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My heritage, lineage that seems to be pretty solid, is European with a very heavy dose of English gentry (minor nobles). It made me wonder – I knew there were German, Irish, Italian, Jewish and Arabic parts of large cities and some cultures (Penn Dutch, for example) had smaller rural hubs, but I thought the English (and the French that didn't go to Quebec) just mixed in the big melting pot. But I find it really surprising that so many of my ancestors seemed to be from English minor noble families. It's like they had a commonity here that no one married outside of for a few generations. By minor nobles, I mean “landed gentry”, not Dukes, Earls or whatever. A few “Sirs”, but no Kings. 🙂 It was often second or later sons that came over, probably because they would not be getting the manor in England. So I don't think they were any different in status than other colonists.
Arbarnhart, are you wondering if there were anything like English towns/neighborhoods associated with larger American/Canadian cities? That's a great question. We regularly hear about Irish/Chinese/Italian (etc etc) sections of towns, or even smaller German-heritage towns in some states, but curiously we don't hear about English neighborhoods or towns. I would guess that this is due to the chronological place that English settlers took up in North American history (being the earliest) and also because of the social phenomenon associated with foreign cultures entering a larger, mainstream culture. It would be likely that newer immigrants band together along nationalistic/cultural lines, thereby preserving that nationalistic/cultural name. Had North America originally been settled by the Irish in the 17th century, for example, any groups of English who would have come in the 19th century would have banded together to form English neighborhoods and the Irish identity would have gradually disappeared. This is my theory, at least.
The Landed Gentry congregated among themselves quite often, and usually for charitable festivities designed to ingratiate themselves with the poorer and middling classes by giving away food etc…In other words they practiced patronage in some form or fashion this way. In Colonial times, the Gentry received parcels of land from the King to administer under his charter. When Parliament took over, they became bureaucrats more or less. As the war approached, they became more and more isolated because of their unique position with the mother country. After the war, their titles were dissolved and their only distinction was their assets (if they were allowed to keep them that is). 🙂
In Colonial times, the Gentry received parcels of land from the King to administer under his charter. When Parliament took over, they became bureaucrats more or less. As the war approached, they became more and more isolated because of their unique position with the mother country. After the war, their titles were dissolved and their only distinction was their assets (if they were allowed to keep them that is). 🙂
So then what happened? Did they just disperse and forget about their heritage? ???
In Colonial times, the Gentry received parcels of land from the King to administer under his charter. When Parliament took over, they became bureaucrats more or less. As the war approached, they became more and more isolated because of their unique position with the mother country. After the war, their titles were dissolved and their only distinction was their assets (if they were allowed to keep them that is). 🙂
So then what happened? Did they just disperse and forget about their heritage? ???
Then came the Civil War.......................
Interesting; the timing kind of fits. It was mostly after mid-19th century that branches that were almost entirely traced back to English gentry started mixing. It struck me as rather odd as I have some ancestors from Germany, Holland, Luxembourg and Ireland that seemed to mix right away while the English went 4 or more generations only marrying others descended from other English land holders. I never considered whether they were loyalists or not; I have seen some service records that indicate my German ancestors had no hesitation in taking arms against the British. 🙂BTW, the ones that mixed very little were primarily mid-Atlantic. Besides the timing, it seemed they mixed once they moved out of MD and VA.
