The Old CountryWhere Did They Come From?
Your family carried clues across the Atlantic — in their surnames, their recipes, their prayers, and the places they settled. This tool reads those clues.
Seven questions. No DNA required. Just what you know — or what you’ve heard at the kitchen table.
A note: This is a cultural clue-finder, not a DNA test. It traces the patterns families carry — sometimes for centuries — and points you toward where the paper trail might begin. The real answers are always in the records.
What patterns do you see in your family surnames?
Surnames carry migration routes like fingerprints.
Select all that apply
What religious traditions were in your family?
Faith followed families across oceans — and sometimes changed at the border.
Select all that apply
What did your grandparents cook?
Recipes survive when languages don’t. What flavors came down the line?
Select all that apply
When did your family likely arrive in the Americas?
Migration waves tell you which port, which ship manifest, which story.
Where in the U.S. did your family settle?
Settlement patterns are a map back to the old country.
Any of these ring a bell in your family?
The little things — the customs nobody explained — are often the oldest clues.
Select all that apply
Do any of these sound familiar?
Sometimes the most important European ancestry is the one nobody talked about.
Select all that apply