The mystery of the disappearing Anglos

T

Tranquillus in Exile

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In the 1980 census 49 million Americans declared English ancestry (at 26% this was the largest population group).

In the 2000 census the number had halved to 24.5 million (8.7% - the fourth largest group).

What happened? One possibility is the long-time tendency of English Americans to identify simply as ‘Americans’.

WW1 hero Alvin York in boot camp ...

Drill sergeant: Don’t you understand English?
York: Nossir, we’re all Americans where I come from. (Appalachia)

Then again, they may have switched ancestry. The ancestral Biden came from Sussex, England, but Joe Biden is famously Irish-American.

:dunno:
 
English Americans probably had less kids, and many became ( American)

Another mystery is the shrinking Scots Irish.

But, Scots Irish is another name for Ulster Irish.

In that case many Scots Irish probably became Irish Americans.
 
Tranquillus in Exile said:
In the 1980 census 49 million Americans declared English ancestry (at 26% this was the largest population group).

In the 2000 census the number had halved to 24.5 million (8.7% - the fourth largest group).

What happened? One possibility is the long-time tendency of English Americans to identify simply as ‘Americans’.

WW1 hero Alvin York in boot camp ...

Drill sergeant: Don’t you understand English?
York: Nossir, we’re all Americans where I come from. (Appalachia)

Then again, they may have switched ancestry. The ancestral Biden came from Sussex, England, but Joe Biden is famously Irish-American.

:dunno:
Click to expand...

Or maybe most who filled out the census forms since then did not receive the forms with those questions on them. I've never seen the ancestry question on the ones I've filled out on behalf of the family. Have you?
 
Tranquillus in Exile said:
In the 1980 census 49 million Americans declared English ancestry (at 26% this was the largest population group).

In the 2000 census the number had halved to 24.5 million (8.7% - the fourth largest group).

What happened? One possibility is the long-time tendency of English Americans to identify simply as ‘Americans’.

WW1 hero Alvin York in boot camp ...

Drill sergeant: Don’t you understand English?
York: Nossir, we’re all Americans where I come from. (Appalachia)

Then again, they may have switched ancestry. The ancestral Biden came from Sussex, England, but Joe Biden is famously Irish-American.

:dunno:
Click to expand...


More Mixed Race families.
 
Tranquillus in Exile said:
In the 1980 census 49 million Americans declared English ancestry (at 26% this was the largest population group).

In the 2000 census the number had halved to 24.5 million (8.7% - the fourth largest group).

What happened? One possibility is the long-time tendency of English Americans to identify simply as ‘Americans’.

WW1 hero Alvin York in boot camp ...

Drill sergeant: Don’t you understand English?
York: Nossir, we’re all Americans where I come from. (Appalachia)

Then again, they may have switched ancestry. The ancestral Biden came from Sussex, England, but Joe Biden is famously Irish-American.

:dunno:
Click to expand...

After 400 years, I doubt there are any 'English-Americans'.
But ... still 'African-Americans'.
 
Tranquillus in Exile said:
In the 1980 census 49 million Americans declared English ancestry (at 26% this was the largest population group).

In the 2000 census the number had halved to 24.5 million (8.7% - the fourth largest group).

What happened? One possibility is the long-time tendency of English Americans to identify simply as ‘Americans’.

WW1 hero Alvin York in boot camp ...

Drill sergeant: Don’t you understand English?
York: Nossir, we’re all Americans where I come from. (Appalachia)

Then again, they may have switched ancestry. The ancestral Biden came from Sussex, England, but Joe Biden is famously Irish-American.

:dunno:
Click to expand...

I would have to see a link to confirm this information is reputable.

On the other hand, most Americans don't really know their ancestry, and are doing little more than guessing. An incredible amount of people claim their relatives go back to the Mayflower. An inordinate amount claim native American ancestry. A lot of white people have more Black American ancestry than they care to realize. An aquintance of my swore he had Russian ancestry, when a little research showed it was most likely Hungarian.

I have a feeling most Americans are repeating family legends or clinging to guesswork when it comes to ancestry.


I do take my share of blame though, for diluting the Anglo-Saxon gene pool in USA.
 
A summary of results from the 2000 census is here:
https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/2000/briefs/c2kbr-35.pdf

[This is part of a series that presents population data collected by Census 2000, where 80 percent of respondents to the long form specified at least one ancestry. About one-sixth of households received the long form.]

The five largest claimed ancestry groups in 2000 were:

German 42.8 million
Irish 30.5 million
African American 24.9 million
English 24.5 million
American(!) 20.2 million

Figures from the 1980 census are referenced here (but some links are dead):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Americans#Census:_1980-2000
 
Tranquillus in Exile said:
A summary of results from the 2000 census is here:
https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/2000/briefs/c2kbr-35.pdf

[This is part of a series that presents population data collected by Census 2000, where 80 percent of respondents to the long form specified at least one ancestry. About one-sixth of households received the long form.]

The five largest claimed ancestry groups in 2000 were:

German 42.8 million
Irish 30.5 million
African American 24.9 million
English 24.5 million
American(!) 20.2 million

Figures from the 1980 census are referenced here (but some links are dead):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Americans#Census:_1980-2000
Click to expand...

I'm on Ancestry.com and the Census Records from the 1800s usually ask about 'Where born' and a State is*Listed, or a Country. There's also a question about 'Parents born', and a State or Country is Listed.
People on my Father's side would be put down as 'Saxony' or just 'Sax' for Germany. There would also be a box for 'Naturalized'.

One odd thing I noticed, Ancestry put me down as 95% from British Isles. My Mother's side is from there, but all my Father's side is from Germany/Switzerland.
:) All I can conclude is that 'British Isles' is composed of 'North Europeans'.

I just looked this up:

"Anglo-Saxons
People
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to the 5th century settlement of incomers to Britain, who migrated to the island from the North Sea coastlands of mainland Europe. Wikipedia
 
Jack said:
I'm on Ancestry.com and the Census Records from the 1800s usually ask about 'Where born' and a State is*Listed, or a Country. There's also a question about 'Parents born', and a State or Country is Listed.
People on my Father's side would be put down as 'Saxony' or just 'Sax' for Germany. There would also be a box for 'Naturalized'.

One odd thing I noticed, Ancestry put me down as 95% from British Isles. My Mother's side is from there, but all my Father's side is from Germany/Switzerland.
:) All I can conclude is that 'British Isles' is composed of 'North Europeans'.

I just looked this up:

"Anglo-Saxons
People
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to the 5th century settlement of incomers to Britain, who migrated to the island from the North Sea coastlands of mainland Europe. Wikipedia
Click to expand...

I've got my ancestry reports from 23andMe.com. They are surprisingly specific, all the way down to the very canton in Switzerland where my maternal g-ma was born.
 
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