51–60 of 137 posts
My mother is not only an immigrant to the US but when she was an under-aged teenager (either 16 or 17), she escaped East Germany with forged papers, with her infant niece in tow to return the child to it's rightful mother who had been denied the right to take the baby home after a visit. She claimed the baby was hers. I have heard that the only reason it worked is because the baby threw up on one of the border guards…
Of course, there may be more recent immigrants in my family tree. I don't know where all of the branches go.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you go back 12 generations you have 2^12 = 4 096 ancestors. Seems rather unlikely that every single one of them is Irish. If you go back 20 generations you'd have 2^20 = 1 048 576 ancestors, which is probably larger then the population of Ireland by that time.
While it's true there's likely an immigrant in the bunch, it's also very unlikely that all 4096 or 1048576 ancestors are distinct. The tree is bound to overlap.
Well, that's certainly the hardest poll question I've ever seen on HN. Let me get back to you.
Also, what about families that have changed countries without moving? For example, I live in Croatia, but was born in Yugoslavia. My grandfather was born in Austria-Hungary empire and died in Croatia, never moving across a border in his life.
Also, I would move and emigrate on a moment's notice, but these days it's much more difficult than it used to be...
I'm a descendant of slaves so my family tree gets tricky once I get (back) to my great grandparents (who were alive during the U.S. Civil War). Best guess is 5th generation.