My maternal great grandmother is from Switzerland. She was married and had a son. Her husband was killed, so she decided to come to American to make a better life for herself and her son. She didn't have enough money for ship passage for both herself and her son, so she came by herself and worked as a domestic in New York, saved her money and then sent for her son. He came over by himself at age 7 - can you imagine a month on the ship, alone and 7 years old!
My great grandfather was living in Kansas and somehow, I'm not sure of the particulars, he knew the people that my great grandmother worked for in New York and he told them he was looking for a wife. My great grandmother said that she would marry him, so he went to New York, they got married, and came to Kansas in a covered wagon. When they opened up the Oklahoma Territory for homesteading - they ran for land, homesteaded, and that is the story!
I know that my maternal grandfather was Dutch, my father was Italian and French and I don't know any more about my dad's family - he and my mom were divorced when I was very small and I never knew anything about his family.
I don't know much about the rest of my family! I guess I should try to find out.