You too, huh? My paternal grandmother claimed to be from Austria-Hungary, and we only learned that she was Polish after she died. (My paternal grandfather claimed to be from Romania and be three-quarters Jewish and one-quarter Gypsy, a combination which always seemed highly improbable to me.)

And just to add to the mystery: the family legend was that when he first brought her home, his family refused to give their blessings to the match because, well, Beatrice Harris? with red hair and blue eyes and very fair skin? obviously she was Irish! and on the other hand her family looked at his dark olive skin and eyes and black hair and figured he was probably Italian. So they eloped.

Now, of course, I wonder whether there was any truth to the story at all...