What would you say colonial American is mostly a mixture of?

[Dr. Robotnik the Subbotnik]

I think it's mostly a mixture of English, Scottish (and Scots-Irish) and there's also a French huguenot element. So a mixture of the three is what 'colonial American' basically is to me. What do you think? Obviously English is the predominant.

[Gooding]

It depends on the area of Colonial America you're talking about. Some Colonial American families in New York have English and Dutch blood, for example. Most areas around the coast were predominantly English, yes. French Huguenots you could see around New England and areas of South Carolina.. some Huguenots migrated to Appalachia, where they were absorbed by the Scots- Irish. English people went everywhere, but in areas like Appalachia, where they were outnumbered by the Scotch- Irish, or Pennsylvania Dutch country, where they were outnumbered by the Germans, they assimilated into the larger society. Some families in Delaware have distant Swedish and Finnish roots for when the area was New Sweden. Native Americans and blacks of course have had a presence in the Colonies from the earliest times. The Welsh and Cornish tended to go where the English and Scotch- Irish went, but they were a little less numerous.

[Dr. Robotnik the Subbotnik]

It depends on the area of Colonial America you're talking about. Some Colonial American families in New York have English and Dutch blood, for example. Most areas around the coast were predominantly English, yes. French Huguenots you could see around New England and areas of South Carolina.. some Huguenots migrated to Appalachia, where they were absorbed by the Scots- Irish. English people went everywhere, but in areas like Appalachia, where they were outnumbered by the Scotch- Irish, or Pennsylvania Dutch country, where they were outnumbered by the Germans, they assimilated into the larger society. Some families in Delaware have distant Swedish and Finnish roots for when the area was New Sweden. Native Americans and blacks of course have had a presence in the Colonies from the earliest times. The Welsh and Cornish tended to go where the English and Scotch- Irish went, but they were a little less numerous.

I am descended from Scotch-Irish from Londonderry, New Hampshire, where the first American potato was grown.

[Dr. Robotnik the Subbotnik]

A Dutch and German element as well. Scottish far less an element than their Scots-Irish cousins. Blacks, of course.

Yes, definitely a Dutch element but it is not in the top 3. There are more people with French huguenot ancestry than Dutch. If we're talking New York then maybe the Dutch are more prominent. You're correct about there not being as much Scottish. Lots of Scots-Irish though, and not just in the south either. I have some Dutch ancestry that goes back to New Amsterdam. I have French huguenot ancestry also.

[Gooding]

I am descended from Scotch-Irish from Londonderry, New Hampshire, where the first American potato was grown.

That is really cool. Actually, the fact that some people up in New England also descend from Scotch- Irish settlers is still new to me. Either you or Lighthouse89 first alerted me to this fact and I'm still assimilating that.. just like I'm assimilating the fact that French Huguenots settled in New England and Appalachia as well as South Carolina.

[Gooding]

Colonial Americans.. how many of you out there are left with purely English blood?

[Mortimer]

british and german

[Gooding]

Bee- dump bump!

[Weedman]

You're correct about there not being as much Scottish. Lots of Scots-Irish though,.

it's hard to trace the distinctively Scottish settlers apart from the Scotch-Irish ones.

most of the distinctively Scottish settlers were sporadic and varied



there were Scottish Highlanders, who settled in Cape Fear N.C, which looks like that's on the map.
they came in 1745 ,after the Jacobites lost at Culloden, but they also were staunch Loyalists in the American Revolution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_MacGregor


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbuthn...ister_incident

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Arbuthnott

and a few Highland Scottish fur traders too as well as some from the eastern central lowlands /eastern central belt

James Monroe, of Virginia, was descended from Highland Scottish Royalists, who settled n the TideWater, along with the larger, majority , southern English Royalists, under governor Berkley.


there were also some , Lowland and Highland Scots, as well as some western Irish Catholics , who were sent as servants and POW's during the wars of the 3 Kingdoms to Barbados and even some to the Tidewater in the 1600s as well, again, being largely outnumbered by the southern English majority.

But they had nothing to do with the larger Scotch-Irish migration from the North of Ireland and the Anglo-Scottish Border country in the early-mid 1700's.


they were so few, it's not even completely relevant in terms of people's overall ancestry, but for the sake of searching names and genealogy, I guess somebody, somewhere in N.C or somewhere else might have one or two in their tree.



people shouldn't overlook the French colonial ancestry too.

The French Huguenots were a minor, but known, element.

the colonists of New France were larger in population.
I know most Americans of colonial ancestry don't have any connection to it, but they did form a large population along the Mississippi, even though they weren't as numerous as the British.

Most people in that area today around the Gulf Coast and of course Louisiana, are descended from them, both Creole and Cajun.

But there's also some people in part of New England with French Canadian ancestry too, from the colonial era.

[Amud]

Don't forget the NATIVE AMERICAN!