How much of a "mutt" are you-in terms of your ancestry?

[csziggy]

118. There were German Protestants who moved to Northern Ireland

Centuries ago the British government encouraged Protestants from mainland Europe to move to Northern Ireland to help hold it. Some of them or their descendants ended up leaving for America because they did not want to follow the Church of England, but continued to rebel against the state religion.

In the same vein, quite a few English, Irish and Scottish Protestants went to Protestant parts of Northern Europe before they left for America.

I have some Northern Irish ancestors who may possibly have been of German descent. They were persecuted for being Quakers and lost a lot because they refused to pay tithes to the Church of England which acted as the defacto taxing agency for the government. They left Ireland after buying land from William Penn. I also have British Quaker ancestors who moved to Holland before leaving for Pennsylvania - one couple were married in Utrecht. It led to a lot of confusion in trying to track those people's parents down, though I was disappointed when I found out I had no Dutch ancestry.