Germanic and Nordic Ancestry in the British Isles

[LightHouse89]

We export the worst. The best remain, as with most migration.

Anyhow, dunno about genetics, but we have free dental until age 19 so there's no excuse for crooked teeth.

niggah plze.

[Gooding]

I'm surprised and glad to see New Worlders understood the insult.

Curious how we would say that cream of the crop left and the dregs stayed behind.

[Longbowman]

Curious how we would say that cream of the crop left and the dregs stayed behind.

But think about it: does that really make sense?

Australia's the most obvious example, but the US, Canada, the Caribbean and other places were also where we send criminals and indentured servants.

People who left of their own free will were often poor or religious extremists.

People don't emigrate without good reason. In the first few years, you had a LOT to lose - meaning people with someone to lose - successful people - stayed behind. In the latter ones, people went to make their fortune - meaning they weren't in a place to in the Old World.

[Thunder_shock]

A study that has been conducted recently put the English at average Germanic admixture levels at 30%. This often expresses itself quite significantly in their phenotype.

[Gooding]

But think about it: does that really make sense?

Sure it does. We were the ones to strike out for King and Country to found a new land in the wilderness. When the French Revolution struck, a lot of the French aristocracy came here, after the American Revolution many of the soldiers from the other side, including many Hessians, settled here. We had the courage to cross an unknown ocean to settle an unknown land, we bore fruits of the Age of Reason and the Great Awakenings. For many years, we were a beacon of light and hope to people all over the world, including Europeans. We got the cream of France's crop first with the industrious Huguenots who were expelled from France and when England started making rather unpleasant overtures to Scotland, many Scots also migrated here. People of all nationalities wanted a piece of the American pie, the land, water and other natural resources that we had in plenty. Meanwhile, we farmed our land, distilled and sold our whiskey ( government label or not), fought, laughed, loved and learned. America's not such a poor old hovel.

[Longbowman]

Sure it does. We were the ones to strike out for King and Country to found a new land in the wilderness. When the French Revolution struck, a lot of the French aristocracy came here, after the American Revolution many of the soldiers from the other side, including many Hessians, settled here. We had the courage to cross an unknown ocean to settle an unknown land, we bore fruits of the Age of Reason and the Great Awakenings. For many years, we were a beacon of light and hope to people all over the world, including Europeans. We got the cream of France's crop first with the industrious Huguenots who were expelled from France and when England started making rather unpleasant overtures to Scotland, many Scots also migrated here. People of all nationalities wanted a piece of the American pie, the land, water and other natural resources that we had in plenty. Meanwhile, we farmed our land, distilled and sold our whiskey ( government label or not), fought, laughed loved and learned. America's not such a poor old hovel.

I've edited my post to explain why this is not the case.

A tiny amount of aristocrats settled in the US - truly tiny. For example, there was one British aristocrat known to be resident in the US in 1774 (and the vast majority of the Huguenots AND French Aristocrats settled in the UK. The US wasn't even really an option back then). The Scots that moved were often Gaels forced to move after the Highland clearances. Hessian troops were recruited from the poorest sections of Hessian society. As explained - yes, there are exceptions - by and large Americans are descended from rejects from Europe (and Africa). The criminals, religious extremists, and the bitterly poor.

No shame in it, though. Out of those huddled masses you created a great nation. I'm not saying these are bad people, or inept; just, as I said, we exported 'the worst;' the most economically unviable.

[Imamudin]

Apologies to those members who know this inside-out, but the best I can do is post again my version of the PotBI map:



I think all this combination of DNA must give a fairly unique range of Britsh looks, although our ideas of what is a typical British, German or French look is partly a psychological construction. Last time I posted a photo of a small German group, some people thought they were English or even Irish.

Also, the only common non-British element in most white Brits is Irish.

Well, it's usually not very difficult to tell the British from the Germans apart.

[Gooding]

I've edited my post to explain why this is not the case.

A tiny amount of aristocrats settled in the US - truly tiny. For example, there was one British aristocrat known to be resident in the US in 1774 (and the vast majority of the Huguenots AND French Aristocrats settled in the UK. The US wasn't even really an option back then). The Scots that moved were often Gaels forced to move after the Highland clearances. Hessian troops were recruited from the poorest sections of Hessian society. As explained - yes, there are exceptions - by and large Americans are descended from rejects from Europe (and Africa). The criminals, religious extremists, and the bitterly poor.

No shame in it, though. Out of those huddled masses you created a great nation. I'm not saying these are bad people, or inept; just, as I said, we exported 'the worst;' the most economically unviable.

You know what, you just taught me something I didn't know before getting up this morning! I'm quite serious.. going by what I've learned about Louisiana society in the early nineteenth century, plus what I've learned about the Scottish Highlanders settling Cape Fear before and after the Battle of Culloden, added to the Scotch- Irish migrations beginning in 1715, I thought of the American Colonies as a major port of call from those ejected from Europe. From what I've read about the planter families of early Virginia and Maryland, I thought that a lot of them came out of English aristocracy ( I know most of the people of English blood who arrived here arrived as indentured servants. I only say that the Goodings are a relatively old family in the area, never a noble one), such as the Washingtons, Madisons, Masons, and that lot. I guess, as an American, my information has been colored a lot by local rather than global history. Thank you for the lesson.

[Longbowman]

You know what, you just taught me something I didn't know before getting up this morning! I'm quite serious.. going by what I've learned about Louisiana society in the early nineteenth century, plus what I've learned about the Scottish Highlanders settling Cape Fear before and after the Battle of Culloden, added to the Scotch- Irish migrations beginning in 1715, I thought of the American Colonies as a major port of call from those ejected from Europe. From what I've read about the planter families of early Virginia and Maryland, I thought that a lot of them came out of English aristocracy ( I know most of the people of English blood who arrived here arrived as indentured servants. I only say that the Goodings are a relatively old family in the area, never a noble one), such as the Washingtons, Madisons, Masons, and that lot. I guess, as an American, my information has been colored a lot by local rather than global history. Thank you for the lesson.

Perhaps you're confusing the British definition of aristocrat/upper-class at the time, which would have been from a noble family, which means titled, rather than the 'wealthy merchant' class, which is not the same thing.

Of course, not every migrant was broke (though, of course, a lot (indentured servants, etc) were, and the religious dissenters were rarely wealthy, though of course more so than the servants). Some entrepreneurs, of course, did come with money either saved or from investors in London. But that's a small section of society.

Remember I have a lot of New World ancestry too. Only 3 generations in the US though - but my ancestors certainly qualify as 'poor,' at the very least, on that side. On the other side, Caribbean plantation owners - rich as you can get, more or less, but by no means aristocrats in the European sense.

I don't know the specifics about France, but I'm quite prepared to believe down-on-their-luck adventurers from noble families moved to America, but stress 'down on their luck.' For Quebec, the government initially had to initiate recruitment drives with financial incentives.

[Sikeliot]

I have GEDmatch results for English, Scots and Irish, and they are all roughly equidistant from continental Germanics.