Worldbuilding Month Day 6: More Roots of the Aunt Tree

[aldersprig]

March is Worldbuilding Month! Leave me a question about any of my worlds, and I will do my best to answer it!
🌏
This third one is from kelkyag:
where did the American branch of the family, Carrie and Sarah, come from?

Okay, so I’d originally thought that the immigrated from Away, but I probably shouldn’t have named aunts I was thinking of as German Carrie and Sarah if that were the case.

Also, that doesn’t quite match with what I said to Rix.

So, let’s see.

Wikipedia says:

In the 1670s the first significant groups of German immigrants arrived in the British colonies, settling primarily in New York and Pennsylvania… Between 1820 and 1870 over seven and a half million German immigrants came to the United States

Since that story takes place in 1802, let’s say that the branch that thought of itself as the root branch came over to downstate NY in the late 1670’s.

That means there was an established branch downstate when Carrie and Sarah decided to come up north.

Which changes something - they may BE the root family, but they moved with no family at all. Were they part of a split; i.e., did they have the power of the family but were, say, the only children of an only surviving child? That would explain the move, too; if the power split off between them and another Aunt, a cousin.

So: Carrie and Sarah came from Downstate. *nods firmly*

Comments

[sauergeek]

The names may be Anglicizations of perfectly good German names, such as Karla and Serilda.

[aldersprig]

That’s a good point!

[clare_dragonfly]

Sarah is the English version of a Biblical name, so surely German has a version if it as well!

[kelkyag]

So is Evangeline descended from Carrie, or from the folks Downstate? Or is that TBD?

Sarah. Is that she of the explicit diaries?

I'm not quite grokking the "the only children of an only surviving child" condition for a split? Then the only surviving child wouldn't have been in line to become Aunt, for lack of any potential nieces, but why would that drive his/her children to split off? There seems to be a broader sprawl of family than that in Evangaline's vicinity.

[aldersprig]

...both? Carrie and Sarah came from the folks downstate.

Sarah might be.

I think need to try to solidify my feelings on a split.

Part of the question here is why the branch that moved upstate was so /small/.

[kelkyag]

So, yes, Evangaline is descended from Carrie, who's descended from the downstate folks if one goes back far enough.

If that's the same Sarah (and there's a comment somewhere about not repeating names ...), that could be why. Or anything else that could spawn a fight substantial enough to prompt a new-ish aunt to say "to hell with you, then" to the grannies, recruit a sibling, and move out of the area. Possibly other siblings and/or cousins followed Sarah and Carrie later, on, and the older generation(s) either stayed and died out, or kept enough of the younger generation(s) to create a branch, or didn't manage that but there's still a family-ish sprawl of folks there with power in their genes.

Do you want there to still be substantial family downstate, organized or otherwise?

[aldersprig]

Yes re. Eva.

And ooh, hadn’t thought about that. “Let’s get out of town because the family is frowning heavily at my sister.”

Hrrm. Yes, and not?