This is an interesting thing to ponder, considering that I’ve never really felt like I had much cultural heritage to speak of. The ancestors I knew of were either Scottish or English, some of whom were American colonists.
23&Me says I also have some French, German, “broadly northern European,” and a whopping 0.9% Egyptian DNA, which means that someone 8 generations back must’ve had a little adventure. (Hopefully, it was a pleasant one for both parties.)
Growing up in Eastern PA, I was surrounded by other kids who had similar Northern European or British ancestry, so I just thought everything we did was “normal.” If I met anyone who was something other than that, they were the ones with cultural heritage, and that was interesting for me to learn about.
I guess the Scottish heritage is the one I am most curious about. My great-grandparents immigrated to Philadelphia in the early 1900s, but I know very little about the generations in Scotland before them. I guess I could take it upon myself to learn more about Scottish history (other than Outlander, lol). All I really know is that the McKelvies were supposedly a sept of the Campbell clan. My great-grandmother was a Hamilton, but I don’t know if her family was the same one that founded the city of Hamilton near Glasgow or if they were called that because they lived there.
I suppose the early American heritage is pretty interesting, too – according to family lore, one of my mother’s ancestors came over on a ship with Lord Baltimore. So, that part of the family has been here for almost 400 years at this point. That is pretty wild to think about.
That’s not to say I wouldn’t like to know more about my British heritage, too, and find out when and where these little bits of French, German, and Egyptian DNA came onto the scene.
Really, it would be cool to have a clear picture of all my family history but to be able to see more than just names on a family tree. I would like to know what these people were like, what lit them up, what made them smile. Were they funny? Creative? Intelligent? Jerks? Losers?
All that being said, the ‘cultural heritage’ of my life was probably just eating bland food, keeping our emotions tightly reigned, and being highly critical of ourselves and everyone else. Stuff I’ve spent much of my adult life trying to overcome.
Uncommon Heather 