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For the language spoken by this group, see Pennsylvania Dutch language.

Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch
Pennsylvania State Flag 1863 pubdomain.jpg
Regions with significant populations
Pennsylvania
Ohio, Indiana, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, California, Ontario
Languages
Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch English
Religion
Lutheran, Reformed, German Reformed, Roman Catholic, Moravian, Church of the Brethren, Mennonite, Amish, Schwenkfelder, River Brethren, Yorker Brethren, Judaism, Pow-wow
Related ethnic groups
Palatines, German American, Black Dutch, New York Dutch, Swiss American

The Pennsylvania Dutch (Pennsylvania Dutch: Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch), also known as Pennsylvania Germans, are a German cultural group native to Pennsylvania and other American states. They descend from Germans who settled during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, primarily from the Palatinate, but also from other German-speaking areas, such as Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Saxony, and Rhineland in Germany as well as the Netherlands, Switzerland, and France's Alsace-Lorraine region.[1][2][3]

The ancestors of the Pennsylvania Dutch spoke several south German dialects, particularly Palatine German; the intermixing of English, Palatine, and other German dialects formed the Pennsylvania Dutch language as it is spoken today.[4]

Historically, "Dutch" referred to all Germanic dialect speakers (e.g. Palatine, Swiss), and is the origin of the group's name in English, the Pennsylvania "Dutch". The Pennsylvania Dutch name has caused confusion in recent times, as the word "Dutch" has evolved to associate mainly with people from the Netherlands.[5]

The Pennsylvania Dutch maintained numerous religious affiliations; the greatest number are Lutheran or German Reformed with a lesser number of Anabaptists, including Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren. The Anabaptist groups espoused a simple lifestyle, and their adherents were known as Plain Dutch; this contrasted with the Fancy Dutch, mostly of the Catholic, Lutheran, or Evangelical and Reformed churches, who tended to assimilate more easily into the American mainstream. By the late 1700s, other denominations were also represented in smaller numbers.[6]

The Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Pennsylvania Amish Country, and the Ohio Amish Country are heavily associated with them.[7]

Etymology[edit]

The word Dutch in Pennsylvania Dutch is not a mistranslation but rather a derivation of the Pennsylvania Dutch endonym Deitsch, which means "Pennsylvania Dutch" or "German".[8][9][10][11] Ultimately, the terms Deitsch, Dutch, Diets and Deutsch are all descendants of the Proto-Germanic word *þiudiskaz, meaning "popular" or "of the people".[12]

Dutch in the English language originally referred to all Germanic language speakers. New Englanders referred to the Netherlandic Dutch language spoken by the New York and Jersey Dutch as Low Dutch (Dutch: laagduits), and the Palatine Dutch language spoken in Pennsylvania & New York as High Dutch (German: hochdeutsch).[13]

The oldest German newspaper in Pennsylvania was the High Dutch Pennsylvania Journal in 1743. The first mixed English and German paper, the Pennsylvania Gazette of 1751, described itself as an "English and Dutch gazette," in reference to the High Dutch language spoken in Pennsylvania.[14]

Pennsylvania Dutch history in America[edit]

Further information: Pennsylvania Dutch Country and Palatine Dutch
Major Pennsylvania Dutch states: Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Ohio
Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Waves of colonial Palatines from the Rhenish Palatinate, one of the Holy Roman states, settled in the Province of New York and the Province of Pennsylvania. The first Palatines arrived in the late 1600s but the majority came throughout the 1700s; they were known collectively as the Palatine Dutch. Many of their descendants settled other states, including Indiana and Ohio.[15][16] For many years, the term "Palatine" meant German American.[17]

Even more Palatines arrived during the course of the 1800s; many chose to live in big industrial cities such as Germantown, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, while others who sought large tracts of good farmland moved to midwestern states, where they built new homes in the fertile regions of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.[18]

The Palatine Dutch of New York and Pennsylvania continued to use their language as a way of distinguishing themselves from later (post-1830) waves of German-speaking immigrants to the United States. The Pennsylvania Dutch referred to themselves as Deitsche, while immigrants of German-speaking countries and territories were called Deitschlenner, (literally "Dutchlanders", compare German: Deutschländer), which translates to "European Germans", whom they saw as a distinct group.[19][20]

These European Germans immigrated to Pennsylvania Dutch cities, where many came to prominence in matters of the church, newspapers and urban business.[20][19] After the 1871 unification of the first German Empire, the term "Dutchlander" came to refer to the nationality of people from the Pennsylvania Dutch Country.[21][22][23]

After World War II, the use of Pennsylvania Dutch language declined in favor of English, except among the more insular and tradition-bound Plain people, such as the Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonites. A number of German cultural practices continue to this day, and German Americans remain the largest ancestry group claimed in Pennsylvania by people in the census.[24]

Geography[edit]

The Pennsylvania Dutch live primarily in the Delaware Valley and in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, a large area that includes South Central Pennsylvania, in the area stretching in an arc from Bethlehem and Allentown in the Lehigh Valley westward through Reading, Lebanon, and Lancaster to York and Chambersburg.[25] Some Pennsylvania Dutch live in the historically Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking areas of Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.[26]

Pennsylvania Dutch nationality[edit]

History of the Palatines and other ancestors[edit]

Further information: Palatines § Holy Roman Nationality, and Holy Roman Empire
Historic flag of the Palatines
The Holy Roman Empire

The vast majority of Pennsylvania Dutch have Palatine ancestry. They are also culturally related to the New York Dutch.[27][28]

The Fancy Dutch descend from Palatines who left the economic conditions and devastation in the Rhenish Palatinate of the Holy Roman Empire[29] after the Thirty Years' War; their number included Catholic Palatines, who had already established three Catholic parishes in 1757.[30]

The Plain Dutch are descendants of refugees who left religious persecution in the Netherlands and the Electoral Palatinate.[16] Of note, the Amish and Mennonites came to the Rhenish Palatinate and surrounding areas from Switzerland, where, as Anabaptists, they were persecuted, and so their stay in the Palatinate was of limited duration.[31]

Anglo-Americans held much anti-Palatine sentiment in the Pennsylvania Colony. Below is a quotation of Benjamin Franklin's complaints about the Palatine refugees in his work Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind (1751):

Why should the Palatine boors be suffered to swarm into our settlements, and by herding together establish their language and manners to the exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a colony of aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of us Anglifying them, and will never adopt our language or customs, any more than they can acquire our complexion.

The great Palatine migration and colonial Palatines[edit]

A portrayal of colonial Palatines in Fraktur art style
Lancaster Central Market, an example of colonial Palatine architecture

The devastation of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and subsequent wars between the Holy Roman Empire and France triggered massive Palatine emigration from the Rhine area. Immigrants to British America first founded the borough of Germantown in northwest Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, in 1683.[32] They settled on land sold to them by William Penn. Germantown included not only Mennonites but also Quakers.[33]

During the War of the Grand Alliance (1688–97), French troops pillaged the Rhenish Palatinate, forcing many Palatines to flee. The war began in 1688 as Louis XIV laid claim to the electorate of the Palatinate. French forces devastated all major cities of the region, including Cologne. By 1697 the war came to a close with the Treaty of Ryswick, now Rijswijk in the Netherlands, and the Palatinate remained free of French control. However, by 1702, the War of the Spanish Succession began, lasting until 1713. French expansionism forced many Palatines to flee as refugees.[34]

This group of Mennonites was organized by Francis Daniel Pastorius, an agent for a land purchasing company based in Frankfurt am Main.[32] None of the Frankfurt Company ever came to Pennsylvania except Pastorius himself, but thirteen Low Dutch (South Guelderish-speaking) Mennonite families from Krefeld arrived on October 6, 1683, in Philadelphia. They were joined by eight Low Dutch families from Hamburg-Altona in 1700 and five High Dutch families from the Rhenish Palatinate in 1707.[35]

In 1723, some thirty-three Palatine families, dissatisfied under Governor Hunter's rule, migrated from Schoharie, New York, along the Susquehanna River to Tulpehocken, Berks County, Pennsylvania, where other Palatines had settled. They became farmers and used intensive German farming techniques that proved highly productive.[36]

Another wave of settlers from the Holy Roman Empire, which would eventually coalesce to form a large part of the Pennsylvania Dutch, arrived between 1727 and 1775; some sixty-five thouand Palatines landed in Philadelphia in that era and others landed at other ports. Another wave from the Palatinate arrived 1749–1754. More than half of their number was sold into indentured servitude.[37] These indentured servants became known as "Redemptioners" as they would "redeem" their freedom after some years.[38]

The majority originated in what is today southwestern Germany, i.e., Rhineland-Palatinate[37] and Baden-Württemberg; other prominent groups were Alsatians, Dutch, French Huguenots (French Protestants), Moravians from Bohemia and Moravia and Swiss Germans.[39][40]

The Pennsylvania Dutch during the American Revolutionary War[edit]

Further information: Germans in the American Revolution
In the Battle of Germantown in 1777, Pennsylvania Dutch soldiers fought with the United States in the Pennsylvania Militia

The Pennsylvania Dutch composed nearly half of the population of the Province of Pennsylvania. The Fancy Dutch population generally supported the Patriot cause in the American Revolution; the nonviolent Plain Dutch minority did not fight in the war.[41] Heinrich Miller of the Holy Roman Principality of Waldeck (1702-1782), was a journalist and printer based in Philadelphia, and published an early German translation of the Declaration of Independence (1776) in his newspaper Philadelphische Staatsbote.[42] Miller, having Swiss ancestry, often wrote about Swiss history and myth, such as the William Tell legend, to provide a context for patriot support in the conflict with Britain.[43]

Frederick Muhlenberg (1750–1801), a Lutheran pastor, became a major patriot and politician, rising to be elected as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.[44]

Pennsylvania Dutch Provost Corps[edit]

Pennsylvania Dutch were recruited for the American Provost corps under Captain Bartholomew von Heer,[45][Note 1] a Prussian who had served in a similar unit in Europe[46] before immigrating to Reading, Pennsylvania prior to the war.[47] During the Revolutionary War the Marechaussee Corps were utilized in a variety of ways, including intelligence gathering, route security, enemy prisoner of war operations, and even combat during the Battle of Springfield.[48] The Marechausee also provided security for Washington's headquarters during the Battle of Yorktown, acted as his security detail, and was one of the last units deactivated after the Revolutionary War.[45] The Marechaussee Corps was often not well received by the Continental Army, due in part to their defined duties but also due to the fact that some members of the corps spoke little or no English.[46] Six of the provosts had even been Hessian prisoners of war prior to their recruitment.[46] Because the provost corps completed many of the same functions as the modern U.S. Military Police Corps, it is considered a predecessor of the current United States Military Police Regiment.[48]

Hessians in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country[edit]

Further information: Hessian (soldier)
The Battle of Trenton, 1776
Many Hessian soldiers settled in Pennsylvania Dutch Country after the American Revolutionary War

Hesse-Kassel signed a treaty of alliance with Great Britain to supply fifteen regiments, four grenadier battalions, two jäger companies, and three companies of artillery.[49] The jägers in particular were carefully recruited and well paid, well clothed, and free from manual labor.[50][Note 2] These jägers proved essential in the "Indian style" warfare in America.[51]

German-speaking armies could not quickly replace men lost on the other side of the Atlantic, so the Hessians recruited Black people as soldiers who became known as Black Hessians. There were one hundred and fifteen Black soldiers serving with Hessian units, most of them as drummers or fifers.[52]

General Washington's Continental Army had crossed the Delaware River to make a surprise attack on the Hessians in the early morning of December 26, 1776. In the Battle of Trenton, the Hessian force of fourteen hundred men was quickly overwhelmed by the Continentals, with only about twenty killed and one hundred wounded, but one thousand captured.[53]

The Hessians captured in the Battle of Trenton were paraded through the streets of Philadelphia to raise American morale; anger at their presence helped the Continental Army recruit new soldiers.[54] Most of the prisoners were sent to work as farmhands.[55]

By early 1778, negotiations for the exchange of prisoners between Washington and the British had begun in earnest.[56] These included Nicholas Bahner(t), Jacob Trobe, George Geisler, and Conrad Grein (Konrad Krain),[57] who were a few of the Hessian soldiers who deserted the British forces after being returned in exchange for American prisoners of war.[58] These men were both hunted by the British for being deserters and by many of the colonists as a foreign enemy.

Throughout the war, Americans tried to entice Hessians to desert the British, emphasizing the large and prosperous German-American community. The U.S. Congress authorized the offer of land of up to fifty acres (roughly twenty hectares) to individual Hessian soldiers who switched sides.[59] British soldiers were offered fifty to eight hundred acres, depending on rank.[60]

Many Hessian prisoners were held in camps at the interior city of Lancaster, home to a large German community known as the Pennsylvania Dutch. Hessian prisoners were subsequently treated well, with some volunteering for extra work assignments, helping to replace local men serving in the Continental Army. Due to shared German heritage and abundance of land, many Hessian soldiers stayed and settled in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country after the war's end.[61]

Fancy Dutch[edit]

Main article: Fancy Dutch
The Germantown district of Philadelphia, 1820

The Fancy Dutch came to control much of the best agricultural lands in all of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth. They ran many newspapers, and out of six newspapers in Pennsylvania, three were in German, two were in English and one was in both languages. They also maintained their Germanic architecture when they founded new towns in Pennsylvania.[62]

Members of the Pennsylvania Dutch community already possessed an ethnic identity and a well-defined social-system that was separate from the Anglo-American identity. Their Anglo-American neighbors described them as very industrious, very businessminded, and a very rich community.[62]

Here is a conversation of two businessmen describing Germantown, the capital of Pennsylvania Dutch urban culture in 1854:

The Chairman: "How important is Germantown?"

Mr Hasten: "It is a very rich community and is the finest district around Philadelphia. The highest class of people that can be served in such a community, probably of the whole American Union, is a resident in Germantown. It is a distinctly separate city."[63]

The Pennsylvania Dutch had a strong dislike for New England, and to them the term "Yankee" became synonymous with "a cheat." Indeed, New Englanders were the rivals of the Pennsylvania Dutch.[62]

Fancy Dutch religion and Anglo-American prejudice[edit]

Fancy Dutch Rev. Henry Harbaugh
Many Fancy Dutch were soldiers in the Pennsylvania Militia
A Fancy Dutch country wedding

As the descendants of Palatines,[16] Fancy Dutch people were mostly of Lutheran and Reformed church congregations (non-sectarians), as well as Roman Catholics.[64] They were therefore often called "Church Dutch" or "Church people," as distinguished from so-called sectarians (Anabaptist Plain people),[65] along the lines of a high church/low church distinction.

Anglo-Americans created the stereotypes of "the stubborn Dutchman" or "the dumb Dutchman", and made Pennsylvania Dutch the butt of ethnic jokes in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, though these stereotypes were never specific to the Plain Folk; most of the Pennsylvania Dutch people in those centuries were Church people. Here is Pennsylvania Dutch Professor Daniel Miller's argument against the "Dumb Dutch" stereotype:

𝔚𝔲 𝔣𝔦𝔫𝔡 𝔪𝔢𝔯 𝔰𝔬 𝔣𝔯𝔲𝔠𝔥𝔱𝔟𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔲𝔫 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔬̈𝔫𝔢 𝔅𝔞𝔲𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔦 𝔴𝔦𝔢 𝔟𝔢𝔦 𝔡𝔢 𝔓𝔢𝔫𝔫𝔰𝔶𝔩𝔳𝔞𝔫𝔦𝔰𝔠𝔥 𝔇𝔢𝔲𝔱𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔢? ℑ𝔥𝔯𝔢 𝔅𝔞𝔲𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔦𝔢 𝔦𝔫 𝔒𝔰𝔱 𝔓𝔢𝔫𝔫𝔰𝔶𝔩𝔳𝔞𝔫𝔦𝔢 𝔰𝔦𝔫 𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔊𝔞𝔯𝔱𝔢 𝔳𝔲𝔫 𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔚𝔢𝔩𝔱. 𝔚𝔞𝔫𝔫 𝔪𝔢𝔯 𝔦𝔫 𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔚𝔢𝔩𝔱 𝔱𝔯𝔞̈𝔴𝔢𝔩𝔱, 𝔨𝔞𝔫𝔫 𝔪𝔢𝔯 𝔲̈𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔞𝔫 𝔡𝔢 𝔊𝔢𝔟𝔞̈𝔲𝔢𝔯 𝔰𝔢𝔥𝔫𝔢, 𝔴𝔲 𝔰𝔢𝔩𝔩𝔢 𝔎𝔩𝔞ẞ 𝔏𝔢𝔲𝔱 𝔴𝔬𝔥𝔫𝔢. 𝔖𝔦𝔢 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔥𝔫𝔢 𝔤𝔢𝔴𝔦ẞ, 𝔴𝔦𝔢 𝔷𝔲 𝔟𝔞𝔲𝔢𝔯𝔢.

𝔇𝔢𝔥𝔩 𝔏𝔢𝔲𝔱 𝔟𝔢𝔥𝔞𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢, 𝔡𝔦𝔢 𝔓𝔢𝔫𝔫𝔰𝔶𝔩𝔳𝔞𝔫𝔦𝔰𝔠𝔥 𝔇𝔢𝔲𝔱𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔞̈𝔯𝔢 𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔫𝔢𝔯 𝔡𝔢𝔯 ℨ𝔢𝔦𝔱. ℑ𝔰 𝔰𝔢𝔩𝔩 𝔴𝔬𝔥𝔯? 𝔖𝔦𝔢 𝔥𝔢𝔫 𝔡𝔦𝔢 𝔟𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔢 𝔅𝔞𝔲𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔦𝔢 𝔲𝔫 𝔡𝔦𝔢 𝔟𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔢 𝔲𝔫 𝔫𝔢𝔲𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔢 𝔐𝔞𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔢, 𝔲𝔫 𝔰𝔦𝔢 𝔤𝔢𝔥𝔫𝔢 𝔫𝔢𝔦 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔤𝔲𝔱𝔢 𝔖𝔠𝔥𝔲𝔩𝔢. ℑ𝔫 𝔢𝔥𝔫𝔢𝔯 ℌ𝔦𝔫𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔥𝔱 𝔰𝔦𝔫 𝔇𝔢𝔥𝔩 𝔷𝔲 𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔰𝔞𝔪- 𝔦𝔫 𝔎𝔢𝔯𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔰𝔞𝔠𝔥𝔢. 𝔄𝔫 𝔇𝔢𝔥𝔩 𝔓𝔩𝔞𝔱𝔷 𝔰𝔦𝔫 𝔰𝔦𝔢 𝔰𝔬 𝔷𝔦𝔢𝔪𝔩𝔦𝔠𝔥 𝔴𝔬 𝔦𝔥𝔯𝔢 𝔙𝔬𝔯𝔳𝔞̈𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔢.

𝔇𝔢𝔥𝔩 𝔏𝔢𝔲𝔱 𝔪𝔢𝔥𝔫𝔢, 𝔡𝔦𝔢 𝔓𝔢𝔫𝔫𝔰𝔶𝔩𝔳𝔞𝔫𝔦𝔰𝔠𝔥 𝔇𝔢𝔲𝔱𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔞̈𝔯𝔢 𝔫𝔢𝔱 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔪𝔞𝔯𝔱, 𝔴𝔢𝔦𝔩 𝔰𝔦𝔢 𝔫𝔢𝔱 𝔰𝔬 𝔨𝔫𝔦𝔣𝔣𝔦𝔰𝔠𝔥 𝔲𝔫 𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔠𝔨𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔠𝔥 𝔰𝔦𝔫 𝔴𝔦𝔢 𝔇𝔢𝔥𝔩 𝔜𝔞̈𝔫𝔨𝔢𝔢𝔰. 𝔖𝔦𝔢 𝔰𝔦𝔫 𝔫𝔢𝔱 𝔰𝔬 𝔤𝔲𝔱 𝔲𝔣𝔤𝔢𝔭𝔬𝔥𝔰𝔱 𝔦𝔫 𝔡𝔢 𝔗𝔯𝔦𝔠𝔨𝔰 𝔴𝔲 𝔳𝔦𝔢𝔩 ℜ𝔞𝔰𝔨𝔢𝔩𝔰 𝔧𝔲𝔥𝔰𝔢, 𝔞𝔴𝔢𝔯 𝔰𝔢𝔩𝔩 𝔦𝔰 𝔫𝔢𝔱 𝔫𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔴𝔢𝔫𝔫𝔦𝔤. 𝔖𝔦𝔢 𝔰𝔦𝔫 𝔡𝔢𝔰𝔴𝔢𝔤𝔢 𝔳𝔦𝔢𝔩 𝔟𝔢𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔯 𝔞𝔟. 𝔘𝔫𝔰𝔢𝔯 𝔏𝔢𝔲𝔱 𝔨𝔬𝔫𝔫𝔢 𝔤𝔲𝔱 𝔞𝔣𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔡𝔢, 𝔬𝔥𝔫𝔢 𝔰𝔢𝔩𝔩𝔢 𝔊𝔢𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔡𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔱 𝔷𝔲 𝔡𝔲𝔥, 𝔴𝔲 𝔡𝔦𝔢 𝔏𝔢𝔲𝔱 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔩𝔢𝔠𝔥𝔱 𝔪𝔞𝔠𝔥𝔱. 𝔖𝔦𝔢 𝔥𝔢𝔫 𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔤𝔢𝔫𝔲𝔤 𝔏𝔢𝔯𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔢𝔥𝔯𝔩𝔦𝔠𝔥 𝔲𝔫 𝔯𝔢𝔠𝔥𝔱𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔣𝔣𝔢 𝔷𝔲 𝔰𝔢𝔦.

𝔈𝔰 𝔦𝔰 𝔴𝔲𝔫𝔫𝔢𝔯𝔟𝔞𝔯, 𝔡𝔞ẞ 𝔇𝔢𝔥𝔩 𝔏𝔢𝔲𝔱 𝔴𝔲 𝔳𝔲𝔫 𝔡𝔢 𝔓𝔢𝔫𝔫𝔰𝔶𝔩𝔳𝔞𝔫𝔦𝔰𝔠𝔥 𝔇𝔢𝔲𝔱𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔢 𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔪𝔪𝔢, 𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔥 𝔡𝔞𝔴𝔢𝔤𝔢 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔞̈𝔪𝔪𝔢. 𝔖𝔦𝔢 𝔩𝔬𝔰𝔰𝔢 𝔦𝔥𝔯𝔢 𝔎𝔦𝔫𝔫𝔢𝔯 𝔫𝔢𝔱 𝔓𝔢𝔫𝔫𝔰𝔶𝔩𝔳𝔞𝔫𝔦𝔰𝔠𝔥 𝔡𝔢𝔲𝔱𝔰𝔠𝔥 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔴𝔞̈𝔱𝔷𝔢 𝔬𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔩𝔢𝔰𝔢, 𝔲𝔫 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔢𝔤𝔩𝔢 𝔢𝔰, 𝔡𝔞ẞ 𝔰𝔦𝔢 𝔡𝔢𝔲𝔱𝔰𝔠𝔥 𝔅𝔩𝔲𝔱 𝔦𝔫 𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔥 𝔥𝔢𝔫. 𝔊𝔲𝔱 𝔈𝔫𝔤𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔠𝔥 𝔨𝔬𝔫𝔫𝔢 𝔰𝔦𝔢 𝔫𝔢𝔱 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔴𝔞̈𝔱𝔷𝔢, 𝔲𝔫 𝔇𝔢𝔲𝔱𝔰𝔠𝔥 𝔴𝔬𝔩𝔩𝔢 𝔰𝔦𝔢 𝔫𝔢𝔱 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔴𝔞̈𝔱𝔷𝔢. ℑ𝔰 𝔰𝔢𝔩𝔩 𝔫𝔢𝔱 𝔡𝔲𝔪𝔪? 𝔇𝔦𝔢 𝔜𝔞̈𝔫𝔨𝔢𝔢𝔰 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔠𝔨𝔢 𝔦𝔥𝔯𝔢 𝔎𝔦𝔫𝔫𝔢𝔯 𝔦𝔫 𝔡𝔢𝔲𝔱𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔢 𝔖𝔠𝔥𝔲𝔩𝔢 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔡𝔦𝔢 𝔤𝔲𝔱 𝔞𝔩𝔱 𝔖𝔭𝔯𝔬𝔠𝔥 𝔷𝔲 𝔩𝔢𝔯𝔫𝔢, 𝔞𝔴𝔢𝔯 𝔲𝔫𝔰𝔢𝔯 𝔢𝔥𝔤𝔢𝔫𝔢 𝔏𝔢𝔲𝔱 𝔴𝔢𝔩𝔩𝔢 𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔥 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔞̈𝔪𝔪𝔢, 𝔡𝔢𝔲𝔱𝔰𝔠𝔥 𝔷𝔲 𝔰𝔢𝔦.[66]

Where do we find so prosperous and beautiful farms as those of the Pennsylvania Dutch? Their farms in Eastern Pennsylvania are the model of the world. When we travel in the world, we can above all see the farmers, how that class of people lives. They certainly understand how to farm.

Some people say, the Pennsylvania Dutch are behind the times. Is this true? They have the best farms and the best and newest machines, and they go to good schools. In regards to them, there are some who are slow- in matters of the church. In some places they (the Plain Dutch) live in the same way as their ancestors.

Some people say that the Pennsylvania Dutch are not smart, because they aren't so knavish and tricky as some of the Yankees. They are not so quick on the tricks that many rascals use, but that is not necessary. They are better off this way. Our people can afford not do that trickery, as the bad people do. They have enough learning to be happy and righteous.

It is amazing that some Pennsylvania Dutch are ashamed in this way. They don't allow their children to speak Pennsylvania Dutch or to read it, and are embarrassed that they have Dutch blood. They can't speak good English, and they don't want to speak Dutch. Is that not dumb? The Yankees send their children to German schools to speak the good old language, but our own people want to be ashamed of being Dutch.

The prejudice is now mostly a fossil of the past, the subject of consciously clichéd jokes rather than true spite or discord ("laughing with rather than laughing at"), now that assimilation is widespread. Just as Fancy Dutch or their descendants no longer speak the Pennsylvania Dutch language with any regularity (or at all, in many cases), they are not necessarily religious anymore, meaning that calling them "Church Dutch" is no longer particularly apt, although even among those that no longer regularly attend any church, many remain cultural Christians.

The Pennsylvania Dutch during the Civil War[edit]

Further information: Battle of Gettysburg
Many Pennsylvania Dutch soldiers mustered at Camp Curtin to fight in the American Civil War
The Battle of Gettysburg, 1863
The battle flag of the 79th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment, also known as the Lancaster Rifles, was a regiment composed of Pennsylvania Dutch

Nearly all of the regiments from Pennsylvania that fought in the American Civil War had German-speaking or Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking members on their rosters. Only a few of the Plain Dutch, Amish & Mennonites, enlisted, but the vast majority refused to fight in the war. Almost all Pennsylvania Dutch soldiers who enlisted were Fancy Dutch.[67]

Some regiments like the 153rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry were entirely composed of Pennsylvania Dutch soldiers.[62] The 47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment also had a high percentage of German immigrants and Pennsylvania-born men of German heritage on its rosters; the regiment's K Company was formed with the intent of it being an "all-German company."[68][69][70]

Here is the letter of a Pennsylvania Dutch soldier from the 149th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry:

Camp Near Patomac River,

May 9th, 1863

𝔙𝔦𝔢𝔩 𝔊𝔢𝔩𝔦𝔢𝔟𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔳𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔯:

ℑ𝔠𝔥 𝔫𝔢𝔪𝔢 𝔡𝔦𝔢 𝔊𝔢𝔩𝔢𝔤𝔢𝔫𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔱 𝔷𝔲 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔯𝔢𝔦𝔟𝔢𝔫 𝔭𝔞𝔯 ℨ𝔢𝔦𝔩𝔢𝔫 𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝔩𝔞𝔰 𝔢𝔲𝔠𝔥 𝔴𝔦𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫 𝔡𝔞𝔰 𝔦𝔠𝔥 𝔫𝔬𝔠𝔥 𝔣𝔯𝔦𝔰𝔠𝔥 𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝔤𝔢𝔰𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝔟𝔦𝔫 𝔰𝔬 𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢 𝔡𝔞𝔰 𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔯 𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝔦𝔠𝔥 𝔥𝔬𝔣𝔣𝔢 𝔡𝔞𝔰 𝔡𝔦𝔢 𝔭𝔞𝔯 ℨ𝔢𝔦𝔩𝔢𝔫 𝔢𝔲𝔠𝔥 𝔞𝔲𝔠𝔥 𝔰𝔬 𝔞𝔫𝔱𝔯𝔢𝔣𝔣𝔢𝔫 𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔱𝔢𝔫. 𝔚𝔢𝔦𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔩𝔞𝔰 𝔢𝔲𝔠𝔥 𝔴𝔦𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫 𝔡𝔞𝔰 𝔪𝔦𝔢𝔯 𝔢𝔦𝔫 𝔤𝔯𝔬𝔰𝔢 𝔣𝔢𝔠𝔥𝔱 𝔤𝔢𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱 𝔥𝔢𝔫; 𝔰𝔦𝔢 𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔥𝔞𝔩𝔱𝔢𝔫 8 𝔱𝔞𝔤𝔢 𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢 𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝔢𝔰 𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔳𝔦𝔢𝔩 𝔪𝔢𝔫𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔫 𝔤𝔢𝔨𝔬𝔰𝔱 𝔞𝔲𝔣 𝔲𝔫𝔰𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔰𝔢𝔦𝔱𝔢 𝔞𝔟𝔢𝔯 𝔞𝔲𝔣 𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔯𝔢 𝔰𝔢𝔦𝔱𝔢 𝔥𝔞𝔱'𝔰 𝔡𝔯𝔢𝔶 𝔪𝔞𝔫 𝔤𝔢𝔨𝔬𝔰𝔱 𝔟𝔦𝔰 𝔢𝔦𝔫 𝔳𝔬𝔫 𝔲𝔫𝔰𝔯𝔢𝔫 𝔢𝔰 𝔴𝔞𝔯 𝔢𝔦𝔫 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔴𝔢𝔯 𝔤𝔢𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔤𝔢𝔴𝔢𝔰𝔢𝔫 𝔫𝔞𝔥𝔦 𝔡𝔦𝔢 𝔤𝔞𝔫𝔰𝔷𝔢 𝔷𝔢𝔦𝔱. 𝔚𝔢𝔦𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔩𝔞𝔰 𝔦𝔠𝔥 𝔢𝔲𝔠𝔥 𝔴𝔦𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫 𝔡𝔞𝔰 𝔪𝔦𝔯 𝔤𝔯𝔬𝔰𝔷 𝔤𝔩𝔦𝔠𝔨 𝔤𝔢𝔥𝔞𝔟𝔱 𝔥𝔢𝔫𝔡 𝔡𝔞𝔰 𝔦𝔰𝔱 𝔲𝔫𝔰𝔢𝔯 𝔟𝔯𝔦𝔤𝔞𝔱 𝔪𝔦𝔢𝔯 𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔢𝔫 𝔲𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔣𝔢𝔯 𝔷𝔴𝔢𝔶 𝔰𝔱𝔲𝔫𝔡𝔢 𝔦𝔫 𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔤𝔢𝔣𝔞𝔥𝔯 𝔡𝔞𝔰 𝔰𝔦𝔢 𝔲𝔫𝔰 𝔤𝔢𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔩𝔱 𝔥𝔢𝔫 𝔪𝔦𝔱 𝔟𝔲𝔪𝔪𝔢𝔫 𝔤𝔲𝔤𝔩𝔢𝔫 𝔞𝔟𝔢𝔯 𝔢𝔰 𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔫𝔢𝔱 𝔳𝔦𝔢𝔩 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔫 𝔤𝔢𝔱𝔞𝔫 𝔪𝔦𝔢𝔯 𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔢𝔫 𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔢𝔦𝔪 𝔤𝔯𝔬𝔰𝔢𝔫 𝔟𝔢𝔯𝔤 𝔤𝔢𝔴𝔢𝔰𝔢𝔫 𝔰𝔬 𝔥𝔞𝔟𝔢𝔫 𝔰𝔦 𝔰𝔦 𝔷𝔦𝔪𝔩𝔦𝔤 𝔞𝔩 𝔲𝔟𝔢𝔯 𝔲𝔫𝔰 𝔫𝔞𝔲𝔰 𝔤𝔢𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔪𝔦𝔰𝔷𝔢𝔫 𝔡𝔞𝔰 𝔨𝔞𝔫𝔫𝔲𝔫𝔢𝔫 𝔟𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔷𝔢𝔫 𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝔡𝔲𝔫𝔯𝔢𝔫 𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔪𝔞𝔫 𝔤𝔢𝔥𝔬𝔯𝔱 25 𝔐𝔢𝔦𝔩 𝔴𝔢𝔦𝔱 𝔡𝔞 𝔨𝔢𝔫𝔱 𝔦𝔥𝔯 𝔰𝔢𝔩𝔟𝔰𝔱 𝔡𝔢𝔫𝔨𝔢𝔫 𝔴𝔦𝔢 𝔢𝔰 𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔤𝔢𝔤𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔫 𝔦𝔰𝔱 𝔚𝔦𝔢𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔩𝔞𝔰 𝔦𝔠𝔥 𝔢𝔲𝔠𝔥 𝔴𝔦𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫 𝔡𝔞𝔰 𝔰𝔦𝔢 𝔫𝔬𝔠𝔥 𝔫𝔦𝔢 𝔪𝔞𝔩𝔰 𝔰𝔬 𝔞𝔟𝔤𝔢𝔱𝔯𝔬𝔰𝔷𝔢𝔫 𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔱𝔢𝔫 𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔡 𝔴𝔦𝔢 𝔡𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔪𝔞𝔩 𝔡𝔞𝔰 𝔟𝔢𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔩 𝔣𝔢𝔩𝔱 𝔴𝔞𝔯 𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔤 25 𝔐𝔢𝔦𝔩, 8 𝔐𝔢𝔦𝔩 𝔲𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔉𝔯𝔢𝔡𝔢𝔯𝔦𝔠𝔥𝔰𝔟𝔲𝔯𝔤 𝔥𝔞𝔱'𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔣𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔫 𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝔦𝔰𝔱 𝔫𝔲𝔣 𝔤𝔢𝔤𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔫 𝔟𝔦𝔰 𝔞𝔲𝔣 5 𝔐𝔢𝔦𝔩𝔢 𝔫𝔞𝔥𝔢 𝔞𝔫 𝔉𝔢𝔩𝔪𝔞𝔲𝔰. 𝔐𝔦𝔢𝔯 𝔥𝔞𝔟𝔢𝔫 200.50 𝔱𝔞𝔲𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔱 𝔪𝔞𝔫 𝔦𝔪 𝔣𝔢𝔩𝔱 𝔤𝔢𝔥𝔞𝔟𝔱 𝔫𝔬𝔠𝔥 𝔢𝔦𝔫 𝔴𝔢𝔫𝔦𝔠𝔥. ℑ𝔠𝔥 𝔥𝔞𝔟𝔢 40 𝔇𝔞𝔩𝔢𝔯 𝔤𝔢𝔩𝔱 𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔪 𝔤𝔢𝔱𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔠𝔥𝔱 𝔪𝔦𝔱 𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔢𝔵𝔭𝔯𝔢𝔰 𝔫𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔐𝔶𝔢𝔯𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔲𝔫 𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝔢𝔰 𝔴𝔲𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔯𝔱 𝔪𝔦𝔠𝔥 𝔥𝔞𝔯𝔡 𝔬𝔟 𝔡𝔦𝔢𝔯𝔰 𝔥𝔢𝔱 𝔬𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔫𝔦𝔠𝔥𝔱 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔯𝔢𝔦𝔟𝔱 𝔪𝔦𝔢𝔯 𝔬𝔟 𝔡𝔦𝔢𝔯𝔰 𝔥𝔞𝔟𝔱 𝔬𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔫𝔦𝔠𝔥𝔱 𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝔣𝔢𝔯𝔤𝔢𝔰𝔱 𝔫𝔦𝔠𝔥𝔱 𝔤𝔩𝔢𝔦𝔠𝔥𝔱 𝔷𝔲 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔯𝔢𝔦𝔟𝔢𝔫. ℑ𝔠𝔥 𝔪𝔲𝔰 𝔷𝔲𝔪 𝔟𝔢𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔩𝔲𝔰𝔷 𝔨𝔞𝔪𝔪𝔢𝔫 𝔣𝔲𝔯 𝔡𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔐𝔞𝔩 𝔰𝔬 𝔳𝔦𝔢𝔩 𝔳𝔬𝔫 𝔢𝔲𝔯𝔢𝔪 𝔰𝔬𝔥𝔫. 𝔇𝔢𝔯 𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔯 𝔰𝔢𝔶 𝔪𝔦𝔱 𝔢𝔲𝔠𝔥 𝔷𝔲 𝔦𝔢𝔱𝔢𝔯 ℨ𝔢𝔦𝔱.

Franklin Weidle

𝔇𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔠𝔥𝔱 𝔢𝔲𝔯 𝔟𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔣 𝔫𝔢𝔪𝔩𝔦𝔠𝔥 𝔞𝔩𝔰 𝔴𝔦𝔢 𝔷𝔲𝔣𝔬𝔥𝔯,

Washington D.C. Com. C. 149 Regt. P.V.

In care of J.H. Bassler.[71]

Camp Near Potomac River,

May 9th, 1863

Very dear Father:

I take this opportunity to write a few lines and let you know that I am safe and sound, as long as the Lord wills. I hope these few lines will find you very well too. Further, I can report that we had a big battle that lasted 8 days and cost the lives of many of our men; the other side lost three men for each one of ours. There was heavy firing that lasted practically the whole time. Further, I shall let you know that we were very lucky. Our Brigade was in real danger for about 2 hours during the shelling of the cannon balls. We were positioned behind a big hill, so most of the shells were shot pretty much over our heads. The thunder and flashing of the cannons could be heard for 25 miles. You can imagine how it sounded here. Further, I can say that the Confederates never received such a beating as they did this time. The battlefield was 25 miles long. It began 8 miles below Fredericksburg and extended to within 5 miles of Falmouth. We had 250,000 men in the field. Just a little more yet- I sent $40 home by train to Myerstown, and I really wonder whether you received it or not. Write me whether you did get it and don't forget to write back. I must finish now; that's all from your son for the time being. May the Lord be with you always.

Franklin Weidle

Address your letter to the same place as before,

Washington, D.C. Company C. 149th Regt. Pennsylvania Volunteers

In care of J.H. Bassler

Pennsylvania Dutch companies sometimes mixed with English companies. (The Pennsylvania Dutch had the habit of labeling anyone who did not speak Pennsylvania Dutch "English.") Many of the Pennsylvania Dutch soldiers who fought in the Civil War were recruited and trained at Camp Curtin, Pennsylvania.[62]

Pennsylvania Dutch regiments composed a large portion of the Federal Forces who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War.[72]

Pennsylvania Dutch during World War II[edit]

A platoon of Pennsylvania Dutch soldiers on patrol in Germany was once spared from being machine-gunned by Nazi soldiers who listened to them approaching. The Germans heard them speaking Pennsylvania Dutch amongst each other and assumed that they were natives of the Palatinate.[73]

Black Pennsylvania Dutch[edit]

Further information: Black Dutch (genealogy), Black Mennonites, and Redemptioners
Black members of the Mennonite community
A Susquehannock Indian fort, 1671

Historically, a significant number of Black and Indian people have identified with Pennsylvania Dutch culture, with many of the Pennsylvania Dutch diaspora being Melungeons calling themselves Black Dutch.[74]

In colonial Pennsylvania, Palatines lived between Iroquois settlements and the two peoples "communicated, drank, worked, worshipped and traded together, negotiated over land use and borders, and conducted their diplomacy separate from the colonial governments".[75] Some Palatines learned to perform the Haudenosaunee condolence ceremony, where condolences were offered to those whose friends and family had died, which was the most important of all Iroquois rituals.[76] The Canadian historian James Paxton wrote the Palatines and Haudenosaunee "visited each other's homes, conducted small-scale trade and socialized in taverns and trading posts".[76]

Relations between the Palatine Dutch and Indians were friendly. The descendants of the Palatine Dutch and Indians were known as Black Dutch.[74]

Slavery in Pennsylvania[edit]

Many Black people of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country spoke Pennsylvania Dutch.[77][78][79][80] Enslaved Black people cohabitating with Pennsylvania Dutch learned the Pennsylvania Dutch language; as slavery was abolished in Pennsylvania, the free Black Dutch population grew.[77]

The Pennsylvania Dutch had been the first outspoken community against slavery, beginning with the community of Germantown and its founder Francis Daniel Pastorius, who organized antislavery protests in 1688. Pastorius and citizens of Germantown criticized the racial lines of slavery and expounded that slavery was wrong no matter what descent or color people were.[81]

The Pennsylvania Dutch shared similar experiences with enslaved Black people; more than half of all Palatine refugees who came to Pennsylvania were purchased on lengthy indentured servitude contracts by colonial New Englanders.[37] These indentured servants, known as redemptioners, were made to work on plantations; Palatine redemptioners had a high death rate, and many didn't live long enough to see the end of their contract.[82][83]

Canada Black Dutch[edit]

In Canada, an 1851 census shows many Black people and Mennonites lived near each other in a number of places and exchanged labor; the Dutch would also hire Black laborers. There were also accounts of Black families providing childcare assistance for their Dutch neighbors. These Pennsylvania Dutch were usually Plain Dutch Mennonites or Fancy Dutch Lutherans.[84] The Black-Mennonite relationship in Canada soon evolved to the level of church membership.[84]

Migration to Canada[edit]

Many Pennsylvania Dutch Mennonites arrived in Waterloo County, Ontario in Conestoga wagons

An early group, mainly from the Roxborough-Germantown area of Pennsylvania, emigrated to then colonial Nova Scotia in 1766 and founded the Township of Monckton, site of present-day Moncton, New Brunswick. The extensive Steeves clan descends from this group.[85]

After the American Revolution, John Graves Simcoe, lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, invited Americans, including Mennonites and German Baptist Brethren, to settle in British North American territory and offered tracts of land to immigrant groups.[86][87] This resulted in communities of Pennsylvania Dutch speakers emigrating to Canada, many to the area called the German Company Tract, a subset of land within the Haldimand Tract, in the Township of Waterloo, which later became Waterloo County, Ontario.[88][89] Some still live in the area around Markham, Ontario,[90][91] and particularly in the northern areas of the current Waterloo Region. Some members of the two communities formed the Markham-Waterloo Mennonite Conference. Today, the Pennsylvania Dutch language is mostly spoken by Old Order Mennonites.[92][88][93]

From 1800 to the 1830s, some Mennonites in Upstate New York and Pennsylvania moved north to Canada, primarily to the area that would become Cambridge, Kitchener/Waterloo and St. Jacobs/Elmira in Waterloo County, Ontario, plus the Listowel area adjacent to the northwest. Settlement started in 1800 by Joseph Schoerg and Samuel Betzner, Jr. (brothers-in-law), Mennonites, from Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Other settlers followed mostly from Pennsylvania typically by Conestoga wagons. Many of the pioneers arriving from Pennsylvania after November 1803 bought land in a sixty thousand-acre section established by a group of Mennonites from Lancaster County Pennsylvania, called the German Company Lands.[92][88]

Fewer of the Pennsylvania Dutch settled in what would later become the Greater Toronto Area in areas that would later be the towns of Altona, Ontario, Pickering, Ontario, and especially Markham Village, Ontario, and Stouffville, Ontario.[94] Peter Reesor and brother-in-law Abraham Stouffer were higher profile settlers in Markham and Stouffville.

William Berczy, a German entrepreneur and artist, had settled in upstate New York and in May 1794, he was able to obtain sixty-four acres in Markham Township, near the current city of Toronto. Berczy arrived with approximately one hundred and ninety German families from Pennsylvania and settled here. Others later moved to other locations in the general area, including a hamlet they founded, German Mills, Ontario, named for its grist mill; that community is now called Thornhill, Ontario, in the township that is now part of York Region.[90][91]

Pennsylvania Dutch today[edit]

Diagram indicating Pennsylvania Dutch settlement in the United States
George W. Bush meeting Amish and Mennonites in Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Dutch culture is still prevalent in some parts of Pennsylvania today. The Pennsylvania Dutch today speak English, though some still speak the Pennsylvania Dutch language among themselves. They share cultural similarities with the Mennonites in the same area. Pennsylvania Dutch English retains some German grammar and literally translated vocabulary, some phrases include "outen or out'n the lights" (German: die Lichter loeschen) meaning "turn off the lights", "it's gonna make wet" (German: es wird nass) meaning "its going to rain", and "its all" (German: es ist alle) meaning "its all gone". They also sometimes leave out the verb in phrases turning "the trash needs to go out" in to "the trash needs out" (German: der Abfall muss raus), in alignment with German grammar. The Pennsylvania Dutch have some foods that are uncommon outside of places where they live. Some of these include shoo-fly pie, funnel cake, pepper cabbage, filling and jello salads such as strawberry pretzel salad.

Religion[edit]

Christianity[edit]

Among immigrants from the 1600s and 1700s, those known as the Pennsylvania Dutch included Mennonites, Swiss Brethren (also called Mennonites by the locals) and Amish but also Anabaptist-Pietists such as German Baptist Brethren and those who belonged to German Lutheran or German Reformed Church congregations.[95][96] Other settlers of that era were of the Moravian Church while a few were Seventh Day Baptists.[97][98] Calvinist Palatines and several other denominations were also represented to a lesser extent.[99][100]

Over sixty percent of the immigrants who arrived in Pennsylvania from Germany or Switzerland in the 1700s and 1800s were Lutherans and they maintained good relations with those of the German Reformed Church.[101] The two groups founded Franklin College (now Franklin & Marshall College) in 1787.

Henry Muhlenberg (1711–1787) founded the Lutheran Church in America. He organized the Ministerium of Pennsylvania in 1748, set out the standard organizational format for new churches and helped shape Lutheran liturgy.[102]

Muhlenberg was sent by the Lutheran bishops in Germany, and he always insisted on strict conformity to Lutheran dogma. Muhlenberg's view of church unity was in direct opposition to Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf's Moravian Church approach, with its goal of uniting various Pennsylvania German religious groups under a less rigid "Congregation of God in the Spirit". The differences between the two approaches led to permanent impasse between Lutherans and Moravians, especially after a December 1742 meeting in Philadelphia.[103] The Moravians settled Bethlehem and nearby areas and established schools for Native Americans.[99]

Judaism[edit]

In Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Dutch Christians and Pennsylvania German Jews have often maintained a special relationship due to their common German language and cultural heritage. Because both Yiddish and the Pennsylvania Dutch language are High German languages, there are strong similarities between the two languages and a limited degree of mutual intelligibility.[104] Historically, Pennsylvania Dutch Christians and Pennsylvania German Jews often had overlapping bonds in German-American business and community life. Due to this historical bond there are several mixed-faith cemeteries in Lehigh County, including Allentown's Fairview Cemetery, where German-Americans of both the Jewish and Protestant faiths are buried.[105] The cooking of Pennsylvania German Christians and Pennsylvania German Jews often overlaps, particularly vegetarian dishes that do not contain non-kosher ingredients such as pork or that mix meat and dairy together.[106] In 1987, the First United Church of Christ in Easton, Pennsylvania, hosted the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania German Society, the theme of which was the special bond between Pennsylvania German Christians and Pennsylvania German Jews. German Jews and German Christians held "quite ecumenical philosophies" about interfaith marriage and there are recorded instances of marriages between Jews and Christians within the German community. German Jews arriving in Pennsylvania often integrated into Pennsylvania Dutch communities because of their lack of knowledge of the English language. German Jews often lacked a trade and thus became peddlers, selling their wares within Pennsylvania Dutch society.[105]

A number of Pennsylvanian German Jews migrated to the Shenandoah Valley, traveling along the same route of migration as other Pennsylvania Dutch people.[107]

Notable people[edit]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "It is interesting to note that nearly all men recruited into the Provost Corps were Pennsylvania German." -David L. Valuska
  2. ^ Jägers were offered a signing bonus of one Louis d'or coin, which was increased to four Louis d'or as Hesse tried to fill its companies with expert riflemen and woodsmen.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Janne Bondi Johannessen, Joseph C. Salmons (2015). Germanic Heritage Languages in North America: Acquisition, attrition and change. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 11.
  2. ^ Fred Lewis Pattee (2015). The House of the Black Ring: A Romance of the Seven Mountains. Penn State Press. p. 218.
  3. ^ Norm Cohen (2005). Folk Music: A Regional Exploration. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 105.
  4. ^ E. H. Rauch (1879). Rauch's Pennsylvania Dutch Hand-book: A Book for Instruction. pp. V.
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Bibliography[edit]

  • Bronner, Simon J. and Joshua R. Brown, eds. Pennsylvania Germans: An Interpretive Encyclopedia (: Johns Hopkins UP, 2017), xviii, 554 pp.
  • Eelking, Max von (1893). The German Allied Troops in the North American War of Independence, 1776–1783. Translated from German by J. G. Rosengarten. Joel Munsell's Sons, Albany, NY. LCCN 72081186.
  • Ferling, John (2007). Almost a Miracle. The American Victory in the War of Independence. Oxford University Press, New York. ISBN 978-0-19-518121-0.
  • Grubb, Farley. "German Immigration to Pennsylvania, 1709 to 1820", Journal of Interdisciplinary History Vol. 20, No. 3 (Winter, 1990), pp. 417–436 in JSTOR
  • Louden, Mark L. Pennsylvania Dutch: The Story of an American Language. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016.
  • McMurry, Sally, and Nancy Van Dolsen, eds. Architecture and Landscape of the Pennsylvania Germans, 1720–1920 (University of Pennsylvania Press; 2011) 250 studies their houses, churches, barns, outbuildings, commercial buildings, and landscapes
  • Nolt, Steven, Foreigners in Their Own Land: Pennsylvania Germans in the Early American Republic, Penn State U. Press, 2002 ISBN 0-271-02199-3
  • Pochmann, Henry A. German Culture in America: Philosophical and Literary Influences 1600–1900 (1957). 890pp; comprehensive review of German influence on Americans esp 19th century. online
  • Pochmann, Henry A. and Arthur R. Schult. Bibliography of German Culture in America to 1940 (2nd ed 1982); massive listing, but no annotations.
  • Roeber, A. G. Palatines, Liberty, and Property: German Lutherans in Colonial British America (1998)
  • Roeber, A. G. "In German Ways? Problems and Potentials of Eighteenth-Century German Social and Emigration History", William & Mary Quarterly, Oct 1987, Vol. 44 Issue 4, pp 750–774 in JSTOR
  • Von Feilitzsch, Heinrich Carl Philipp; Bartholomai, Christian Friedrich (1997). Diaries of Two Ansbach Jaegers. Translated by Burgoyne, Bruce E. Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books. ISBN 0-7884-0655-8.

External links[edit]

In Pennsylvania German
source: https://web.archive.org/web/20230323191500/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Dutch

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