Live data from Hacker News

Poll: How many generations removed are you from immigration?

news.ycombinator.com

121–130 of 137 posts

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

#122
post #66

This poll may not be intended to be US centric but I think the interest in it mostly is.

Well, if the migrant sub-population of humans tends to seek out opportunities, then it would make sense that the poll might seem US centric as it has been the most prosperous state over the last 50-60 years. That said, if such a migrant sub-population does exist, it would also be interesting to know if they are still arriving/settling in the US, or whether they have a new destination in mind...

In that case you should be also asking why people emigrated. I emigrated from the UK to the US and although I now consider myself an aspiring entrepreneur I emigrated entirely for personal reasons.

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

#123
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow where do you live?

Canada. Not me though. Sorry. There's a guy in here from India who lived roughly where his family always has. To me, never having seen anything older than Montreal, that's just inconceivable. Can a hundred generations of children really grow up playing in the same places? Don't places get experienced out? There's always a distance between me and the stories my ancestors tell because they were in different places, doi…

Depends what you are used to - as I mentioned above my family had been living in the same small village for about 400 years or so - which by European standards isn't that odd. Some people can trace their families back much further than that (well over a thousand years).

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

#125
On my father's side, 4 generations, my great grandmother was born here in the US, but her parents came from Germany. Interestingly she never spoke English, only German, in an all German community in Kansas. 

On my mother's side, 1000s of generations in what is now called Oklahoma. The US formed around them as the illegal immigrants from Europe swarmed in. 

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

#127
I'm originally from Maine. My family goes back to the 1600s on both sides. My great*7 grandfather on my mother's side moved from Boston to Maine in 1690 and married a local girl. The number of generations is low because because there were 35 years between generations. The first immigrant on my father's side arrived in 1630 at the age of 12 from Wales. Family lore has it that he started King Philips War by killing one of the Indians raiding his isolated homestead. Isolated because he, a non-Puritan, was not allowed to live in town.

My children are either first or second generation depending on how you count. Their mother was born in Brazil, bur their grandmother was born in California. Some of her cousins were in the Japanese concentration camps in CA.

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

#128
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think for the purpose of that question you are immigrant yourself (left your comfort zone and moved for unlimited time).

It's funny. I first answered "3" because that would be the correct answer if I were in my home country. Then I recalled that I've been living in Japan for 8 years, so I'm a sort of immigrant and should answer "0". The thing is, Japan is far from being an immigrant country like US, Canada or Brazil. For instance, you don't automatically get permanent residence even if you're married to a Japanese citizen. Even ethnic…

You don't get automatic permanent residence in the US just for marrying a US citizen either. There is several years and several thousand dollars of paperwork and process to go through, even when you're coming from someplace like Canada.

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

#129
Remind me of an old friend from the village I used to spend my childhood holidays. His family used to consider members from some other family as "foreigners". Actually, the "foreigners" lived in the village for slightly less than 150 years :) By contrast, my friend's family (and most other local families) were living in the area for at least 400 years, often up to 800 years for some (when documents exist).
Post reply on HN