When Utahns dig up their family history, there is a good chance most of them will find they have roots in Britain, Germany or Scandinavia.
According to the 1990 Census sample survey, about 60 percent of respondents said their ancestors came from those three areas. The numbers show that most Utahns, numbered at 1.7 million in 1990, identify with ancestries of multiple nationalities. The Census Bureau sample was shown to be represetnative for 2.2 million responses.By far, British ancestry, including roots in England, Scotland and Wales, was the msot prevalent. Just under 40 percent of responses to the question showed heritage in Britain.
Paul F. Smart, supervisor of British research at the Salt Lake LDS Family History Library, said that genealogical research in the British area is very popular. He said that one reason for the strong British ancestry in Utah is 19th century conversion and migration of LDS Britons to Utah.
"At one point there were more LDS Church members in Britain than there were in Utah," he said.
German and Scandinavian heritage in Utah is also popular. Both of those areas got 13 percent of the responses on census forms. If broken out separately by category, responses in the English, German, Danish, Irish, Swedish and Scottish categories were most numerous.
A wide variety of ancestries appeared in the survey including Subsaharan African, Romanian, Scottish-Irish, Slovak, Portuguese and Lithuanian.
About 57,000 Utahns didn't claim ancestry in a foreign county but instead listed their ancestry as United States or American.
Like the rest of the nation, Utah's source of new immigrants has shifted from Europe to the Pacific Rim and Latin America. Census figures released last year showed those with Asian, Pacific Islander and Hispanic roots are among the fastest-growing groups in the state.
The Census Bureau found 58,000 foreign-born residents in Utah. Just less than half of those came to Utah during the past decade.
Ethnic and cultural heritage influence home life in Utah particularly when it comes to language, the new census reports shows. Eight percent of Utahns over age 5 speak a language other than English at home. Forty-three percent of those speak Spanish at home and 19 percent speak an Asian or a Pacific Island language.
It also points out language barriers new immigrants face. About 3 percent of Utahns said they don't speak English "very well," the Census Bureau reported.
(additional information)
Top 10 ancestries reported by Utahns. The numbers are based on census forms answered by about every sixth household in Utah.
SCOTTISH 89,463 3.98%
AMERICAN 57,268 2.54%
DUTCH 55,770 2.48%
FRENCH 53,931 2.40%
WELSH 48,070 2.14%
SWEDISH 103,715 4.62%
IRISH 136,940 6.10%
DANISH 163,048 7.26%
GERMAN 299,853 13.35%
ENGLISH 749,711 33.37%
21.74% of other ancestries
TOTAL 2,246,331