Family Overview

I am a quintessential melting pot American. 7 of my 8 great-grandparents were born in Europe; 2 in Ireland, 2 in Italy, 2 in Poland, and one in Sweden. I know very little about the 8th, my father's mother's mother, though I know her family had been in the Americas long enough to have English, Welsh, French, German, and Cherokee ancestry (I have come to be very skeptical of that Cherokee piece, I've learned many older families throw that in there to make them sound more American when in fact there is no proof). So as you can see by some quick math, I am 25% Irish, 25% Italian, 25% Polish, 12.5% Swedish, and the last 12.5% is a mix of Western Eurpoean. I will eventually find out all of the exact numbers, but for now that's good enough. I have a Polish last name, one that I share with an enormous number of cousins, though to be honest I identify most with my Italian ancestry. I have a sterotypically Italian temperament, and my mother's outstanding cooking skills were learned primarily from her Italian grandmother.

To make life interesting, I married a woman who was born in South Korea. Her family name can be traced something like 42 generations back in the same blood line. Koreans, as you may know, have one of the most racially homogeneous populations on earth. My kids, not so much. I look forward to the day they start asking questions about where they came from, I hope they love this stuff as much as me.

My mom's side of the family is fairly typical. Her mom was one of three, her dad was one of two. She has 2 sisters, each of whom had 2 children as well. In all there are 13 children, 14 grandchildren, and (so far) 2 great-grandchildren from my grandma's generation. Fairly typical.

My dad's mom's side of the family is similar. My grandma was one of three, and though my dad is an only child, each of his aunts had 2 or 3 kids (I'm not sure, I'm learning). There are something like 5 kids in his generation and 8 in mine. Again, fairly typical.

My dad's dad's side of the family is off the charts. My grandfather was one of 11 - 6 boys and 5 girls. I started the family tree because I'm honestly trying to get a grip on just how many cousins I have. At the time I am writing this, I am aware of over 40 cousins in my father's generation, which I am extrapolating to my own generation a total of about 80. My children will have hundreds of cousins, most of whom they will never even meet. Including spouses, the family tree right now has 150 people over 5 generations, and I truly believe I'm really just over halfway done.

I don't know most of these people. The family was so big, and the brothers - and brothers-in-law - didn't always get along so well. I grew up not knowing any of my cousins on my father's side.

I am trying to change that.

Hopefully the family tree - and the contacts I make while developing the tree - will help me do that.