes.

Wow, JPK, that's an important hint! Your grandma's maiden name "Steigerwalt" could hint to a region in Bavaria, called "Steigerwald". So Bavaria seems to be the key ... and there is also a connection between Bavaria and Greece. A Bavarian prince became King of Greece (Otto I.)in the early 1800s. It is said that the colours blue and white in the Greek flag came from the blue-and white Bavarian flag and that the "y" in the German word "Bayern" was vice versa adopted from the Greek language. Indeed Bavaria was formerly spelled "Baiern" also in German. Fascinating, isn't it?