Being Disowned/My Heritage

Has anyone in class been disowned? Is anyone currently disowned?

Well, I'll tell you that I am disowned and will be for the rest of my life. No, not me alone. It's my entire family (at least those coming from my dad's side of the family). After reading Kim's blog about being able to go back several generations in her family, I thought that I should write a blog about my own family.

It seems like everyone in class is able to trace their heritage while I can't. I can only fully get my four grandparents and only four of my eight great-grandparents. Just like I commented on Kim's blog in which I ask why I only go this far, I ask the same thing here: Why?

I'll start with my mother's side of the family. She has an uncle that has the entire (okay, a lot) family tree. When my sister and I were younger, my mother wanted to know the family tree so that she could pass it down to the both of us. Her uncle doesn't want anyone to see it nor does he want anyone to have it. It seems like the family tree will be buried with him. I told my mother (as a joke but not a joke-joke) that it seems that the only way we will be able to see the family tree is when he croaks. And she agreed with me.

Now, I will tell you about how my dad's side of the family (which will eventually include my mother, me, and my sister) came to be disowned.

My father is one of five children. His father was a Catholic as was my grandfather's siblings and parents most likely were. My grandmother was a Catholic, but only because of my grandfather. Eventually, she would find her way to being a Jehovah's Witness. After that, my grandparents split-up, but they didn't divorce. After my grandfather left my grandmother to deal with the kids, his entire family disowned my dad, his siblings, my grandmother, and her side of the family. The kids stopped playing with her kids, the adults stopped talking and hanging out with her side, the adults did not want anything to do with her kids... It was like my grandmother's side of the family and her kids did not exist at all. Only because my grandmother was a Witness and not a Catholic! So, eventually, all of us cousins and our parents (those that are not part of my dad's parents' sides of the family) have become disowned through marriage and birth.

So, anyone reading this can see why I cannot go very far in my heritage. And, I wish that I could because I would love to know my heritage in a bad way. All I know is that I am Irish (probably why I loved watching Translations so much), Dutch, German, American, Cherokee, and Norwegian. I only know that my great-great-great grandmother on my mom's dad's side of the family is pure Cherokee and my great grandfather on my dad's mom's side is a direct descendant of the Vikings. Apparently not a good combination in my family. Probably end up burning villages and scalping people.