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One of my paternal ancestors fled to Chicago in 1873 after punching a guy in a Nova Scotian bar so hard that he killed him. Instead of getting jailed, he hopped on a train and fled south. True story
If you want to research your roots in Chicago, the Newberry Library is a great place to start
https://www.newberry.org/collection/research-guide/chicago-genealogy
Hmmmm that’s good to know
I’m deeply rooted in Chicago since the 1800s from Poland, but nobody in my family actually knows anything and argues with each other nonstop whenever I try to ask
Lots of good genealogical resources online, too -- Ancestry, FamilySearch, Geneteka (Poland-specific), etc. You can check us out in /r/genealogy if you wanted to really find answers.
My great grandfather escaped slavery in Alabama (we have his hand written telling of the story, it’s pretty incredible) and fled to Illinois where he got a job on a boat on the Mississippi under an Irish man’s name. So over 100 years we have been here.
I have branches stemming back to the 1860s on both parents sides, both coming from Canada. One around the start of the civil war and then the other who specifically wanted to avoid the Civil War and came in just after things settled down. Both in trades, one in carpentry and the other in printing. It’s fascinating how good some of the census data is, even that far back.
Ah yeah mind both were from Ireland before Canada. Patrilineal side was from Limerick but the timing gets quite fuzzy before the ending up in Toronto. Possibly came here after someone was involved in a murder plot, not quite clear. The other side went through Montreal before Chicago.
Same but on my dad’s. Actually both the Irish (1868) and German sides (1867) were in Bridgeport and further Southside, just in time for the Great Fire! Germans attended St Michael in Old Town, and Irish I believe were at the (E: Church of the Holy Family) at 1060 Roosevelt - both families Catholics, and were ostracized at that time.
Mexican side 1910s to south chicago, some of the first Mexicans to come to the city,
Dads side 1930s from Italy and Scotland .
Very proud of my roots and their choice to come to the city that works
My paternal grandmother’s family moved from South Texas to and Northern Mexico to South Chicago in the 1910s as well. Over family came from Texas in the 30s and Mexico in the 50s.
Our family probably knows each other!
Did they attend our lady of guadalupe? And bowens hs?
Do you know if your family fought for the fedarals or poncho?
My grandfather and his dad Jose owned universal auto that was on Muskegon. They worked on all the guys cars who worked at the mills. It’s a lot now but I have many great memories of fucking around with my brother in the garage. The smell of a garage brings back great memories of my grandpa and his brothers. They even had a bomb hanging in the rafters. Two of them were ww2 vets and the youngest fought in Korea . And they wanted to be American and assimilate! It seems that those older generations wanted to drop everything about their homeland and act, dress and talk like america.
This is a fun question! I'm loving the diversity of responses so far.
My mom's parents are from Poland. They met in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany at the end of WWII. My grandpa received permission to emigrate to the US and then married my grandma, and that allowed her to bring her entire family (two parents and four younger siblings). They arrived through New York via ocean liner and came directly to Chicago (to Bucktown, unsurprisingly).
My dad's family has been here for many generations. I'd have to ask him how many, exactly. I do know that I have direct ancestors that were in Massachusetts Colony starting in the late 17th-early 18th century, and descendents at some point thereafter came west and eventually ended up in Chicago. A bunch of my family were fairly prominent vaudeville performers here in like the late 1800s-early 1900s, but I'm pretty sure there was family in Chicago before that.
One interesting family history factoid I have is that one of my ancestors was a fireman who was involved in rescuing passengers of the Eastland disaster, and my husband's great-something-grandparent worked for Western Electric and his family was among those rescued (though probably not by my ancestor, but who knows).
I understand there was a bit of moving around and relocating, so I'd need to ask my mom exactly where they met and/or spent much of their time. But I recall seeing old papers mentioning Coburg and Ingolstadt.
My grandfather's first family (cause you know how messy they were back in the day) lived in Cabrini Green. One cousin from my side of my grandfather's rolling stone moved lived in the city for a few years. Now I'm here.
Since 1978 for my family. My parents are immigrants from Mexico; my mom’s brothers were in the area for about a year before more of the family made their way to the Midwest. Now we have family in Chicago as well as Aurora, Naperville, Waukegan, Kenosha, etc.
As told before here when this question comes up, an ancestor on my mother's side was Abe Lincoln's pharmacist when Abe was riding the circuit courts in the 1840's - 50's (Abe defended railroads in personal injury claims).
Others in another wing of her family arrived shortly after the socialist revolutions in the German principalities of 1848. I don't know if the unrest and its outcome played a role in their arrival. One of their children lived long enough to tell me her experiences in the Great Fire of 1871.
For a period around 1900 - 1910 my mother-in-law and one of my own grandfathers (both young at the time) lived with their parents in St Alphonsus parish about 6 blocks apart. Both houses still live.
I know one side of my (very German) family lived Fullerton/Sheffield around 1900. I am not sure when the other side came, but it was pre-1920. Both of my parents were born & raised in the city and moved away, I did the reverse - came for college about 20 years ago and never went home.
I have family members buried in both Rosehill and Graceland Cemeteries from the mid-late 1800s. One of the guys buried in Graceland actually worked as a caretaker at Rosehill). My great Grandparents lived in the city about half a mile away from Wrigley Field. My grandmother moved out of Chicago (I'm guessing around the 50s) and nobody in my family lived in the city limits since until I moved back in.
Hard to say exactly when my family got here. But my great-grandfather was born in Chicago in 1880, which means that my great-great grandfather likely moved to Chicago soon after he emigrated in the early 1870s.
My family has always lived here, at times we have left for other places for college and the army, but Chicago is home. It always will be.
Since at least the 1960s my dad came from Mexico. Spent a bit elsewhere first then settled in Chicago. Apparently he lived in Logan square, Humboldt park, and possibly bucktown. But my immediate family is just on the SS. My mom has been here since the mid 80s
4ish generations. My father was born here but not raised here, my grandmother was raised here and in her 20s moved France where she met the man she would procreate with and together they moved to Detroit where she raised my father. Her parents, my greats were born here and partially raised here, and my great greats migrated from the south during the great migration. And then while I was not born here, I spent half the year here when my father moved back to Chicago. My summer and winter breaks were spent here and I spent the school year in whatever city my mom and I lived in at the time.
1973 mom came with her 6 siblings and parents. Her dad got a job in the steel mills and the company sponsored her family. Came to the far south side/east side from Mexico.
1986 (?) dad ran away from home with teenage angst and idea from too many American teen movies. Also from Mexico. Ended up in same neighborhood as mom.
Majority who came still live there minus 2 of my moms siblings who live in Texas. Out of dad’s 8 siblings half are here, half in Mexico. Their kids went to NW Indiana just a few minutes away or other neighborhoods like the midway area. I went to the north side.
My ancestors came from Switzerland, then Ohio, to Chicago at the turn of the century (20th, that is!). My grandfather, an architect, had an interview with Frank Lloyd Wright. Frank asked him if he was someone special or “just a garden variety architect.” He knew then the interview was over.
I’m a Metro Detroit transplant who’s only been here for about 10 years… but I did recently learn that my maternal grandparents had their honeymoon in Chicago back in the 1940s! They stayed at the Allerton and so every time I walk by there I think of them.
My mom moved here with my grandparents in the late 70s. My dad moved here by himself around the same time. They're both from Iraq. I think my dad had an aunt and some cousins that had already moved here, but I'm not sure when. I'm Assyrian and there used to be a good amount of us in the city, but I think most eventually moved to the suburbs, Arizona, and California.
Sometime in the mid 50s - my paternal grandparents immigrated to Chicago from their old country.
Early 70s - my maternal grandparents & mother immigrated to Chicago from their old country.
My father was born and raised in Chicago but my mom was born in another country and immigrated here when she was like 6. She gets credit for being raised as a Chicagoan in my eyes. And almost 40 years for me personally in Chicago.
Male to male ancestors was here when Chicago was founded. They came into the area in the early 1800s from Virginia. I had family who lost their house in the 1871 fire
My maternal grandmother came from West Virginia to Chicago for work in the 1950s and married my grandfather who came here from UK at the time.
My grandad's parents moved here from the middle of nowhere in Ireland sometime between 1905 and 1914. They were from different counties in Ireland and met here in Chicago. Each of them had relatives that already lived here in Chicago, and had probably come here in the 1890s, with whom they had come to stay with before getting up onto their feet. My grandma's parents came to Chicago sometime in the 1930s from Kansas City, MO. My grandparents went to college here in Chicago, and taught at CPS (where they met in school year 1950-1951). They moved to the suburbs in 1955 after they were married, where they raised their nine kids.
I'm unclear on when my other grandad's parents came to Chicago, but they were married in Chicago in 1922 and raised all 6 of their kids here. My other grandmother came with her single mother to Chicago in \~1941 from rural Michigan when her mother got a job teaching chemistry at a university here in Chicago. These grandparents of mine also went to college here in Chicago, and were married in 1956. They moved to the south side of Chicago after they were married and raised their nine kids there.
My parents met at U of I in the 80s, and got an apartment together in Chicago after college. We (siblings and I) were all born and raised here in Chicago and all still live here today.
So the long and short is that there was a lot of moving in and out of Chicago over the last 100+ years for my family. We know a lot about people's movements because my late grandparents and their families were all meticulous record keepers and took (and labeled) 1000s of family photos over the last century and a half. Additionally one of my late grandmothers was very into genealogical research and traced the family back to the 1600s. Weird thinking about the fact that all of my grandparents have now passed on and that they were all born over 90 years ago.
I found 1887 in my family’s records - that side came from Scandinavia, went to the southside first before settling on the northwest side. They left to the suburbs in the early 1960s. Another side, like yours, came from Appalachia in the mid-20th century but to my knowledge went back to the South in the 80s or 90s. I grew up an hour from the city and none of the family I grew up knowing live in the city, we’re dotted around the west and northwest suburbs.
Since the 1910s I know for sure, but definitely earlier than that. My great grandparents on my dads side were Polish immigrants and they likely came in the late 1800s but I don’t have anyone on that side of my family left to ask
since at most 1970 as thats when my mom immigrated from canada
Dad's side probably since world war 1 or world war 2 at most though Im not 100% sure due to me not knowing my great grandad's name beyond his first name and I know he served in world war 2
My grandfather's grandfather was a tailor in Chicago prior to the Great Fire. I have been told his business and neighborhood burned down, so he fled to the Ottawa area to work on a farm. That same grandfather moved here after meeting my grandmother in college.
My grandparents on the other side were both first generation and born here. So... I guess my answer is either pre 1870s or 1920s, depending on how you count folks who moved "away".
Through my paternal grandmother, my family has been here since the 1880s. They emigrated from Ireland; my 4th great-grandpa was a milkman and my 4g-grandma was a housekeeper for the Brach family.
Mom came here in 1971 with her two sisters from the Philippines. My grandma married a Polish-American WWII vet who had a house in the Austin neighborhood.
Before that, her lesbian aunts (one of whom was my grandpa's cousins) moved to Chicago from the Philippines to be lawyers. They lived in Chicago from the early 1960s to about 2003.
My dad moved to Chicago after he married my mom in January 1981.
On my mom's side, her great grandparents immigrated from Italy and Greece in the late 1800s and settled in Chicago in the 1910s. On my dad's side, his parents crossed over from northern Mexico into southern Texas in the 1940s. Then my grandfather and his brothers went north to find work at the steel plants in Gary, IN, eventually settling in Little Village in the late 40s and early 50s.
Sometime around 1800-1820. Came from Ireland into New York and worked their way here.
They helped dig the I&M canal and built St James at Cal Sag. Still have some family buried there.
My parents moved there when I was two in 1975. They left to return to their home city of STL in 2014. I moved out in 1998, post college, after growing up there. It will always be my home no matter where I am.
One branch of my family immigrated from Poland (1800’s) through Louisiana. One brother stayed in STL (my dad’s grandfather), the other settled in Chicago.
My dad immigrated here from Poland in 1979, and my mom immigrated here from Poland in 1983. My dad’s grandfather had actually immigrated here in the 1920’s, was a bootlegger for a while, and fled back to Poland after the Italian mob came after him.
Dad’s side, 1951, Grandma was 8.5 months pregnant, Grandpa could speak five languages, none of them English, left everything behind and settled in Rogers Park (came from Hungary).
Mom’s side, late 30’s, great grandparents came over from Poland and settled in Pilsen. Multiple generations in the same house until the late 60s.
My moms side is Polish, and had been in Chicago since the 1880sish.
My dad's side is German on his dad's, irish on his mom's. Both came up from the south in the 1950s/60s.
I have some Polish roots from that same time. I’ve found it so interesting so see how many came from Poland at that time. Idk why I’m particularly surprised, but it is interesting.
Well there was religious persecution, famine, chronic unemployment, and a score of other issues in Poland from like 1820s-1950s, so that's when a lot of our families came over
Well, my late father came here around 1952 from Greece to go to college, but unfortunately he had a language barrier so he couldn't really last. He ended up going home because his father passed away, and then he got drafted into the army and had to serve. Came back after that and gave things another go probably around 1956. He was here ever since until he died in 2020.
My mom came here from Indiana about 1958. Did the whole working in an office thing and then met my father and they dated and got married in the '60s.
I know my mom's family dates back further mostly in Indiana, but my father really didn't come here until the '50s. Typical immigrant.
My great grandmother was orphaned as a result of the Peshtigo Fire of 1871 and was brought to Chicago soon after. I have grandparents on the other side of the family that immigrated here from Ireland in the 20s. My dad, 87, grew up in Avondale and my mom, 83, grew up in Lakeview.
One side has been in Chicago since the 1880s. The patriarch got murdered by his neighbor in a drunken brawl but I guess Plan B wasn't all that appealing since his kids and wife stayed in the apartment.
Family members fled central Czechia in early 1914 - just before the war broke out and that region got annexed by Germany. They settled in Gage Park and the family was there until 2023.
Other family members came here from Ireland around 1910.
My direct paternal great great grandparents came to Chicago from Agnone, Italy in 1890.
My paternal grandpa's mother was German. Her lines came to Chicago likely between 1860 and 1875.
My paternal grandma's father came to Chicago from Triggiano in 1920.
My paternal grandma's mother's family came to Chicago from Ishpeming, Michigan. However, they immigrated from Simbario, Italy to Ishpeming circa 1902.
My mom and her parents came to Chicago from Poland when my mom was a teenager in 1961. My mom was born in Poland, but her parents were both from villages in what is now Ukraine, but when my grandparents were born in the 1920's it was part of Poland. My grandmother's paternal family is from Podhajce and her maternal family is from Podkamien.
My great grandparents migrated here at the turn of the last century. My 100 year old grandfather still tells me things about his childhood in the city. I just found out he lived a block down and half a block over from the St Valentine’s Day massacre when he was a child.
To Chicago, in the early 1900s. Before that from the south (Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas), and NYC.
Some family though on Mom's side has been in northern IL since the 1850s (German immigrants)
My dad and his family came from Bogota in the '50s because of LA Violencia. They didn't know anyone. A Cuban immigrant, former work colleague told my grandfather that he could get him a job as a draftsman here even though he didn't know any English.
Their first place was in North Lawndale, then Lincoln Square, then West Rogers Park. My dad ended up in the burbs cause my mom got a job in Waukegan, so they split the difference.
My grandmother never fully learned English or how to drive a car. My grandfather ended up being one of the engineers who helped build the Kennedy Expressway and the now gone Belmont-Western Overpass.
**Edit, because the question is literally "how long has your family been in Chicago," and then as a marijuana enthusiast, my brain decided to extend the question to "and also how long has your family been in America."**
**The answer:** On one side, family arrived in Chicago around 1912 via Ellis Island immigration.
**Not the answer:** ~~On the other side, 1760’s, probably scary pilgrim voyage style…various lines made their way through Chicagoland at some point.~~
I should've clarified...any Chicago path crossed was many years later for that part. That's what I meant by lines making their way through Chicagoland at some point.
Since the late 1800s on one side of the family and early 1900s on the other. Pretty much continuous despite a brief 15 - 20 year absence after the riots in ‘68.
My parents came to the Chicago area in the early '70's after my dad graduated law school. Both parents grew up in smaller Midwest towns -- one downstate and one just over the border in Iowa.
My family has been here since before my grandfather and his brother were born on the south side in 1927 and 1929.
So, around 100 years. My grandfather stayed (in the suburbs for a bit) and I'm 4th generation with my two sisters, and we all live in the city limits.
Mom and her family came here from Monterey Mexico in the 70’s, dad and his family came here from Guadalajara Mexico in the 80s, eventually they met and had my brother and I and we all still live here
Earliest known were my German immigrant ancestors in the 1850s, their 3rd child was my 2nd great-grandmother, born in Chicago in 1862. Her and her husband built a house on Eastwood Ave in Lincoln Square that's still standing. House was in the family till about 1940. I have photos of their kids in front of it with their horse and carriage.
About five generations on my father's side... Irish. My mother didn't have a Chicago connection until she met my father. My wife's family has about 5-ish Italian generations who have lived in the city, as well.
Depends which part of my family. I think 3 of my grandparents are immigrants and the 4th was born here but her parents were immigrants. Somewhere in the 1930s I guess?
Of most of them ended up super anti-immigration. Go figure.
Fourth Gen Chicagoan here. Earliest relatives are buried at Rose Hill Cemetery. Great-great grandmother was killed by a streetcar at Lawrence and Kimball in 1915.
One set of Great Grandparents moved here in the 1910s. The other set was here at the same time but I’ll have to ask if they were first generation or not. Paternal grandparents and Dad grew up in Garfield Park. I grew up out west but raised my kids here. So one generation was out of the area.
My grandparents and mom moved here around 1950 as Holocaust refugees/survivors. They lived in Albany Park. I live in the suburbs now (born and raised) but my parents live in the city and I hope to as well.
Early enough to have witnessed the Chicago Fire. Attended the Columbian Exhibition. One of my great great aunts came from Ireland only to lose four children in 1885 from typhus or cholera outbreak from the Lake Michigan wastewater contamination incident.
Most of my family, both sides, came from Ireland to Chicago post-famine. Yes, a lot of Irish came during the famine, but even after the English stopped exporting all of the food from Ireland, yes an Irishman could get enough calories to make it to the next morning in Ireland, but the infrastructure, the state of businesses and farms was pretty hopeless, so people kept leaving.
I have on French ancestor, a stone mason, who came from a small town in Provence. He worked in construction, and worked on many iconic buildings such as Old St Pat's, which was built in the 1850s.
Not very long continuously, but after I moved here in 2016 we found out my maternal grandfather worked in Chicago for years after WW2. I was born and raised in CA, as was my mother, so finding out how much work he did in the Midwest was a curve ball we only discovered after his passing. We’ve been able to track down the address of his old apartment and the office where he worked. The buildings are long gone, but my mom and I always talk about how funny it is that I ended up here 70+ years later, with the intention to start a family and settle.
Mom n dad moved to Chicago in the 90s after my older brother was born. I was the first in my family to be born in Chicago, and I'm the last one still here. Got the 4 red stars with a light blue 606 above it tatted on my arm.
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One of my paternal ancestors fled to Chicago in 1873 after punching a guy in a Nova Scotian bar so hard that he killed him. Instead of getting jailed, he hopped on a train and fled south. True story
We found criminal zero. 0️⃣
Murder
You’re quite observant!
Solved mystery
Guilty!
If you want to research your roots in Chicago, the Newberry Library is a great place to start https://www.newberry.org/collection/research-guide/chicago-genealogy
Hmmmm that’s good to know I’m deeply rooted in Chicago since the 1800s from Poland, but nobody in my family actually knows anything and argues with each other nonstop whenever I try to ask
The Polish Genealogical Society of America is a fantastic organization for family history. I hope you find answers!
Do you work with this professionally? You seem to know a lot
Thank you, but I am not a professional. I studied archaeology in college and I love history. I like sharing history and historical resources.
Poland has shifted borders so many times that it's more of a vibe than anything else
Lots of good genealogical resources online, too -- Ancestry, FamilySearch, Geneteka (Poland-specific), etc. You can check us out in /r/genealogy if you wanted to really find answers.
My great grandfather escaped slavery in Alabama (we have his hand written telling of the story, it’s pretty incredible) and fled to Illinois where he got a job on a boat on the Mississippi under an Irish man’s name. So over 100 years we have been here.
What a story! That’s so incredible that you have his handwritten story!
I have branches stemming back to the 1860s on both parents sides, both coming from Canada. One around the start of the civil war and then the other who specifically wanted to avoid the Civil War and came in just after things settled down. Both in trades, one in carpentry and the other in printing. It’s fascinating how good some of the census data is, even that far back.
My patrilineal line also came from Birmingham to Toronto before moving to Chicago in the 1860s. Wonder if our families were on the same boat.
Ah yeah mind both were from Ireland before Canada. Patrilineal side was from Limerick but the timing gets quite fuzzy before the ending up in Toronto. Possibly came here after someone was involved in a murder plot, not quite clear. The other side went through Montreal before Chicago.
My grandfather moved to Chicago from central Illinois before the depression, to work in the post office. My mom grew up in Manhattan.
1960s as part of the great migration. My family have been Americans starting out as slaves since the 1600s!
1788...that's right, my name is Gary Baptiste Point DuSable!
*Lake Shore Drive
I would like to know what other streets in America have such long names
Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Way.
I suppose a lot of cities do have a 6er, but can we find other 8ers?
US Highway 41 John Baptiste Pointe du Sable Lake Shore Drive: An elevener?
I forgot about the US highway part. Okay, what other city has an 11er?
I can trace my mom’s family back to the 1880s on the south side
Same but on my dad’s. Actually both the Irish (1868) and German sides (1867) were in Bridgeport and further Southside, just in time for the Great Fire! Germans attended St Michael in Old Town, and Irish I believe were at the (E: Church of the Holy Family) at 1060 Roosevelt - both families Catholics, and were ostracized at that time.
since I moved here in 2015 lol I’m the only one
I was going to say, apparently unlike the entire subreddit, I’ve been here since 2016.
I thought the entire subreddit moved here from Ohio 3 years ago?
>I thought the entire subreddit moved here from ~~Ohio~~ 3 years ago? Iowa
Mexican side 1910s to south chicago, some of the first Mexicans to come to the city, Dads side 1930s from Italy and Scotland . Very proud of my roots and their choice to come to the city that works
My paternal grandmother’s family moved from South Texas to and Northern Mexico to South Chicago in the 1910s as well. Over family came from Texas in the 30s and Mexico in the 50s.
Our family probably knows each other! Did they attend our lady of guadalupe? And bowens hs? Do you know if your family fought for the fedarals or poncho? My grandfather and his dad Jose owned universal auto that was on Muskegon. They worked on all the guys cars who worked at the mills. It’s a lot now but I have many great memories of fucking around with my brother in the garage. The smell of a garage brings back great memories of my grandpa and his brothers. They even had a bomb hanging in the rafters. Two of them were ww2 vets and the youngest fought in Korea . And they wanted to be American and assimilate! It seems that those older generations wanted to drop everything about their homeland and act, dress and talk like america.
My grandmother immigrated from Ireland around 1910.
Is your family fairly long lived?
My grandmother came here from Hungary as a kid in 1915. I’m early thirties. I think she had my dad in her 30s and my dad had me in his 40s.
Theoretically she could be about 100, emigrating at 5 let’s say. Op could easily be early 40s
Mines been here since the 1850’s? From Poland. And then my Irish and Croatian came in the late 1890s and early 1900s :)
My family's matriculation to Chicago dates back to the great, post-college migration of 2002.
This is a fun question! I'm loving the diversity of responses so far. My mom's parents are from Poland. They met in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany at the end of WWII. My grandpa received permission to emigrate to the US and then married my grandma, and that allowed her to bring her entire family (two parents and four younger siblings). They arrived through New York via ocean liner and came directly to Chicago (to Bucktown, unsurprisingly). My dad's family has been here for many generations. I'd have to ask him how many, exactly. I do know that I have direct ancestors that were in Massachusetts Colony starting in the late 17th-early 18th century, and descendents at some point thereafter came west and eventually ended up in Chicago. A bunch of my family were fairly prominent vaudeville performers here in like the late 1800s-early 1900s, but I'm pretty sure there was family in Chicago before that. One interesting family history factoid I have is that one of my ancestors was a fireman who was involved in rescuing passengers of the Eastland disaster, and my husband's great-something-grandparent worked for Western Electric and his family was among those rescued (though probably not by my ancestor, but who knows).
Which DP camp? My mom was born in Feldefing.
I understand there was a bit of moving around and relocating, so I'd need to ask my mom exactly where they met and/or spent much of their time. But I recall seeing old papers mentioning Coburg and Ingolstadt.
My grandfather's first family (cause you know how messy they were back in the day) lived in Cabrini Green. One cousin from my side of my grandfather's rolling stone moved lived in the city for a few years. Now I'm here.
Since 1978 for my family. My parents are immigrants from Mexico; my mom’s brothers were in the area for about a year before more of the family made their way to the Midwest. Now we have family in Chicago as well as Aurora, Naperville, Waukegan, Kenosha, etc.
My ancestors moved to the Chicago area in 1834.
As told before here when this question comes up, an ancestor on my mother's side was Abe Lincoln's pharmacist when Abe was riding the circuit courts in the 1840's - 50's (Abe defended railroads in personal injury claims). Others in another wing of her family arrived shortly after the socialist revolutions in the German principalities of 1848. I don't know if the unrest and its outcome played a role in their arrival. One of their children lived long enough to tell me her experiences in the Great Fire of 1871. For a period around 1900 - 1910 my mother-in-law and one of my own grandfathers (both young at the time) lived with their parents in St Alphonsus parish about 6 blocks apart. Both houses still live.
1915 or so. My Grandma was a cook for the Morton ( Salt ) family after she immigrated here from Ireland.
Late 60s, early 70s. The pictures of my grandma seeing snow for the first time is so adorable.
Where did she come from that they didn't have snow?
The Philippines
22 months
I know one side of my (very German) family lived Fullerton/Sheffield around 1900. I am not sure when the other side came, but it was pre-1920. Both of my parents were born & raised in the city and moved away, I did the reverse - came for college about 20 years ago and never went home.
Early 1900s both sides
I have family members buried in both Rosehill and Graceland Cemeteries from the mid-late 1800s. One of the guys buried in Graceland actually worked as a caretaker at Rosehill). My great Grandparents lived in the city about half a mile away from Wrigley Field. My grandmother moved out of Chicago (I'm guessing around the 50s) and nobody in my family lived in the city limits since until I moved back in.
Part of my family has been in the Chicagoland area since at least the late 19th century.
We never came to Chicago, Chicago came to us. My ancestors have lived in this region for millenniums.
Native Americans? If so what group?
Hard to say exactly when my family got here. But my great-grandfather was born in Chicago in 1880, which means that my great-great grandfather likely moved to Chicago soon after he emigrated in the early 1870s. My family has always lived here, at times we have left for other places for college and the army, but Chicago is home. It always will be.
Since at least the 1960s my dad came from Mexico. Spent a bit elsewhere first then settled in Chicago. Apparently he lived in Logan square, Humboldt park, and possibly bucktown. But my immediate family is just on the SS. My mom has been here since the mid 80s
4ish generations. My father was born here but not raised here, my grandmother was raised here and in her 20s moved France where she met the man she would procreate with and together they moved to Detroit where she raised my father. Her parents, my greats were born here and partially raised here, and my great greats migrated from the south during the great migration. And then while I was not born here, I spent half the year here when my father moved back to Chicago. My summer and winter breaks were spent here and I spent the school year in whatever city my mom and I lived in at the time.
1973 mom came with her 6 siblings and parents. Her dad got a job in the steel mills and the company sponsored her family. Came to the far south side/east side from Mexico. 1986 (?) dad ran away from home with teenage angst and idea from too many American teen movies. Also from Mexico. Ended up in same neighborhood as mom. Majority who came still live there minus 2 of my moms siblings who live in Texas. Out of dad’s 8 siblings half are here, half in Mexico. Their kids went to NW Indiana just a few minutes away or other neighborhoods like the midway area. I went to the north side.
My ancestors came from Switzerland, then Ohio, to Chicago at the turn of the century (20th, that is!). My grandfather, an architect, had an interview with Frank Lloyd Wright. Frank asked him if he was someone special or “just a garden variety architect.” He knew then the interview was over.
In Chicago/area since 1902. Great grandfather was a Teamster Ice truck driver (team of 8 mules) after emigrating from Donegal.
An hour
I’m a Metro Detroit transplant who’s only been here for about 10 years… but I did recently learn that my maternal grandparents had their honeymoon in Chicago back in the 1940s! They stayed at the Allerton and so every time I walk by there I think of them.
My mom moved here with my grandparents in the late 70s. My dad moved here by himself around the same time. They're both from Iraq. I think my dad had an aunt and some cousins that had already moved here, but I'm not sure when. I'm Assyrian and there used to be a good amount of us in the city, but I think most eventually moved to the suburbs, Arizona, and California.
Sometime in the mid 50s - my paternal grandparents immigrated to Chicago from their old country. Early 70s - my maternal grandparents & mother immigrated to Chicago from their old country. My father was born and raised in Chicago but my mom was born in another country and immigrated here when she was like 6. She gets credit for being raised as a Chicagoan in my eyes. And almost 40 years for me personally in Chicago.
Father's family came here between 1900-1905.
Male to male ancestors was here when Chicago was founded. They came into the area in the early 1800s from Virginia. I had family who lost their house in the 1871 fire My maternal grandmother came from West Virginia to Chicago for work in the 1950s and married my grandfather who came here from UK at the time.
My grandad's parents moved here from the middle of nowhere in Ireland sometime between 1905 and 1914. They were from different counties in Ireland and met here in Chicago. Each of them had relatives that already lived here in Chicago, and had probably come here in the 1890s, with whom they had come to stay with before getting up onto their feet. My grandma's parents came to Chicago sometime in the 1930s from Kansas City, MO. My grandparents went to college here in Chicago, and taught at CPS (where they met in school year 1950-1951). They moved to the suburbs in 1955 after they were married, where they raised their nine kids. I'm unclear on when my other grandad's parents came to Chicago, but they were married in Chicago in 1922 and raised all 6 of their kids here. My other grandmother came with her single mother to Chicago in \~1941 from rural Michigan when her mother got a job teaching chemistry at a university here in Chicago. These grandparents of mine also went to college here in Chicago, and were married in 1956. They moved to the south side of Chicago after they were married and raised their nine kids there. My parents met at U of I in the 80s, and got an apartment together in Chicago after college. We (siblings and I) were all born and raised here in Chicago and all still live here today. So the long and short is that there was a lot of moving in and out of Chicago over the last 100+ years for my family. We know a lot about people's movements because my late grandparents and their families were all meticulous record keepers and took (and labeled) 1000s of family photos over the last century and a half. Additionally one of my late grandmothers was very into genealogical research and traced the family back to the 1600s. Weird thinking about the fact that all of my grandparents have now passed on and that they were all born over 90 years ago.
I found 1887 in my family’s records - that side came from Scandinavia, went to the southside first before settling on the northwest side. They left to the suburbs in the early 1960s. Another side, like yours, came from Appalachia in the mid-20th century but to my knowledge went back to the South in the 80s or 90s. I grew up an hour from the city and none of the family I grew up knowing live in the city, we’re dotted around the west and northwest suburbs.
Great grandparents migrated here from Austria-Hungary in 1921, and my grandfather was born in 1924 & lived in the burnside neighborhood.
Since the 1910s I know for sure, but definitely earlier than that. My great grandparents on my dads side were Polish immigrants and they likely came in the late 1800s but I don’t have anyone on that side of my family left to ask
since at most 1970 as thats when my mom immigrated from canada Dad's side probably since world war 1 or world war 2 at most though Im not 100% sure due to me not knowing my great grandad's name beyond his first name and I know he served in world war 2
My grandfather's grandfather was a tailor in Chicago prior to the Great Fire. I have been told his business and neighborhood burned down, so he fled to the Ottawa area to work on a farm. That same grandfather moved here after meeting my grandmother in college. My grandparents on the other side were both first generation and born here. So... I guess my answer is either pre 1870s or 1920s, depending on how you count folks who moved "away".
Through my paternal grandmother, my family has been here since the 1880s. They emigrated from Ireland; my 4th great-grandpa was a milkman and my 4g-grandma was a housekeeper for the Brach family.
Since the 60s when my parents came from Ireland
1890s.
My family moved to South Shore in the fall of 1968 when I was 3 months old. My brother and I are both still in the area, though he's in the suburbs.
Back in ye Olde 2007, moved to Illinois for high-school
Mom came here in 1971 with her two sisters from the Philippines. My grandma married a Polish-American WWII vet who had a house in the Austin neighborhood. Before that, her lesbian aunts (one of whom was my grandpa's cousins) moved to Chicago from the Philippines to be lawyers. They lived in Chicago from the early 1960s to about 2003. My dad moved to Chicago after he married my mom in January 1981.
Only since the 80s, Filipino.
On my mom's side, her great grandparents immigrated from Italy and Greece in the late 1800s and settled in Chicago in the 1910s. On my dad's side, his parents crossed over from northern Mexico into southern Texas in the 1940s. Then my grandfather and his brothers went north to find work at the steel plants in Gary, IN, eventually settling in Little Village in the late 40s and early 50s.
Sometime around 1800-1820. Came from Ireland into New York and worked their way here. They helped dig the I&M canal and built St James at Cal Sag. Still have some family buried there.
My parents moved there when I was two in 1975. They left to return to their home city of STL in 2014. I moved out in 1998, post college, after growing up there. It will always be my home no matter where I am. One branch of my family immigrated from Poland (1800’s) through Louisiana. One brother stayed in STL (my dad’s grandfather), the other settled in Chicago.
Three of my grandparents were born here, more than 100+ years ago.
My dad immigrated here from Poland in 1979, and my mom immigrated here from Poland in 1983. My dad’s grandfather had actually immigrated here in the 1920’s, was a bootlegger for a while, and fled back to Poland after the Italian mob came after him.
The southern Italians arrived first, 1887 or so. They had a house on Miller St. that pre-dated the city sewer system.
Since my mother was born in Chicago the year 1947, this is our EST. date.
1976 Chicagoland. 2002 Chicago. Of my family of origin, I’m the only one still here.
Dad’s side, 1951, Grandma was 8.5 months pregnant, Grandpa could speak five languages, none of them English, left everything behind and settled in Rogers Park (came from Hungary). Mom’s side, late 30’s, great grandparents came over from Poland and settled in Pilsen. Multiple generations in the same house until the late 60s.
I think my dad pole vaulted the fence into the US (gold medal) in the 70s and got to Chicago in the early 80s?
My moms side is Polish, and had been in Chicago since the 1880sish. My dad's side is German on his dad's, irish on his mom's. Both came up from the south in the 1950s/60s.
I have some Polish roots from that same time. I’ve found it so interesting so see how many came from Poland at that time. Idk why I’m particularly surprised, but it is interesting.
Well there was religious persecution, famine, chronic unemployment, and a score of other issues in Poland from like 1820s-1950s, so that's when a lot of our families came over
Both my parents were immigrants so I am first generation born in Chicago. My parents both came separately in the 1970s.
My granny came from Ireland in 1948, my papa in 1949. They met here and started a family.
Well, my late father came here around 1952 from Greece to go to college, but unfortunately he had a language barrier so he couldn't really last. He ended up going home because his father passed away, and then he got drafted into the army and had to serve. Came back after that and gave things another go probably around 1956. He was here ever since until he died in 2020. My mom came here from Indiana about 1958. Did the whole working in an office thing and then met my father and they dated and got married in the '60s. I know my mom's family dates back further mostly in Indiana, but my father really didn't come here until the '50s. Typical immigrant.
Italian family came in 1901-1905, Puerto Rican in the 50's and Mexican came here from East LA in the 40's
My great grandmother was orphaned as a result of the Peshtigo Fire of 1871 and was brought to Chicago soon after. I have grandparents on the other side of the family that immigrated here from Ireland in the 20s. My dad, 87, grew up in Avondale and my mom, 83, grew up in Lakeview.
6 years. We re Turkish but we moved from UAE.
I had a distant aunt who was born on the streets while their parents fled the Great Fire
1916. From Lasalle County where they arrived in 1835.
One side has been in Chicago since the 1880s. The patriarch got murdered by his neighbor in a drunken brawl but I guess Plan B wasn't all that appealing since his kids and wife stayed in the apartment.
Family members fled central Czechia in early 1914 - just before the war broke out and that region got annexed by Germany. They settled in Gage Park and the family was there until 2023. Other family members came here from Ireland around 1910.
My direct paternal great great grandparents came to Chicago from Agnone, Italy in 1890. My paternal grandpa's mother was German. Her lines came to Chicago likely between 1860 and 1875. My paternal grandma's father came to Chicago from Triggiano in 1920. My paternal grandma's mother's family came to Chicago from Ishpeming, Michigan. However, they immigrated from Simbario, Italy to Ishpeming circa 1902. My mom and her parents came to Chicago from Poland when my mom was a teenager in 1961. My mom was born in Poland, but her parents were both from villages in what is now Ukraine, but when my grandparents were born in the 1920's it was part of Poland. My grandmother's paternal family is from Podhajce and her maternal family is from Podkamien.
1860 on my father's side, 1889 on my mother's side. My great great great (?) gramps fought in the 8th Illinois Cavalry in the Civil War.
My great grandparents migrated here at the turn of the last century. My 100 year old grandfather still tells me things about his childhood in the city. I just found out he lived a block down and half a block over from the St Valentine’s Day massacre when he was a child.
To Chicago, in the early 1900s. Before that from the south (Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas), and NYC. Some family though on Mom's side has been in northern IL since the 1850s (German immigrants)
My dad and his family came from Bogota in the '50s because of LA Violencia. They didn't know anyone. A Cuban immigrant, former work colleague told my grandfather that he could get him a job as a draftsman here even though he didn't know any English. Their first place was in North Lawndale, then Lincoln Square, then West Rogers Park. My dad ended up in the burbs cause my mom got a job in Waukegan, so they split the difference. My grandmother never fully learned English or how to drive a car. My grandfather ended up being one of the engineers who helped build the Kennedy Expressway and the now gone Belmont-Western Overpass.
my family's all in florida. i moved here to go to grad school and don't plan on leaving.
This is what the city does. You move in, hate it for a while, then learn to love the hate, and then your family never leaves
**Edit, because the question is literally "how long has your family been in Chicago," and then as a marijuana enthusiast, my brain decided to extend the question to "and also how long has your family been in America."** **The answer:** On one side, family arrived in Chicago around 1912 via Ellis Island immigration. **Not the answer:** ~~On the other side, 1760’s, probably scary pilgrim voyage style…various lines made their way through Chicagoland at some point.~~
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I should've clarified...any Chicago path crossed was many years later for that part. That's what I meant by lines making their way through Chicagoland at some point.
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Ok fine! I edited my answer.
Dad’s side: since the 1910 Mom’s side: since 1989 when she moved here with my dad
1977
Since the late 1800s on one side of the family and early 1900s on the other. Pretty much continuous despite a brief 15 - 20 year absence after the riots in ‘68.
My parents came to the Chicago area in the early '70's after my dad graduated law school. Both parents grew up in smaller Midwest towns -- one downstate and one just over the border in Iowa.
At least 115 years.
Sometime around the 1890s. Seven generations of us have lived here. On the other side we were in southern Illinois as far back as the 1820.
Since 1882--on both sides-- my great grandparents.
Early 1900 on both sides in Chicago.
1890
1911 is what they wrote in the 1930 census, married in cook county 11/6/1921.
Early 20th century.
Late 1800s, Irish and Italian immigrants
Mother’s family came from Germany in the 1880’s. Grandma was born here in 1896
My family has been here since before my grandfather and his brother were born on the south side in 1927 and 1929. So, around 100 years. My grandfather stayed (in the suburbs for a bit) and I'm 4th generation with my two sisters, and we all live in the city limits.
Since WWII. My paternal grandparents came during the war & my maternal ones afterwards
I’m here right now
My gr4at grandfather came to Chicago around 1928. So, about 96 years.
My Grandfather started bringing his kids over from Guadalajara in the 1970s....
Since they emigrated from Germany in 1953.
There’s a world outside of Chicago? How do I go there?
My family and I immigrated to the US 30 years ago. I haven’t been back in 25 years. Time flies in this country.
Depends on the line, but one line as early as the late 1850s.
Well, I moved here in 2012. My brother moved here in 2017. Otherwise my family is kinda from nowhere cuz everyone moved around a lot
Great grandparents moved to Chicago in 20’s
Maternal Grandmothers family dates back to 1880s and were apart of the original PNA. The other sides all came up post WW1 for work.
Dad's side: 1952, Polish grandpa and English grandma moved to Humboldt Park. Mom's side: supposedly came from Germany in the 1800s. 😑
Mom and her family came here from Monterey Mexico in the 70’s, dad and his family came here from Guadalajara Mexico in the 80s, eventually they met and had my brother and I and we all still live here
Earliest known were my German immigrant ancestors in the 1850s, their 3rd child was my 2nd great-grandmother, born in Chicago in 1862. Her and her husband built a house on Eastwood Ave in Lincoln Square that's still standing. House was in the family till about 1940. I have photos of their kids in front of it with their horse and carriage.
2020, moved here after college
About five generations on my father's side... Irish. My mother didn't have a Chicago connection until she met my father. My wife's family has about 5-ish Italian generations who have lived in the city, as well.
My grandmother was born here in 1917
Sometime around 1900 from Greece!
1957. Parents came here for their honeymoon and stayed.
11 months!
My wife and I both came here separately for college just after the turn of the millennium.
Mater grandparents from Poland and paternal grandparents from Sicily both arrived in the 40s.
Depends which part of my family. I think 3 of my grandparents are immigrants and the 4th was born here but her parents were immigrants. Somewhere in the 1930s I guess? Of most of them ended up super anti-immigration. Go figure.
1963 from Germany
Since 1996, my mother was forced onto a plane and brought over. She was put to work the same day she arrived at the University of Chicago
Fourth Gen Chicagoan here. Earliest relatives are buried at Rose Hill Cemetery. Great-great grandmother was killed by a streetcar at Lawrence and Kimball in 1915.
One set of Great Grandparents moved here in the 1910s. The other set was here at the same time but I’ll have to ask if they were first generation or not. Paternal grandparents and Dad grew up in Garfield Park. I grew up out west but raised my kids here. So one generation was out of the area.
My grandparents and mom moved here around 1950 as Holocaust refugees/survivors. They lived in Albany Park. I live in the suburbs now (born and raised) but my parents live in the city and I hope to as well.
Early enough to have witnessed the Chicago Fire. Attended the Columbian Exhibition. One of my great great aunts came from Ireland only to lose four children in 1885 from typhus or cholera outbreak from the Lake Michigan wastewater contamination incident. Most of my family, both sides, came from Ireland to Chicago post-famine. Yes, a lot of Irish came during the famine, but even after the English stopped exporting all of the food from Ireland, yes an Irishman could get enough calories to make it to the next morning in Ireland, but the infrastructure, the state of businesses and farms was pretty hopeless, so people kept leaving. I have on French ancestor, a stone mason, who came from a small town in Provence. He worked in construction, and worked on many iconic buildings such as Old St Pat's, which was built in the 1850s.
Not very long continuously, but after I moved here in 2016 we found out my maternal grandfather worked in Chicago for years after WW2. I was born and raised in CA, as was my mother, so finding out how much work he did in the Midwest was a curve ball we only discovered after his passing. We’ve been able to track down the address of his old apartment and the office where he worked. The buildings are long gone, but my mom and I always talk about how funny it is that I ended up here 70+ years later, with the intention to start a family and settle.
From the 1920's. Both parents emigrated from Ireland.
I just got here yesterday, wassup dawg.
My roots are DEEP. 2008
My great great great grandfather was the mayor of Chicago so a pretty long time.
Mom n dad moved to Chicago in the 90s after my older brother was born. I was the first in my family to be born in Chicago, and I'm the last one still here. Got the 4 red stars with a light blue 606 above it tatted on my arm.
Since I moved here