Thanks for sharing this article.  I guess since it has been several generations since the last wave of German immigrants arrived, the culture has died out.

The first wave of German immigrants arrived between the 1680's and the Revolutionary War, with most coming to PA due to the efforts of William Penn.  After the War, they started migrating west to the midwestern states as well.  It is also worth noting that many Anabaptists (Amish, Mennonite and Brethren) that are considered PA Dutch and German, actually have their roots in Switzerland and France.  Many fled religious persecution there and went to Germany, before they then made the journey to America.

The second wave occurred in the 1830's and 1840's, with many of those immigrants settling in Texas and adjoining states.

The final wave occurred in the late 1800's, with many of those immigrants coming over and staying in the bigger metropolitan areas such as New York City.

The author also missed another prominent American with German ancestry, as Dwight D Eisenhower (Eisenhauer) has German ancestors and deep connections with York County.

My paternal grandparents left Nuremberg, Germany around 1910. They made passage on an immigrant boat through Ellis Island. They settled in the Spring Hill section of Pittsburgh, PA. There was a robust German community in the Spring Hill area. As a matter of fact, years later the Spring Hill German club feted my grandparents as they celebrated their 50th anniversary. My grandfather joined the U.S. Navy and served on the USS Rhode Island as a gunners mate. He would have made the navy his career if my grandmother had not convinced him to come back to Pittsburgh and help raise the family. He returned to work in a garage and for Tejan Coal Company until he retired. When I was small we used to go to their house for Sunday dinners. My grandmother would cook large meals. German was spoken in the house, which we didn't understand too much, but knew when my grandmother said "raus mittem" we needed to get out of the way. Everyone would sit at a large table in the kitchen, warm from the oven and stove, and eat the meal together. After dinner the table was cleared and the men would sit down and play cards in the kitchen and the women would retire to the living room to talk. The kids would run around playing with their cousins. Around 9:00 my grandmother would start laying out "a bite" for anyone that might be hungry. My grandfather was bursting with pride when I joined the navy. I still have his diary from the years he spent in the navy. They were simple people with pride in their heritage and their family. That is my German - American experience sehr gut.

Last edited by Rongone (9/24/2015 1:34 pm)

Brady Bunch raised a great point about the shifting boundaries of nation and linguistic territories.

My ancestry includes some 19th Century Germans from Baden and Prussia (Millers and Bertsch), as well as 18th century German-speaking Swiss (Glattfelders and Emigs), as well as immigrants from the same time period from the French Alsace (Stambaughs).  The Alsace is a region that has shifted back and forth through the various centuries, sometimes part of a German state and sometimes French.   But the language in the 18th century was defintely German.
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