How do I figure out this ancestry stuff?

So I come from a whole lotta everything. I could be 20 percent or only a sliver of them. I currently know I am French, German, Scottish, Irish, Cherokee Indian, some other tribe of Indian, and I think Dutch. Now I know you have to be a certain percentage to actually be considered these things, but I don't know if I am 20 % or 0. Either way i would like to read up on my ancestry and history!! Is ancestry.com really helpful? I can't really enter a lot of names because I don't know a lot of my families names! Any other resources or websites I could use? Also, I've seen the family "coat of arms" online but how would know if that is actually towards my family or another with the same last name?

Hi I have a photo of a family member a (soldier) we dont know who he is my grandmother did but we have no info can anyone tell me?

You have mother...whose surname was different before she was married, the same goes for her parents. SURNAMES have nothing to do with being related, and surely are not why you are proud (or not proud) of anyone.
Your relatives are your relatives... one ancestry or surname is not better than the other.

As others have stated slaves did not have surnames at all when they were brought over from Africa. Actually they were fairly new for Europeans. It was the first part of the 2nd millennium when Europeans started taking them and they weren't originally to identify a person as a member of a family but just to better identify him, frequently for taxation purposes. Slaves took surnames when they were emancipated. Many took the name of their former owner or they took the name of someone they admired.

Given names were whatever was bestowed on them by their owners originally and then they gave their children names from the Bible, frequently old testament names.

Actually when the slaves took surnames after the Civil War they were just about 50 years behind the people of the Netherlands. The Dutch took surnames when it was decreed by Napoleon that they should have one.

I assume you know his name. Many Hessian soldiers were offered land in exchange for their loyalty to the US: British Desertion. If they accepted, there would be land documents and census records. If he stayed after the war, he will show up in the census. Ancestry.com has pretty thorough records of censuses, so it might be worth it to do a trial on there to see what you can find. Start by entering maximum information, meaning full name, DOB, DOD, and relatives. Then, broaden your search by checking for alternate spellings (Steven, Stephen, Stephan, S.; Smith, Smithe, Smyth, Smythe) and removing the DOB or using a ten year window (1744-1755).

One whole side of my family is American Revolution (DAR, SAR) and Mayflower decended (Mayflower Society) and I've spent countless hours on ancestry.com tracing my family's roots. Depending on where your family settled, your and my families may have known each other and certainly may have met on the battlefield.

Good Luck in your search

Edit: Someone in the UK might have mercenary records, but I just don't know. If he was a POW, the camp he was at would have had info on him. If that info still exists, it should be public record. It may not be digital, so you may need to travel to whomever holds the records (like the national archives or the camp's historical society).