Question: What % of white Americans have colonial roots?

[Hornbein]

I realize it is exponentially more, but I like the basic point of the Guardian article that every living European (and therefore white American) is a direct descendant of Charlemagne -- and essentially everyone else who lived and had children Europe in the 9th century.

I am skeptical of such claims, particularly if they come from a for-profit company. They are biased toward drama.

 

[Hornbein]

At risk of turning political on Martin Luther King day (still in some time zones...), cultural identity isn't supposed to be important anymore. It's interesting for personal reasons, but not terribly relevant in the grand scheme of things unless you are an anthropologist or... nevermind.

20th century thinking, this.

 

[Astronuc]

Part of the reason I'm curious about this is because the United States is often described as a "land of immigrants", but if one's roots in the country date back before the massive immigration waves in American history (during the 19th and 20th centuries), they may not consider themselves to be descended from immigrants (whether that is accurate or not).

If they have European, or even African, ancestry, they are descendants of immigrants. BTW, immigration was more or less continuous from Europe and Africa (forced in most cases) from the 1600s on.

I'm curious about the OP question. Why not ask if "What % of Americans have colonial roots?"

Forty-five of the 102 Mayflower passengers died in the winter of 1620–21! My wife is related to five passengers on the Mayflower: John Alden and Priscilla Mullins (married 1621, both 8th great grandparents), Priscilla's parents (William & Alice Mullins, who are 9th great grandparents), and John Soule (10th great grandfather). William & Alice Mullins, and Priscilla's brother Joseph Mullins, died in February 1621.

John Soule married Mary Beckett (or Buckett) who arrived on the Alice and Little James in 1623. Apparently, some of the immigrants from the Alice and Little James were sent back to England after they were deemed unsuitable for the environment. We do find some records to be inconsistent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mayflower_passengers_who_died_in_the_winter_of_1620–21
http://mayflowerhistory.com/mayflower-genealogy

Most of my wife's ancestors are English and French Canadian and Dutch (father's side) and Irish, England, Germanic Eu (mother's side). She related to the first governor of Rhode Island and some of the early presidents.

I'm a more recent immigrant (mid 20th century). My ancestry is mostly Scottish, English, Germanic Eu, Norway, Wales, Ireland, Sweden/Denmark, although a different genetic testing company put me more Scottish/Irish/Welsh/Scandanavian/Finnish/Aegean (Greek and S Italian) and Ashkenazi Jewish. Go figure.

Although I wasn't born in the US, the majority of my existing relatives live (and were born) in the US, followed by England/Scotland/Wales, Australia, Canada, NZ, Ireland, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, France, . . . . I've also identified relatives who have African and Indigenous (North and South America, Australia, NZ, Pacific Islander), and some with a combination aforementioned groups. Some US relatives go back to 1600s, some 1700s (New England or Virginia), some during the 1800s, and a few more recently in the 1900s. Some relatives moved from US to EU countries, where they died.

Many of my ancestors were farmers, miners or labourers, some were merchants, and back in the 1500s-1600s, some had estates, which were lost during the English Civil War. One of my paternal ancestors was an Archbishop of Canterbury, which tickled my father (clergyman) and would have tickled my paternal grandfather (clergyman) had we known before he passed 20 years ago. Along the way, I've found relatives who died in WWI, WWII, Korean War, and others. I have a 3rd great grandfather who died/disappeared at sea near Sulawesi Tengah, Indonesia in 1841; I don't have the details.

 

[snorkack]

Hi everyone. One of my pet hobbies/interests is in history, and I've done some background reading on early American and Canadian history, including the history of immigration to the US.

One of the questions that I have is what percentage of white Americans are descended from those Europeans who arrived during the colonial period (i.e. prior to the US gaining independence in 1776, so primarily during the 17th and 18th centuries), and those who arrived in later immigration waves (the 3 waves documented are the first half of the 19th century, the period between 1880s to 1920, and the post-World War II period).

I tried to do a Google search, but I haven't found any source or reference identifying what it is. My own suspicion is that a vast number of white Americans descend from later waves of immigrants and that only a minority descend from the early colonial period (although this may well differ depending on what state one lives in). Any thoughts?

Do you count proportion of people descended from colonial stock, or proportion of people with some solonial ancestry?
For the first, there WAS an answer in 1920. Not a reliable answer, there are a plenty of methodological issues with the estimate, but it was the law of the land for over 40 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Origins_Formula

The formula required classification of the national origins by birth or ancestry of all White Americans, except those having origins in the nonquota countries of the Western Hemisphere. The total White American population in 1920 was estimated at 94,820,915. Whites with origins in the Western Hemisphere were estimated at 5,314,357

This left the total relevant population for the quota calculation formula at 89,506,558.

49,182,158 were deemed to be of immigrant stock, accounting for 55% of the total

45.0% of the total: 40,324,400 descendants of colonial stock

So, in 1920 census, 40,3 million of 94,8 million whites were counted as proportional descendants of the 3,2 million whites present in 1790.
How many whites present in USA in 2020 are (proportionally) descendants of those present in 1920? Remember that immigration to USA was largely restricted between 1920 and 1965, and largely nonwhite since 1965.

 

[Janus]

My ancestry is mostly Scottish, English, Germanic Eu, Norway, Wales, Ireland, Sweden/Denmark, although a different genetic testing company put me more Scottish/Irish/Welsh/Scandanavian/Finnish/Aegean (Greek and S Italian) and Ashkenazi Jewish. Go

The Finnish may come from "Forest Finns", who were a group that had settled in Sweden. Forest Finn were included among early Swedish settlers to America, and are credited with popularizing the log cabin in the colonies.

 

[BWV]

Do you count proportion of people descended from colonial stock, or proportion of people with some solonial ancestry?
For the first, there WAS an answer in 1920. Not a reliable answer, there are a plenty of methodological issues with the estimate, but it was the law of the land for over 40 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Origins_Formula

So, in 1920 census, 40,3 million of 94,8 million whites were counted as proportional descendants of the 3,2 million whites present in 1790.
How many whites present in USA in 2020 are (proportionally) descendants of those present in 1920? Remember that immigration to USA was largely restricted between 1920 and 1965, and largely nonwhite since 1965.

So to attempt some bad math, if its 4 generations from the 1920s to a middle aged white American today, and assuming only 'white' great-grandparents (who qualified as 'white' in 1920? did Italians or Jews?) they have a roughly a (1-0.4)^8 or ~1.7% chance of having a grandparent with no colonial roots

Vastly oversimplified due to culture, class, geography, religion etc

 

[Hornbein]

Cultures usually don't mix much. I live in Bali, which was invaded in 1347 or so. There is still not much mixing of the two cultures. They have separate languages. Similarly in India with Hindus and Muslims.

 

[snorkack]

So to attempt some bad math, if its 4 generations from the 1920s to a middle aged white American today, and assuming only 'white' great-grandparents (who qualified as 'white' in 1920? did Italians or Jews?)

Italians plainly did. "Italy" is listed in National Origins Formula, at 3,65% - none of them colonial.
Jews counted as "white", too, under the country they came from.

they have a roughly a (1-0.4)^8 or ~1.7% chance of having a grandparent with no colonial roots

Vastly oversimplified due to culture, class, geography, religion etc

Yes. Starting with what that 0.4 meant.
US whites of 1920 included 12.1 million immigrants. There clearly had no colonial roots (almost all of them - excluding the probably tiny number of European descendants of people who had returned from America).
But then the formula estimates 17.6 million "children of immigrants". And that´s not actual immigrants. It is a representative fractional number. It might mean 17.6 million people who were US born children of two immigrant parents. Or it might mean 35.2 million people who were children of one immigrant parent and one US born parent. Or any combination of people of these two types.
Perhaps that information was also collected somewhere, but it was not included in National Origins formula.
There is a nice example of a living American with no colonial roots, but not US American. Pope Francis. Born in 1936. Father an immigrant - immigrated in 1929. Mother born in America in 1911... to two parents who were both immigrants. So no colonial roots.

The easier exercise to find the rough percentage is then to look at the white Americans who do NOT have colonial roots - either recent (20th century) immigrants, or descendants of immigrants who married other immigrants.

 

[StatGuy2000]

Do you count proportion of people descended from colonial stock, or proportion of people with some solonial ancestry?
For the first, there WAS an answer in 1920. Not a reliable answer, there are a plenty of methodological issues with the estimate, but it was the law of the land for over 40 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Origins_Formula

So, in 1920 census, 40,3 million of 94,8 million whites were counted as proportional descendants of the 3,2 million whites present in 1790.
How many whites present in USA in 2020 are (proportionally) descendants of those present in 1920? Remember that immigration to USA was largely restricted between 1920 and 1965, and largely nonwhite since 1965.

Immigration to the USA was only severely restricted between 1920 and 1965 to those who were not of British, Irish, or German ancestry. See the following on the Immigration Act of 1924.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924#Quota_calculation_formula

As per the Immigration Act of 1924, a quota system had been set up based on nationality of people's origins based on the 1890 census. Since people of British, Irish, or German origin made up the vast majority of people in the US at that time, people from these areas were given considerable latitude to immigrate to the US, while essentially restricting or banning immigrants from all other regions.

 

[snorkack]

Immigration to the USA was only severely restricted between 1920 and 1965 to those who were not of British, Irish, or German ancestry. See the following on the Immigration Act of 1924.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924#Quota_calculation_formula

As per the Immigration Act of 1924, a quote system had been set up based on nationality of people's origins based on the 1890 census. Since people of British, Irish, or German origin made up the vast majority of people in the US at that time, people from these areas were given considerable latitude to immigrate to the US, while essentially restricting or banning immigrants from all other regions.

My point is that the number of immigrants in 1925-1965 was small compared to the numbers 1900-1914. So summing up their numbers would be relatively easy.