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"Mahantongo" is a Lenape word, translated "where we had plenty of meat to eat" or "good hunting grounds." The name is shared by a creek, a valley, and a mountain in central Pennsylvania , and is a common street name in the area. The alternate spelling "Mahantango" is often found in early publications, e.g., (Floyd 1911).

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106-741: The Mahantongo culture area is much more extensive than the creek valley itself. It straddles Schuylkill , Northumberland , and Dauphin Counties , including several adjoining valleys, among them the Lykens or Hegins Valley to the South, and the Schwaben Creek and Mahanoy Creek valleys to the North. The part of this area that is now included in Schuylkill County was in the first decade of

212-778: A humid continental climate ( Dfa/Dfb ) with four distinct seasons. The hardiness zone is 6b in most of the county, 7a in lowlands of the south-central and SW areas of the county and upriver to Pottsville and Minersville, and 6a in small higher northern areas. [1] Average monthly temperatures in the vicinity of downtown Pottsville range from 27.3 °F in January to 72.3 °F in July, while in Mahanoy City they range from 24.3 °F in January to 69.3 °F in July. Interstates, US Routes, and State Routes The U.S. Office of Management and Budget has designated Schuylkill County as

318-465: A written standard based on the various spoken German dialects in a very long process that started in the time of classical Middle High German (1170–1250). Pennsylvania Dutch instead reflects the independent development of Palatine German, especially from the region that is called Vorderpfalz in German. Since Pennsylvania Dutch is largely derived from Palatine German, which did not fully undergo

424-418: A Civil and Criminal Division. The Civil Division processes real estate and property paperwork, as well as issue firearms permits. The Criminal Division is responsible for the security of the courthouses, as well as the transportation of prisoners to and from court hearings and to other correctional facilities. The Sheriff's Department is also responsible for detecting and interdicting weapons before they can enter

530-412: A core industry, fuel source, and employment sector in the county throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Schuylkill County was created via an Act of Assembly on March 1, 1811, from portions of Berks and Northampton counties. More land was added to the county in 1818, from Columbia and Luzerne counties. At the time of its creation, the county had a population of about 6,000. Orwigsburg

636-647: A form of Swiss German and Low Alemannic Alsatian , not Pennsylvania Dutch, are spoken. Additionally, English has mostly replaced Pennsylvania Dutch among the car driving Old Order Horning and the Wisler Mennonites. Other religious groups among whose members the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect would have once been predominant, include: Lutheran and German Reformed congregations of Pennsylvania Dutch background, Schwenkfelders , and Schwarzenau (German Baptist) Brethren . Until fairly recent times,

742-641: A lesser degree, the regions of Alsace and Lorraine in eastern France , and parts of Switzerland . Differing explanations exist on why the Pennsylvania Dutch are referred to as Dutch , which typically refers to the inhabitants of the Netherlands or the Dutch language , only distantly related to Pennsylvania German. Speakers of the dialect today are primarily found in Pennsylvania, Ohio , Indiana , and other Midwestern states , as well as parts of

848-622: A line of stagecoaches or transportation wagons. Railroads ultimately replaced the canals as the primary means of transporting coal to markets. Mining was taken over by major corporate business, especially after the Civil War . As a result, the Middle Coal Field was developed in the 1860s and the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad created a subsidiary, Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company , to buy or lease, and develop

954-919: A parade marched through Kelayres in Kline Township . A crowd of Democratic Party supporters walked toward the home of Republican Party leader Joseph Bruno. Frustration with Bruno family's control of the school board and other local offices had been growing for years. Shots were fired from the Bruno home and yard located at Fourth and Centre Streets. Several people were killed and more than 20 marchers were injured. In 2016, Schuylkill County had six underground mines and 25 surface mines operating, producing 62,000 tons and 833,000 tons of coal, respectively. In 2024, Schuylkill County had four underground mines and 17 surface mines operating, producing 52,000 and 1,624,000 tons of coal, respectively Operators today are re-mining areas of anthracite that were previously mined. It

1060-523: A powerful conveyor of Amish identity." Although "the English language is being used in more and more situations," nonetheless Pennsylvania Dutch is "one of a handful of minority languages in the United States that is neither endangered nor supported by continual arrivals of immigrants." Because it is an isolated dialect and almost all native speakers are bilingual in English, the biggest threat to

1166-482: A regular supply of anthracite coal ensured, the southern anthracite coal field in Schuylkill County attracted speculators and fortune hunters. They were inspired by dreams of becoming millionaires. This was the first speculative era of the Schuylkill coal trade. Pottsville became the center of the movement. The more successful explorers revealed numerous veins of coal, extending over a vast stretch of county and with

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1272-820: A root verb and a prefix. Some of these in Standard German are completely semantically transparent, such as mit-gehen 'to go with', from mit- 'with' and gehen 'go'. Others, like mit-teilen lit.   ' with-share ' which means 'to inform' and not the sharing of concrete entities, are not semantically transparent. That is, their meaning is not the sum of their parts. Separable verbs are used widely in Pennsylvania Dutch, and separable verbs can even be formed with English roots and prefixes. Virtually all separable verbs in Pennsylvania Dutch are semantically transparent. Many semantically opaque separable verbs such as um-ziehe lit.   ' pull around ' , meaning, 'to move house', has been replaced by

1378-545: A second wave of immigration in the mid-19th century, which came from the same regions, but settled more frequently in Ohio, Indiana, and other parts of the Midwest. Thus, an entire industrial vocabulary relating to electricity, machinery and modern farming implements has naturally been borrowed from the English. For Pennsylvania Dutch speakers who work in a modern trade or in an industrial environment, this could potentially increase

1484-550: A seemingly inexhaustible quantity of coal. These discoveries brought excitement and speculation; lands were bought and sold; roads were laid out in the forest, mines were opened and railroads projected, and innumerable town plots planned. The demand for houses was so great that the lumber for many was framed in Philadelphia and sent by canal to the burgeoning coal region. At this stage, coal mining firms were predominantly small and family owned. The residents and entrepreneurs of

1590-447: A spoken dialect throughout its history, with very few of its speakers making much of an attempt to read or write it. Writing in Pennsylvania Dutch can be a difficult task, and there is no spelling standard for the dialect. There are currently two primary competing models upon which numerous orthographic (i.e., spelling) systems have been based by individuals who attempt to write in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect. One 'school' tends to follow

1696-744: A treaty executed August 22, 1749, with representatives of the Six Nations and the Delaware , Shamokin , and Shawnee tribes, who received 500 pounds in "lawful money of Pennsylvania". The acquired territory described included all of Schuylkill County except the northern part of Union Township , which was included in the purchase of 1768. In 1744, an early mill was built in the county by John Finscher, but it later burned down. In 1754, present-day Schuylkill, Berks , Dauphin , Lebanon , and Lehigh counties were settled by German immigrants. The earliest settlers in southeastern Schuylkill County, which

1802-573: A yearly service in Pennsylvania Dutch. Other non-native speakers of the dialect include those persons that regularly do business with native speakers. Among them, the Old Order Amish population was probably around 227,000 in 2008. Additionally, the Old Order Mennonite population, a sizable percentage of which is Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking, numbers several tens of thousands. There are also thousands of other Mennonites who speak

1908-716: Is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania . As of the 2020 census , the population was 143,049. The county seat is Pottsville . The county is part of the Northeast Pennsylvania region of the state. The county is part of the Pottsville micropolitan statistical area , and borders eight counties: Berks and Lebanon counties to its south, Dauphin and Northumberland counties to its west, Columbia and Luzerne counties to its north, and Carbon and Lehigh counties to its east. The county

2014-688: Is a variety of Palatine German spoken by the Pennsylvania Dutch , including the Amish , Mennonites , Fancy Dutch , and other related groups in the United States and Canada. There are approximately 300,000 native speakers of Pennsylvania Dutch in the United States and Canada. The language traditionally has been spoken by the Pennsylvania Dutch, who are descendants of late 17th- and early to late 18th-century immigrants to Pennsylvania , Maryland , Virginia , West Virginia , and North Carolina , who arrived primarily from Southern Germany and, to

2120-611: Is approximately 47 miles (76 km) west of Allentown , the state's third-largest city, and 97 miles (156 km) northwest of Philadelphia , the state's largest city. The county was created on March 1, 1811, from parts of Berks and Northampton counties and named for the Schuylkill River , which originates in the county. On March 3, 1818, additional territory in its northeast was added from Columbia and Luzerne counties. The lands that constitute present-day Schuylkill County were acquired by William Penn 's proprietors in

2226-564: Is best preserved in the Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonite communities, and presently the members of both groups make up the majority of Pennsylvania Dutch speakers. The ancestors of Pennsylvania Dutch speakers came from various parts of the southwestern regions of German -speaking Europe, including Palatinate , Electoral Palatinate (German: Kurpfalz ), the Duchy of Baden , Hesse , Saxony , Swabia , Württemberg , Alsace (German Elsass ), German Lorraine , and Switzerland . Most of

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2332-448: Is conjugated simply as realized , and 'farm' may be conjugated as farmed or ge-farm-t . Some German-origin verbs may also appear without the ge- prefix. Schwetze 'talk, speak', may be conjugated as geschwetzt or simply as schwetzt . Both English influence and overall simplification may be at work in the dropping of the ge- prefix. Pennsylvania Dutch, like Standard German, has many separable verbs composed of

2438-425: Is disputed. As in Standard German, Pennsylvania Dutch uses three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter). Pennsylvania Dutch has three cases for personal pronouns : the accusative , nominative , and dative , and two cases for nouns: the common case, with both accusative and nominative functions, and the dative case. There is no genitive case in Pennsylvania Dutch. The historical genitive case has been replaced by

2544-561: Is estimated that 98 percent of the anthracite produced is from existing mines. Schuylkill County's history is not solely a story about coal mining and railroads. The first settlers were farmers or lumbermen. In the fertile agricultural valleys (not underlain with coal) between the Blue Mountain range in the south to near the Susquehanna River to the north, generations of farming families have helped feed their neighbors in

2650-577: Is mainly derived from Palatine German , spoken by 2,400,000 Germans in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region , a region almost identical to the historical Palatinate. There are similarities between the German dialect that is still spoken in this small part of southwestern Germany and Pennsylvania Dutch. When individuals from the Palatinate (Pfalz) region of Germany today encounter Pennsylvania Dutch speakers, conversation

2756-424: Is more easily pronounced, and so German gesund > gsund > tsund and German gesagt > gsaat > tsaat . Likewise, German gescheid > gscheid > tscheid /tʃaɪt/ . German zurück > zrick > tsrick /tʃɹɪk/ . The shift is rather common with German children learning to speak. The softened ⟨w⟩ after guttural consonants has mixed with

2862-707: Is now in its fourth century on North American soil, had more than 250,000 speakers in 2012. It has shifted its center to the West with approximately 160,000 speakers in Ohio , Indiana , Wisconsin , Iowa and other Midwest states. There is even a small but growing number of Pennsylvania Dutch speakers in Upper Barton Creek and Springfield in Belize among Old Order Mennonites of the Noah Hoover group . The dialect

2968-574: Is often possible to a limited degree. Pennsylvania Dutch for the most part does not reflect the diverse origins of the early speakers from regions along the upper Rhine River ( Rhineland , Württemberg , Baden , Saarland , Switzerland and the Elsass/ Alsace ) but almost exclusively the strong immigrant group from the Palatine. Pennsylvania Dutch is not a corrupted form of Standard German , since Standard German originally developed as

3074-592: Is presented below. The text in the second column illustrates a system based on American English orthography. The text in the third column uses, on the other hand, a system based on Standard German. The English original is found in the first column, and a Standard German version appears in the fifth column. (Note: The German version(s) of the Lord's Prayer most likely to have been used by Pennsylvania Germans would have been derived in most cases from Martin Luther's translation of

3180-610: Is still rather easy to understand by German dialect speakers of the Rhineland-Palatinate area. The people from southern Germany, eastern France and Switzerland, where the Pennsylvania Dutch culture and dialect sprung, started to arrive in North America in the late 17th and the early 18th centuries, before the beginning of the Industrial Revolution . To a more limited extent, that is also true of

3286-601: Is used vigorously by the horse and buggy Old Order Mennonites in the northern part of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Speakers without an Anabaptist background in general do not pass the dialect to their children today, but the Old Order Amish and horse-and-buggy Old Order Mennonites do so in the current generation, and there are no signs that the practice will end in

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3392-604: The American Civil War , the federal government replaced Pennsylvania German schools with English-only schools. Literary German disappeared from Pennsylvania Dutch life little by little, starting with schools, and then to churches and newspapers. With the decline of German instruction, Pennsylvania High German became a dead language . Since 1997, the Pennsylvania Dutch newspaper Hiwwe wie Driwwe allows dialect authors (of whom there are still about 100) to publish Pennsylvania Dutch poetry and prose. Hiwwe wie Driwwe

3498-773: The British Isles and Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. As mines became more numerous (by 1846 there were 110 operators in the region and 142 collieries in Schuylkill County) and more complex (in 1846 there were 35 collieries below water level), mechanical breakers, steam locomotive, it became more labor-intensive both for accomplishing mining tasks and supporting mining's peripheral industries. Such industries included manufacturing of explosives, metal screens, pump components, piping, and timber for support. This led to an influx of population into Schuylkill and other anthracite counties to fill these jobs. Beginning with

3604-659: The Delaware River . The Schuylkill drains the majority of the county while some western and northern areas of the county are drained by the Susquehanna River . The Swatara Creek , Wiconisco Creek , Mahantango Creek , Mahanoy Creek , and Catawissa Creek all start in Schuylkill County and are tributaries of the Susquehanna. Areas of the eastern portion of the county drain into the Lehigh River via

3710-596: The High German consonant shift , several vowels and consonants in Pennsylvania Dutch differ when compared with Standard German or Upper German dialects such as Alemannic and Bavarian. The American English influence is most significant on vocabulary and to a much lesser degree on pronunciation; the English influence on grammar is relatively small. The question of whether the large loss of the dative case —the most significant difference compared with Palatine German—is due to English influence or reflects an inner development

3816-748: The Mahanoy Valley . Several railroads were founded in the late 1820s and early 1830s north of the Schuylkill Canal to enable the transport of coal to the canal terminus in Philadelphia and other markets, including: Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven , served the Schuylkill Canal. Chartered in 1831, tracks were laid from the flats in Schuylkill Haven along the river through Cressona and Minersville to Tremont . The railroad eventually reached Ashland and Locust Gap via

3922-673: The Noah Hoover Mennonites speak Pennsylvania Dutch. There are also some recent New Order Amish immigrants in Bolivia , Argentina , and Belize who speak Pennsylvania Dutch while the great majority of conservative Mennionites in those countries speak Plautdietsch. Heut is 's xäctly zwanzig Johr Dass ich bin owwe naus; Nau bin ich widder lewig z'rück Und steh am Schulhaus an d'r Krick Juscht nächst ans Daddy's Haus. Today it's exactly twenty years Since I went up and away; Now I am back again, alive, And stand at

4028-634: The Pocono Mountains . As a result, like other portions of the Poconos, eastern Schuylkill has experienced an influx of people from New York City and New Jersey who commute into Manhattan each day. The commute can take up to two hours each way due to distance and traffic. Far western areas of the county are located near Harrisburg and are sometimes considered to be located in South Central Pennsylvania . The county has

4134-638: The Pottsville, PA micropolitan statistical area (μSA) . As of the 2010 U.S. Census the micropolitan area ranked the number 1 most populous in the State of Pennsylvania and the 5th most populous in the United States with a population of 148,289. The Schuylkill County Sheriff's Department consists of the Sheriff's Office and operates the Central Booking unit. The Sheriff's Office is composed of

4240-697: The Quakake Creek , Nesquehoning Creek , Mahoning Creek, and Lizard Creek , all of which also start in the county. To the south, southern Schuylkill county is home to Blue Mountain and the Appalachian Trail . Broad Mountain crosses the county from northeast to southwest. Schuylkill County is located in northeastern Pennsylvania's Coal Region . It is located just north of the Lehigh Valley and Reading metropolitan areas. Portions of eastern Schuylkill County around Tamaqua are located in

4346-575: The Schuylkill Canal southward from Port Carbon to Philadelphia . Coal mined by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company in the Tamaqua and Coaldale areas was often shipped down the Lehigh Canal from Jim Thorpe in neighboring Carbon County . To the north, mountain and ridges were a natural barrier to navigation. Other means were required to transport coal out of the rich basin of

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4452-798: The Southern states such as in Kentucky and Tennessee , in the United States, and in Ontario in Canada. The dialect historically was also spoken in other regions where its use has largely or entirely faded. The practice of Pennsylvania Dutch as a street language in urban areas of Pennsylvania, including Allentown , Reading , Lancaster , and York , was declining by the beginning of the 20th century. But in more rural Pennsylvania areas, it continued in widespread use until World War II . Since that time, its use in Pennsylvania rural areas has greatly declined. It

4558-426: The U.S. Census Bureau for the purposes of compiling demographic data. They are not actual jurisdictions under Pennsylvania law. The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2010 census of Schuylkill County. † county seat Pennsylvania Dutch language Canada: Pennsylvania Dutch ( Deitsch , Pennsilfaanisch-Deitsch or Pennsilfaanisch ) or Pennsylvania German

4664-429: The 19th century, the largest railyard and roundhouse in the world was located at Mill Creek between Pottsville and St. Clair . Since the early 21st century, Schuylkill County has decreased its use of coal power and become a major producer of renewable energy. Twenty-five percent of the county's electrical production currently comes from renewable energy sources. Wind power is the largest producer, accounting for 80% of

4770-578: The Bible into Pennsylvania Dutch. The New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs was published in 2002 by the Bible League. The entire Bible, Di Heilich Shrift , was completed and published in 2013 by TGS International. Deitsh Books has published a dictionary (2013) and a grammar book (2014) by D Miller using the same American English orthography. In 2014, Jehovah's Witnesses began to publish literature in Pennsylvania Dutch. Pennsylvania Dutch, which

4876-430: The English word move . Adjectival endings exist but appear simplified compared to Standard German. As in all other South German dialects, the past tense is generally expressed using the perfect : Ich bin ins Feld glaafe ('I have run into the field') and not the simple past ( Ich lief ins Feld ['I ran into the field']), which is retained only in the verb "to be", as war or ware , corresponding to English

4982-588: The Gordon Planes. Construction on the Little Schuylkill Railroad began in 1829. It ran from Port Clinton northward to Mahanoy Junction above Tamaqua . It would become the keystone of the Philadelphia and Reading system, serving as a gauntlet for its eastern and western branches. Connecting with it were four important lines. The 146 miles (235 km) Catawissa Railroad operated from Mahanoy Junction to West Milton, providing access to

5088-681: The Irish immigration in the 1840s, which was fueled by the Great Famine and followed the end of the Civil War, immigrants from Eastern Europe , including Poles, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Slovaks, Rusyns, Ukrainians, and Belarusians (which were usually known as Ruthenians), often from the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, settled in Schuylkill County and labored in the county coal mines. By the 1880s and 1890s, thousands of Italians immigrated to

5194-694: The Mahanoy region by joining the northern terminus of the Little Schuylkill with connections to New York City , Scranton and also points west. At Port Clinton, it connected with the P&;R 's main line from Mount Carbon . Its most important connection would be with the Mahanoy and Broad Mountain Railway via Mahanoy Tunnel and East Mahanoy Railroad. There was once over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of railroad track in Schuylkill County. At one point in

5300-410: The Mahantongo Valley include SR 147 which stretches north / south from Sunbury to Harrisburg along the Susquehanna River. Also near the western end of the Mahantongo Valley, SR 225 progresses north / south from Shamokin to Mandata. SR 125 bisects the Upper and Lower Mahantango townships running north / south from Shamokin to Hegins. This latter route is well known for its scenic and snaking roadway over

5406-421: The New Testament.) Pennsylvania High German is a literary form of Palatine written in Pennsylvania , the Palatinate , and other Palatine states (e.g. the Hessian Palatinate ), used between the 1700s and early 1900s. In Pennsylvania, this literary form helped maintain German education and instruction, and was spoken in schools and churches. It is often seen in Fraktur art and script. Immediately after

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5512-411: The Pennsylvania Dutch dialect. In the 2007–2008 school year, the classes were being taught by Professor Edward Quinter. In 2008–2009, Professor Robert Lusch served as the instructor. According to one scholar, "today, almost all Amish are functionally bilingual in Pennsylvania Dutch and English; however, domains of usage are sharply separated. Pennsylvania Dutch dominates in most in-group settings, such as

5618-527: The Republican Party has been historically dominant in Schuylkill County politics, Democrats became dominant at the county level after the 2007 elections. John McCain received 53.6% of the vote to 44.9% for Barack Obama in November 2008. In the state row offices of the same election, each statewide winner carried the county. In 2006 Democrat Tim Seip won the heavily Republican 125th House district and Bob Casey Jr. carried Schuylkill when he unseated incumbent Republican US Senator Rick Santorum . For many years,

5724-405: The Schuylkill region opposed the entry here of incorporated coal companies. In these years, coal mining operations in the Schuylkill region were conducted with economy, and relatively little capital was required. As the workings were all above the water level, no machinery was required for water drainage or for hoisting coal to the surface. Coal breakers and other expensive fixtures and appliances for

5830-1108: The Schwaben Creek Area of the Mahantongo Valley. The decorative furniture of the region has also been featured in national publications such as Early American Homes. Throughout the 20th century the fertile Mahantongo Valley has provided the bordering coal regions with produce. At the northeastern end of the valley where the Line and Mahantongo Mountains meet, farmers traveled to the densely populated coal towns of Shamokin , Mount Carmel , Ashland , Girardville, Shenandoah , Frackville , Mahanoy City , Minersville and others to peddle fresh produce. These traditions carry on today. Mahantongo farmers continue to retail produce locally in addition to regional wholesale distribution. The Mahantango Valley today comprises seven townships. From west to east they include: Lower Mahanoy, Jackson, Jordan, Washington, Lower Mahantango, Upper Mahantango, and Eldred. Towns and villages from west to east include: Dalmatia, Herndon, Mandata, Pillow, Red Cross, Rebuck, Hebe, Greenbrier, Klingerstown, Leck Kill, Rough and Ready, Hepler, Pitman, and Haas. Significant State Roads through

5936-440: The Sheriff's Department performs patrol duties in various communities within Schuylkill county and provides support to other Police agencies during major incidents, search warrant executions, arrest warrant operations, special events and in various other capacities. As of November 2008 , there were 94,110 registered voters in Schuylkill County. As of January 2023 , there were 88,642 registered voters in Schuylkill County. While

6042-410: The United States by 1940. Women's clothing became the state's fastest growing product. The dominance of the industry in Schuylkill County lasted until the last decade of the 20th century, when it was clear that the garment manufacturing industry was leaving Schuylkill County and other regions of the U.S. and moving to foreign countries. By 2011, only six manufacturers employing 341 people remained in

6148-423: The United States. There are also attempts being made in a few communities to teach the dialect in a classroom setting; however, as every year passes by, fewer and fewer in those particular communities speak the dialect. There is still a weekly radio program in the dialect whose audience is made up mostly of the diverse groups, and many Lutheran and Reformed congregations in Pennsylvania that formerly used German have

6254-410: The age of 40 never used the dative, while older speakers showed strongly variable behavior. There was little difference between members of the different religious denominations in the Kalona. Many verbs of English origin are used in Pennsylvania Dutch. Most English-origin verbs are treated as German weak verbs , receiving a past participle with a ge- prefix and a -t suffix, thus for example

6360-436: The anthracite Coal Region to the north - including Shamokin and Mt. Carmel . Mahantongo Township, north of Blue Mountain, is now Schuylkill County. Nestled in the pocket of the Blue Mountains of the Appalachian chain, the Mahantongo Valley extends east from the Susquehanna River for 17 miles. Bordered to the north by Line Mountain, once the boundary between the Commonwealth and the Indian Lands, it extends four miles to

6466-606: The challenge of maintaining their mother tongue. Numerous English words have been borrowed and adapted for use in Pennsylvania Dutch since the first generations of Pennsylvania German habitation of southeastern Pennsylvania. Examples of English loan words that are relatively common are bet ( Ich bet, du kannscht Deitsch schwetze 'I bet you can speak Pennsylvania Dutch'), depend ( Es dependt en wennig, waer du bischt 'it depends somewhat on who you are'); tschaepp for 'chap' or 'guy'; and tschumbe for 'to jump'. Today, many speakers will use Pennsylvania Dutch words for

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6572-399: The coal, intending to encourage individuals to find ways to use it. Most of the experiments failed, and Shoemaker was nearly run out of town and called an imposter but Mellon and Bishop of Delaware County successfully used it in their rolling mill . When other rolling mills also adopted the use of coal as fuel, a large industrial market and demand developed. The Schuylkill Navigation Company

6678-423: The county in pursuit of mining jobs. The anthracite mining industry peaked in production in 1917 and subsequently declined with the exception of periods during World War I and World War II . In the 1950s and 1960s, underground mining operations closed in Schuylkill County and throughout the Coal Region and surface mining became predominate. On November 5, 1934, the eve of the 1934 United States elections ,

6784-425: The county was represented in the United States House of Representatives by conservative Democrat Tim Holden of St. Clair . Former State Representative Dave Argall won the special election of March 3 to succeed the late State Senator Jim Rhoades and was sworn in on March 17. Jerry Knowles won the special election for Argall's seat in the 124th House district on May 19. In 2010, the GOP regained ground when Seip

6890-433: The county. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 783 square miles (2,030 km ), of which 779 square miles (2,020 km ) is land and 4.2 square miles (11 km ) (0.5%) is water. The Schuylkill River headwaters are found in the county, starting in the Appalachian Mountains , and flows through many towns and the city of Reading, Pennsylvania , to Philadelphia where it flows into

6996-457: The courthouse and making criminal arrests of persons when weapons are found. The Sheriff's Department provides all facets of security for the County courthouse and makes arrests inside the courthouse for various offenses including possession of weapons and controlled substances as well as the arrest of disorderly persons and other violations of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code Title 18. All Deputy Sheriffs are sworn law enforcement officers who must attend

7102-513: The dative is widely used among the older generations who are fluent in Pennsylvania German, whereas younger semi-speakers tend not to use the dative as much. Many semi-speakers used the English possessive -'s . In contrast, Anabaptists in central Pennsylvania had almost completely replaced the dative with the accusative case. Meanwhile, members of the entirely Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking community in Kalona , all of whom were Amish or Mennonite, showed strong age-related variation. Speakers under

7208-406: The dative, and possession is indicated with a special construction using the dative and the possessive pronoun: 'the man's dog' becomes em Mann sei Hund (literally: 'to the man his dog'). Studies have shown variability in the use of the dative case in both sectarian and non-sectarian communities. The trend is towards use of the common case for nouns and the accusative case for pronouns, instead of

7314-508: The dative. Thus, em Mann sei Hund , for example, has frequently become der Mann sei Hund . The dative case in Pennsylvania German is used to express possession, to mark objects of prepositions , to mark indirect objects , and to indicate the direct objects of certain verbs. It is expressed, as in Standard German, through the use of dative forms of personal pronouns and through certain inflections of articles and adjectives modifying nouns. In non-sectarian speech in central Pennsylvania,

7420-475: The dialect is gradual decay of the traditional vocabulary, which is then replaced by English loan words or words corrupted from English. In the United States, most Old Order Amish and all "horse and buggy" Old Order Mennonite groups speak Pennsylvania Dutch, except the Old Order Mennonites of Virginia , where German was already mostly replaced at the end of the 19th century. There are several Old Order Amish communities (especially in Indiana) where Bernese German ,

7526-505: The dialect, as well as thousands more older Pennsylvania Dutch speakers of non-Amish and non-Mennonite background. The Grundsau Lodge, which is an organization in southeastern Pennsylvania of Pennsylvania Dutch speakers, is said to have 6,000 members. Therefore, a fair estimate of the speaker population in 2008 might be close to 300,000, although many, including some academic publications, may report much lower numbers, uninformed of those diverse speaker groups. There are no formal statistics on

7632-558: The dinner table and preaching in church services. In contrast, English is used for most reading and writing. English is also the medium of instruction in schools and is used in business transactions and often, out of politeness, in situations involving interactions with non-Amish. Finally, the Amish read prayers and sing in Standard, or High, German ( Hochdeitsch ) at church services. The distinctive use of three different languages serves as

7738-561: The estimated value of agricultural products in Schuylkill County sold was $ 165,853,000, ranking 9th in the State and 704th in the US (counties). The county ranks in the top 100 in the US counties for nursery, greenhouse, floriculture, and sod products and cut Christmas trees and short rotation woody crops. In the early 19th century, southern Schuylkill County was served by the Union Canal out of Pine Grove Township with connections west, and

7844-430: The expanding industrial coal trade. Consumption of coal along the Schuylkill above Philadelphia in 1839 was 30,290 tons when Pottsville, the first anthracite furnace in the United States, became operational. By 1849, consumption had increased to 239,290 tons, to 554,774 tons in 1859, and to 1,787,205 tons in 1873. The numerous jobs in the mining industry comprised a catalyst for mass immigration to Schuylkill County from

7950-845: The famous Yuengling Mansion, now the Schuylkill County Art and Ethnic Center. Saint Patrick Church, founded in 1827, is located here. St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church , Yuengling Park, various Protestant denomination churches also grace this tree-lined street. Pottsville Rotary Little League field is at 20th & Mahantongo Streets. The street comes to an end in a residential neighborhood just after 26th Street. John O'Hara mentions this street in many of his books renaming it "Lantenengo Street." Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Schuylkill County ( / ˈ s k uː l k ɪ l / , locally /- k əl / ; Pennsylvania Dutch : Schulkill Kaundi)

8056-585: The future. There are only two car driving Anabaptist groups who have preserved the dialect: The Old Beachy Amish and the Kauffman Amish Mennonites , also called Sleeping Preacher Churches. Even though Amish and Old Order Mennonites were originally a minority group within the Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking population, today they form the vast majority. According to sociologist John A. Hostetler , less than 10 percent of

8162-467: The guttural ⟨r⟩ of earlier generations and also turned into an American ⟨r⟩ and so German gewesen > gwest > grest and German geschwind > gschwind > tschrind /tʃɹɪnt/ . The changes in pronunciation, combined with the general disappearance of declensions as described above, result in a form of the dialect that has evolved somewhat from its early Pennsylvania origins nearly 300 years ago and

8268-519: The language from hearing their parents using it and from interactions with the generation older than their parents. Among the first natively English speaking generation, oldest siblings typically speak Pennsylvania Dutch better than younger ones. There have been efforts to advance the use of the dialect. Kutztown University offers a complete minor program in Pennsylvania German Studies. The program includes two full semesters of

8374-478: The many small hills and dells and is frequented by motorcyclists throughout the summer months. Mahantongo Street is a street with historically affluent residents in Pottsville . It is the location of the old Necho Allen hotel, the Yuengling brewery (the oldest American brewery still in operation), and the former home of novelist John O'Hara . Also located on the street are many homes of former coal barons and

8480-463: The mines, on the rails, on the canals, and in the towns within and surrounding the county. After settlement of the farms, came a period of diversified, small scale production that lasted until about the late 19th century. After then, more highly mechanized small farms combined livestock and crop production for new, mainly local and regional markets. Then the system re-oriented to add orchard products, trees and plant products and poultry farming. In 2012,

8586-526: The nineteenth century a huge township called Mahantongo Township . Until 1811, when Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania was set off, Mahantongo Township was part of Berks County , and was later divided into Upper and Lower Mahantongo Townships, which in turn were divided into smaller subdivisions. After 1800 the Mahantongo area in Schuylkill and Northumberland Counties became an important settlement point including new industrial towns that were growing up in

8692-460: The original Pennsylvania Dutch population was Amish or Mennonite. As of 1989, non-sectarian, or non-Amish and non-Mennonite, native Pennsylvania-Dutch speaking parents have generally spoken to their children exclusively in English. The reasons they cited were preventing their children from developing a "Dutch" accent and preparing them for school. Older speakers generally did not see a reason for young people to speak it. Many of their children learned

8798-407: The past participle of 'change' is usually ge-change-t . Verbs with unstressed first syllables generally do not take the ge- prefix, so the past participle of 'adopt' is adopted , as in English. This follows the pattern of words with inseparable prefixes in German. However, English-origin verbs which are stressed on the first syllable may also appear without the ge- prefix. Thus, 'realize'

8904-415: The people in these areas spoke Rhine Franconian , especially Palatine German and, to a lesser degree, Alemannic dialects; it is believed that in the first generations after the settlers arrived, the dialects merged. The result of that dialect levelling was a dialect very close to the eastern dialects of Palatine German, especially the rural dialects around Mannheim / Ludwigshafen . Pennsylvania Dutch

9010-491: The preparation of coal had not then been introduced. Numerous operators produced from five to six thousand tons for market annually, which was then considered a respectable business, who had never committed thousands of dollars to their enterprises, including their first land purchases of coal mines. Coal land could be bought and mines opened for less capital than the purchase and stocking of a decent farm, and coal mines could be worked for less capital than that required to establish

9116-520: The project did not count upon the coal trade to promote the success of the undertaking. They looked forward mainly to transporting the agricultural products being produced below the mountains, the lumber of Schuylkill County, and the grain and other products of the counties between the Susquehanna and Schuylkill rivers. In 1822, in the first shipment of coal on the line, 1,480 tons of coal were transported from present-day Schuylkill County. With

9222-548: The renewable energy output, while solar and biomass account for 20%. The Locust Ridge wind turbines in the north of the county produce enough electricity for 37,500 homes, equivalent to the 48 MW of electricity generated by the Wheelabrator Frackville's waste coal plant. Textile manufacturing evolved as a major industry in the county near the beginning of the 20th Century. Phillips & Jones Co., Now known as Phillips Van Heusen, began in Pottsville , and

9328-458: The rules of American English orthography, the other the rules of Standard German orthography (developed by Preston Barba and Albert F. Buffington ). The choice of writing system is not meant to imply any difference in pronunciation. For comparison, a translation into Pennsylvania Dutch, using two spelling systems, of the Lord's Prayer , as found in the common traditional language English translation,

9434-473: The schoolhouse by the creek Just next to Grandpa's house. Orange is the New Black character Leanne Taylor and family are featured speaking Pennsylvania Dutch in flashbacks showing her Amish background before ending up in prison. Science-fiction writer Michael Flynn wrote the novella The Forest of Time , depicting an alternate history in which the United States was never established, but each of

9540-629: The size of the Amish population, and most who speak Pennsylvania Dutch on the Canadian and U.S. censuses would report that they speak German, since it is the closest option available. Pennsylvania Dutch was reported under ethnicity in the 2000 census. There are also some Pennsylvania Dutch speakers who belong to traditional Anabaptist groups in Latin America. Even though most Mennonite communities in Belize speak Plautdietsch , some few hundreds who came to Belize mostly around 1970 and who belong to

9646-590: The smaller numerals and English for larger and more complicated numbers, like $ 27,599. Conversely, although many among the earlier generations of Pennsylvania Dutch could speak English, they were known for speaking it with a strong and distinctive accent. Such Pennsylvania Dutch English can still sometimes be heard. Although the more-recently coined term is being used in the context of this and related articles to describe this Pennsylvania Dutch-influenced English, it has traditionally been referred to as "Dutchy" or "Dutchified" English. Pennsylvania Dutch has primarily been

9752-499: The south where the Mahantongo Mountain closes the valley. rises in the mountains of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania The Mahantongo Valley aesthetic has been explored in various recent studies, particularly those of Frederick S. Weiser and Mary Hammond-Sullivan who focused attention on decorated furniture made in the region. They described the highly distinctive furniture that had been created between 1798 and 1828 along

9858-801: The speaking of Pennsylvania Dutch had absolutely no religious connotations. In Ontario, Canada, the Old Order Amish, the members of the Ontario Old Order Mennonite Conference , the David Martin Old Order Mennonites , the Orthodox Mennonites and smaller pockets of others (regardless of religious affiliation) speak Pennsylvania Dutch. The members of the car driving Old Order Markham-Waterloo Mennonite Conference have mostly switched to English. In 2017, there were about 10,000 speakers of Pennsylvania Dutch in Canada, far fewer than in

9964-688: The state Sheriff Academy in State College to be certified as a Deputy Sheriff. The Sheriff Academy is a paramilitary Sheriff academy that consists of 6 months of intense training in all facets of criminal and civil law of Pennsylvania as well as physical training, self defense training, weapons certification and training, as well as tactical training, training in handcuffing and restraint, courtroom and courthouse security, and conducting security assessments of Courthouse and courtroom facilities. Central Booking processes fingerprints and photographs of arrested individuals. When requested by other police agencies,

10070-509: The textile industry, which employed significant numbers of women, began to rival the coal mining industry in size, especially after the end of World War II , when that industry began to collapse. As a consequence of the Great Depression, garment manufacturers began to look for people willing to work at lower wages outside of New York City , the center of the industry. Pennsylvania became the third-highest ranked apparel manufacturer in

10176-607: The vote in his triumph in 2024, making it the best performance for a Republican in the county in presidential history, and the first Republican presidential candidate to crack 70% of the vote in the county. Under Pennsylvania law, there are four types of incorporated municipalities: cities , boroughs , townships , and, in at most two cases, towns . The following cities, boroughs and townships are located in Schuylkill County: Census-designated places are unincorporated communities designated by

10282-676: The years. Two examples are A Simple Grammar of Pennsylvania Dutch by J. William Frey and A Pennsylvania German Reader and Grammar by Earl C. Haag . The tables below use IPA symbols to compare sounds used in Standard German (to the left) with sounds that correspond to them in their Pennsylvania Dutch cognates , reflecting their respective evolutions since they diverged from a common origin. In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania , there have been numerous other shifts that can make their Pennsylvania Dutch particularly difficult for modern High German speakers to understand. A word beginning in ⟨gs⟩ generally becomes ⟨ts⟩ , which

10388-492: Was and were . The subjunctive mood is extant only as Konjunktiv I ( Konjunktiv II is totally lost) in a limited number of verbs. In all other verbs it is expressed through the form of Konjunktiv I of the verbs 'to do' ( du ) and 'to have' ( hawwe / have ) combined with the infinitive or the past participle , e.g., ich daet esse ('I would eat'), ich hett gesse ('I would have eaten'). Several Pennsylvania Dutch grammars have been published over

10494-475: Was approved by Governor Francis R. Shunk on March 13, submitting the question to the voters. The change was desired principally because the railroad and canal connections with Orwigsburg were problematic while Pottsville had facilities and was within easy access from all parts of the county. In 1812, George Shoemaker and Necho Allen discovered stone coal at Centerville in Schuylkill County, and personally delivered some of it to Philadelphia . He gave away most of

10600-750: Was chartered in 1815 to build a series of navigation improvements in the Schuylkill River during a period when the much larger Erie Canal along the Mohawk River in New York state had already been developed and was well ahead of other key canals fueling the American Industrial Revolution , including the Delaware and Hudson , the Lehigh , the Chesapeake and Ohio , Delaware and Raritan , and Morris canals. The originators of

10706-478: Was defeated for reelection by Republican Mike Tobash . In 2011, the GOP reclaimed the county government. This GOP resurgence has been followed by the subsequent election of Donald Trump in 2016, where he received 69% of the area's popular vote to Hillary Clinton 's 26.7%. Trump received the highest percentage of the vote of any Republican presidential candidate in the county's history. He subsequently received 70.6% of

10812-485: Was discovered near present-day Pottsville by Necho Allen. In 1795, a blacksmith based in Schuylkill County known as Whetstone resolved the question of how to use anthracite successfully for blacksmithing purposes. In 1806, additional sources of coal were found as the tailrace was cut on the Schuylkill River . Daniel Berlin, another blacksmith, used it successfully, and blacksmiths in the county and surrounding Coal Region ultimately adopted its use, which represented

10918-632: Was founded by Michael Werner . It is published twice a year (2,400 copies per issue)—since 2013 in cooperation with the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University . Since 2002, the newspaper is published both online and in print . In 2006, the German publishing house Edition Tintenfaß started to print books in Pennsylvania Dutch. Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc., using American English orthography (see Written language), has translated

11024-409: Was once Schuylkill County's largest employer. Another textile giant, John E. Morgan Knitting Mills, began manufacturing in 1945 in Tamaqua , eventually becoming the largest employer in the county in the between 1970 and 1980. In addition there were numerous smaller shops all over the county, doing subcontract work for major manufacturers all over the nation. In the latter half of the 20th century,

11130-430: Was the first organized community in Schuylkill County. During the county's early years, there was an attempt to make McKeansburg the county seat ; Orwigsburg was also a contender. Orwigsburg was selected as the county seat because it was deemed to be better suited for industries. Beginning in 1831, support for moving the county seat to Pottsville began gaining traction. In 1846, the state legislature passed an Act that

11236-500: Was then part of Northampton County , were primarily Moravian Palatines from the Saxony region of Germany . In 1755, the first log church was built in the county. Native American massacres were commonplace in Schuylkill County between 1755 and 1765. Warrant for tracts of land in the vicinity of McKeansburg were established as early as 1750. In 1790, anthracite , a highly efficient form of coal then known as stone coal,

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