At my wife's suggestion I perused through an old family history book we have on my Grandmother's side of the family...This thing is massive and was always a little confusing for me to figure out but this time we made good headway. Turns out, my first ancestor to come across the pond came over in 1679 from England!!! Landed in Jamestown and over the generations they moved south through the Carolinas and Georgia and finally into Florida. It's got records showing his descendant's service in NC militia companies in 1754 and militia's and the Continental Army in the Revolution and later on more descendants service including my GrGrGrandfather in the FL Cav during the War of Northern Aggression. Pretty cool! I'm a real American I reckon!
I too have ancestors from Jamestown who worked their way down through the Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama, on down to Florida. Interestingly though he joined the 1st Regiment U.S. cavalry during the Civil War. I found out through more research and talking with a great aunt that they tried to form up Regiments on both sides in all of the southern states and a good portion of the northern states including out west in California in the Stockton area of the central valley area where I grew up they tried to form up a Confederate Regiment.
I think of my parents marriage as the perfect storm, dads side was Pennsylvania Dutch from Lancaster County who came out the Oregon trail, homesteaded, got into gold mining for three generation and worked their way down to the Stockton area. Moms side was all southern, and my Grandfather who raised me was from Jones County, Mississippi. I sometimes have a little bit of an accent, that's why I sometimes confuse people as to where I'm from. I describe myself as having grown up in Northern California on Southern cookin, and oh yeah.......Skynyrd rocks.....
I joined the SAR a few years ago and am president of my Chapter. If you have your Rev War Ancestor documented, I'm sure the local SAR chapter where you live would love to have you, not to mention Sons of Confederate Veterans.
By the way good job on the research, It's not easy, but it's worth it.