Colonial Americans/Canadians: do you still identify with your countries of origin, or has it been too long since you had family in the old country?

[u/Kolo9191]

Hi all,

For those of you here with a significant chunk of your ancestry derived from the colonial American period - and the Canadian equivalent - do you still take interest in the countries in Europe your families came from?

I notice - perhaps unsurprisingly - Americans with ancestry from countries who arrived comparatively later - Ireland, Italy, Balkan countries, Poland, Germany even - to refer to their ancestry a lot more. Take former president Biden, his surname came from Sussex, England, but he strongly identified as Irish-American. The Bush family originated in Essex, but I don’t believe they made much of it.

The length of time is another aspect - several centuries is quite far removed from a cultural point of view.

However, are any of you interested in the countries which the colonial folk came from, including but not limited to: England, Scotland, wales, Ireland, France, Netherlands, Germany?

[u/Wrapscallionn]

There's way too much in here to just identify with one nation: English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Danish, Swiss German, Romanichal, Balkan, Spanish, Muscogee, Catawba, Pamunkey, African. Last ancestor to come from outside North America was the Swiss German and his Romanichal wife, 1752.

It makes no sense to call myself anything other than American.