My sister asked me as the genealogist on our branch how many generations Oregonian we are.

[faerye@pie.gd]

My sister asked me as the genealogist on our branch how many generations Oregonian we are. And, uh, the problem is not knowing who got here when, it’s knowing how to count it!

So: how do other people count this? If a couple and their small kid move to [state] or [country] or [region], are the couple the first generation “of that place”, or the kid?

(Why does it matter? Because she’s writing letters to congresscritters about saving forests, and it sounds good when applying political pressure!)

[eedly@mindly.social]

@faerye I'd either count the parents as the first generation, or phrase it like "...since great-great-grandfather Francis came to Astoria in 1851."

I know some Oregonians who would only count the first generation born in Oregon; I think that's tiresome and gatekeepery, but then I was born somewhere else (strike 1) and came out to Oregon for college (strike 2) in Portland (strike 3).

[faerye@pie.gd]

@eedly Yeah, for me it’s like…does my spouse (came here around age 14/15) consider himself Oregonian? Yes! So it would be dickish not to count someone like that!

But then I get stuck on whether I count from the kid or the parents.

Haha on Portland being a strike! (I was born in Portland, but since my parents were both born in southern OR I guess I don’t have to worry about that gatekeeping.)

[eedly@mindly.social]

@faerye When I lived in Reedsport, I'd get more side-eye about having lived in Portland than having lived in Connecticut. But really, it was the two co-workers that I had in Portland—both from rural Oregon (Vernonia and Myrtle Point)—who were the most gatekeepery, in that sort of "we're kidding, but we're not really kidding" kind of way.