Poll: How many generations removed are you from immigration?

#1

Post by jballanc » Mon, Sep 05, 2011, 2:18 PM UTC

I originally ran this poll a little over 2 years ago (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=688053), so I thought it might be interesting to run it again...

Here's how this works: Go back along your family tree until you reach the first immigrant. That is, the first person who eventually settled in a country other than the one they were born in, regardless of country (i.e. this is not intended to be US-immigrant-centric).

Choose only the one answer which corresponds to the most recent immigration. So, for example, if your father is the 3rd generation since immigration but your mother is, herself, an immigrant you would choose "1 generation". The hypothesis we're testing is that the sort of entrepreneurial, adventure-seeking personality that is overrepresented on HN correlates with a willingness to pick up and leave your comfort zone completely.

Re: Poll: How many generations removed are you from immigration?

#2

Post by TMK » Mon, Sep 05, 2011, 2:24 PM UTC

Not sure after the fifth generation as my from there my fathers, fathers, fathers, father had lost his memory. From my mothers side and all of the mothers in my family tree and as far as I know their background are from Finland over 10 generations ago. Which is before the first Swedish era when Sweden conquered Finland for a while. So I can pretty much say I'm quite native here.

Re: Poll: How many generations removed are you from immigration?

#3

Post by blrgeek » Mon, Sep 05, 2011, 2:30 PM UTC

Moved from one southern state of India to another about 600 years ago. If you're talking about moving between countries, I'd have to find out when humans moved to India.

I did study in the US and then came back, so what does that make me :) ? Oh, I'm trying to do my own startup now.

Re: Poll: How many generations removed are you from immigration?

#4

Post by xlevus » Mon, Sep 05, 2011, 2:31 PM UTC

I'm a 0 generation immigrant, and 0 generation re-migrant.

But given the age I immigrated at, It's more akin to being a 0 generation dual-immigrant.

Re: Poll: How many generations removed are you from immigration?

#5

Post by mattmillr » Mon, Sep 05, 2011, 2:31 PM UTC

If I knew my full family tree, I'd probably find a closer immigrant, but 13 generations back my great..great grandfather was on the Mayflower. Not a great data point for this survey though: he was an indentured servant, and the whole Pilgrim voyage represented more of an attempt to preserve their comfort zone at all costs.

Re: Poll: How many generations removed are you from immigration?

#6

Post by Peroni » Mon, Sep 05, 2011, 2:34 PM UTC

Tricky one for me.

We've managed to trace our family tree back 12 generations through family documents, etc. and our family are still in Ireland (where I'm from).

From what we know though our family have had a presence in Ireland for over 500 years on both sides.

It's actually remarkable when you consider the earliest record of our surname in Ireland is in the 13th century.

Re: Poll: How many generations removed are you from immigration?

#7

Post by jasonkester » Mon, Sep 05, 2011, 2:34 PM UTC

I somehow managed to hit both ends of this scale. Pick any branch of my family and you can trace them back to pretty much the 3rd boat to come across the Atlantic.

And, I'm in the process of emigrating to England.

Hmm...

Re: Poll: How many generations removed are you from immigration?

#8

Post by yuvipanda » Mon, Sep 05, 2011, 2:35 PM UTC

blrgeek wrote: post #3

Moved from one southern state of India to another about 600 years ago. If you're talking about moving between countries, I'd have to find out when humans moved to India. I did study in the US and then came back, so what does that make me :) ? Oh, I'm trying to do my own startup now.

Interesting - I am from another southern state of India, and am unable to trace it back to anywhere that isn't in the same 'state'. However, 600 years ago they were mostly just smaller kingdoms with similar cultures, rather than 'states' as such. Wonder if moving across them would be considered 'immigration'

Re: Poll: How many generations removed are you from immigration?

#9

Post by ccarpenterg » Mon, Sep 05, 2011, 2:39 PM UTC

I'm chilean and my great-great-grandfather, John Carpenter, arrived in Chile in 1860 - 1880. He was British and all the research I've done suggests that he was a Quaker from the south of England.

Re: Poll: How many generations removed are you from immigration?

#10

Post by GnarfGnarf » Mon, Sep 05, 2011, 2:40 PM UTC

12 generations (1634 France) and I can name them all.