Meixner Family History #4

I had a question come up after my last Meixner Family History post.  I was asked "So are we of German decent?  Bohemian? Czech? Austrian?"

After all the reading and research I have done about this question, I say that I am of Germanic decent.

The area of Bohemia that our German ancestors migrated into was almost completely of Germanic decent.  There were few people of Czech decent according to the population schedules.  Our ancestors spoke and read the German language and indeed were German as that is who they lived among and who they married.  


It is no different if a military family moved to Germany today and lived on the base.  If they were there 20 years and their daughter married another American service man's son and had children those descendants would still be American even though they were born in another country, right? 


On my Mom's side of the family I found that she is of Scotch-Irish decent.  I saw the explanation that these descendants came from settlers that moved from Scotland to Ireland but maintained their Scottish communities there and intermarried with other Scottish men and women before migrating to the U.S.  They were not half Scotch and half Irish.  The term denoted Scottish people that had been living in Ireland before moving to the U.S.  


I hope this helps.  Ultimately we each have to answer the questions "who am I" and "where did I come from" in our own way.  I claim German, Scottish, & English among my ancestors and I am proud of all of them.  It's what makes up who I am as an American.

I think that combination turned out a pretty good looking bunch of kids.