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107-592: Over 50 million Americans claim German ancestry , which makes them the largest single claimed ancestry group in the United States. Around 1.06 million people in the United States speak the German language at home. It is the second most spoken language in North Dakota (1.39% of its population) and is the third most spoken language in 16 other states. Ever since the first ethnically German families settled in

214-549: A Hessian dialect in particular, is still spoken by several hundred people in seven villages in the Amana Colonies in Iowa , which were founded by Inspirationalists of German origin. Amana German is derived from Hessian dialects which fused into a so-called Ausgleichsdialekt that adopted many English words and some English idioms . Bernese German, ( Standard German : Berndeutsch , Alemannic German : Bärndütsch )

321-694: A Quaker -led coalition that took control of the legislature, which later supported the American Revolution . Despite this, many of the German settlers were loyalists during the Revolution, possibly because they feared their royal land grants would be taken away by a new republican government, or because of loyalty to a British German monarchy who had provided the opportunity to live in a liberal society. The Germans, comprising Lutherans , Reformed , Mennonites , Amish , and other sects, developed

428-630: A leveled dialect form, like, e.g., in southeastern Pennsylvania, where Pennsylvania German as a leveled dialect emerged, but remained distinct. In the link provided, an archive of Wisconsin German field recordings can be found on the Datenbank für Gesprochenes Deutsch hosted by the Leibniz Institut für Deutsche Sprache. Other field recordings can be found at the Max Kade Institute as well. An urban legend , sometimes called

535-407: A newsboy , as an assistant to his father in teaching peasant children, as a crocheter of home manufactured wollen shawls, among other small jobs. Douai was poorly nourished as a child and short of stature, standing just 4 feet 8 inches (1.42 m) tall at age 19. While at university, Douai found the stipends insufficient and therefore sought to supplement his income by writing. In

642-514: A German seeking naturalization in St. Louis, Missouri, who was accused on the night of April 14, 1914, of being a German spy by a mob of 300 "men and boys" after he had allegedly shared words at a socialist meeting earlier that evening. The jail into which he had taken refuge from the crowds was quickly overrun and being stripped of his clothes, he was led down Main Street with a rope tied around his neck and

749-571: A Germanic language, and only in the last couple centuries the people of the Netherlands. Other Germanic language variants for "deutsch/deitsch/dutch" are: Dutch "Duits" and " Diets ", Yiddish "daytsh", Danish/Norwegian "tysk", or Swedish " tyska ." The Japanese "ドイツ" (/doitsu/) also derives from the aforementioned "Dutch" variations. The Studebaker brothers, forefathers of the wagon and automobile makers, arrived in Pennsylvania in 1736 from

856-560: A colony in Virginia called Germanna , located near modern-day Culpeper, Virginia . Virginia Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood , taking advantage of the headright system , had bought land in present-day Spotsylvania and encouraged German immigration by advertising in Germany for miners to move to Virginia and establish a mining industry in the colony. The name "Germanna", selected by Governor Alexander Spotswood , reflected both

963-462: A dialect of German known as Pennsylvania German , widely called Pennsylvania Dutch , where Dutch is used in its archaic sense, thus not limited to Dutch but including all variants of German. It is a remnant of what was once a much larger German-speaking area in eastern Pennsylvania . Most of the "Pennsylvania Dutch" originate from the Palatinate area of Germany and their language is based on

1070-454: A favored destination. By 1900, the populations of the cities of Cleveland , Milwaukee , and Cincinnati were all more than 40% German American. Dubuque and Davenport, Iowa had even larger proportions, as did Omaha , Nebraska, where the proportion of German Americans was 57% in 1910. In many other cities of the Midwest , such as Fort Wayne, Indiana , German Americans were at least 30% of

1177-639: A large German population from the mid-1840s onward due to the Adelsverein . After Texas was granted statehood in 1845, it required that all laws be officially translated into German. This remained in force until 1917, when the United States entered the First World War. As cultural ties between Germany and the United States have been historically strong, a number of important German and U.S. authors have been popular in both countries. In modern German literature, this topic has been addressed frequently by

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1284-420: A large German-American population, German was long permitted as a language of instruction in public schools. State documents were available in German until 1950. As a result of widespread anti-German sentiment during World War I, German fluency decreased from one generation of Pennsylvanians to the next, and today only a small fraction of its residents of German descent are fluent in the German language. Texas had

1391-558: A microcosm of the Germania nationwide. The Germans who settled Texas were diverse in many ways. They included peasant farmers and intellectuals; Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and atheists; Prussians, Saxons, and Hessians; abolitionists and slave owners; farmers and townsfolk; frugal, honest folk and ax murderers. They differed in dialect, customs, and physical features. A majority had been farmers in Germany, and most arrived seeking economic opportunities. A few dissident intellectuals fleeing

1498-584: A new educational academy in Irvington, New Jersey , but no suitable building could be had to bring the project to fruition. This event essentially brought Douai's teaching career to a close. He was an early and prominent member of the Socialist Labor Party of America , the first Marxist political party in America, established as the " Workingmen's Party of the United States " in 1876. In

1605-569: A new school of his own. This New York school lost its leased building as part of an expansion of Broadway in 1871, prompting Douai to move to Newark, New Jersey , to accept a post as principal of the Green Street School there. Douai remained in Newark in this position until 1876, at which time a new board of directors were elected who were opposed to him. After being removed from his position in Newark, Douai accepted an offer to start

1712-547: A paying student. Douai took a job as a private tutor in Russia as the most lucrative course of employment during this interval. As he sought to be married to Baroness Agnes von Beust and faced a 2-year deadline for obtaining permanent employment placed upon him by her family, Douai instead took and passed imperial examinations at the University of Dorpat , which entitled him to the title of Doctor and enabled his employment by

1819-463: A private preparatory school . With the coming of the Revolutions of 1848 , Douai helped organize clubs for workers and students and took an active part in the political movement, sitting as a member of the revolutionary Landtag of Saxe-Altenberg. His political activity brought him to the attention of the government of Saxony, which arrested him and charged him with high treason and rioting in

1926-645: A result of anti-German sentiment during WWI, the use of German declined. The daily use would recede in public view to primarily Amish , Old Order Mennonite and Hutterite communities. Around 1800, two German-language Methodist churches were founded, the Vereinigten Brüder in Christo and the Evangelische Gemeinschaft . Both used Methodist hymnals in German and published German newspapers, of which one existed until 1937. From

2033-612: A rich religious life with a strong musical culture. Collectively, they came to be known as the Pennsylvania Dutch (from Deutsch ). Etymologically, the word Dutch originates from the Old High German word "diutisc" (from "diot" "people"), referring to the Germanic "language of the people" as opposed to Latin, the language of the learned (see also theodiscus ). Eventually the word came to refer to people who speak

2140-482: A short autobiography published at the time of his death, Douai claimed to have authored several novels and two theological papers during his undergraduate years. Following his graduation from the University of Leipzig, Douai sought admission to the University of Jena as a student of philosophy and pedagogy . He was denied admission, however, and was forced to enter the workforce to earn enough money to study as

2247-570: A slave). The most famous of the early German Palatine immigrants was editor John Peter Zenger , who led the fight in colonial New York City for freedom of the press in America. A later immigrant, John Jacob Astor , who came from Walldorf , Electoral Palatinate , since 1803 Baden , after the Revolutionary War, became the richest man in America from his fur trading empire and real estate investments in New York. John Law organized

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2354-486: A slavery free state in the territory of western Texas. These controversial positions in slave-state Texas resulted in widespread public antipathy and the loss of advertisers and lead to the necessary sale of his publication in 1856. With the American Civil War in the wind, Douai moved north to Boston, Massachusetts , where he began working as a private tutor , also teaching at a New England institute for

2461-460: A teacher, shall, in any private, denominational, parochial or public school, teach any subject to any person in any language other than the English language." It forbade foreign instruction to children who had not completed the eighth grade. In Montana, speaking German was banned in public for two years during World War I. Pennsylvania 's legislature passed a German-language ban, but it was vetoed by

2568-608: Is a subdialect of High Alemannic German which is spoken by Old Order Amish in Adams County, Indiana , and their daughter settlements. There are several thousand speakers of the dialect in the US. A link to an interview on YouTube featuring Berndeutsch from Indiana can be found in the citation below. Hutterite communities in the United States and Canada speak Hutterite German , an Austro-Bavarian dialect. Hutterite

2675-501: Is a mix of historical words, English loan words, and new words which together are found in the German language used by non-Amish nor Mennonite descendants. The study of the German language in the United States was suppressed during World War I, but has since regained coverage by major universities, most notedly at the University of Kansas from scholars such as William Keel, the Max-Kade Institute of German-American Studies of

2782-542: Is found in Parke County , in western Indiana. Many English words have become mixed with this dialect and it is quite different from Standard German ( Hochdeutsch ), but quite similar to the dialect of the Palatinate region. Usually, Pennsylvania Dutch (often just "Dutch" or Deitsch ) is spoken at home, but English is used when interacting with the general population. The Amish and Old Order Mennonites of northern Indiana often differentiate between themselves and

2889-1146: Is home to one of the group's original settlements, the Germantown section of present-day Philadelphia , founded in 1683. Germantown is also the birthplace of the American antislavery movement , which emerged there in 1688. Germantown also was the location of the Battle of Germantown , an American Revolutionary War battle fought between the British Army , led by William Howe , and the Continental Army , led by George Washington , on October 4, 1777. German Americans were drawn to colonial-era British America by its abundant land and religious freedom, and were pushed out of Germany by shortages of land and religious or political oppression . Many arrived seeking religious or political freedom , others for economic opportunities greater than those in Europe, and others for

2996-479: Is spoken in the U.S. states of Washington , Montana , North and South Dakota , and Minnesota ; and in the Canadian provinces of Alberta , Saskatchewan , and Manitoba . There is also a significant population of Amish and Old Order Mennonites located in rural areas of Elkhart County and LaGrange County , Indiana, who speak Pennsylvania Dutch. A much smaller community of Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking Amish

3103-426: Is used. Despite the lack of such stabilized syntax, communication is still possible. One speaker might recognize however, that another may be from another community, town, or area. These nouns have been found in all regions of the United States and are not exclusive to any particular region. Some English loanwords are found via cultural diffusion with English speaking populations and often were introduced given

3210-801: The Alsatian region who had recently fallen under French rule, and the Swiss to immigrate. Alsace was sold to France within the greater context of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). The Jesuit Charlevoix traveled New France (Canada and Louisiana) in the early 1700s. His letter said "these 9,000 Germans, who were raised in the Palatinate (Alsace part of France) were in Arkansas. The Germans left Arkansas en masse. They went to New Orleans and demanded passage to Europe. The Mississippi Company gave

3317-633: The Blue Ridge Mountains , where Palatine German predominated. Meanwhile, in Southwest Virginia , Virginia German acquired a Swabian German accent. In North Carolina , an expedition of German Moravians living around Bethlehem, Pennsylvania , and a party from Europe led by August Gottlieb Spangenberg , headed down the Great Wagon Road and purchased 98,985 acres (400.58 km ) from Lord Granville (one of

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3424-612: The Frankfurter Wachensturm beginning in the 1830s—predominantly in Texas and Missouri, but also in other U.S. states—in which German intellectuals ( freethinkers , German: Freidenker , and Latinists ) met together to devote themselves to the German literature , philosophy , science, classical music, and the Latin language . A prominent representative of this generation of immigrants was Gustav Koerner who lived most of

3531-482: The Muhlenberg legend after Frederick Muhlenberg , states that English only narrowly defeated German as the U.S. official language. In reality, the proposal involved a requirement that government documents be translated into German. The United States has no statutory official language; English has been used on a de facto basis, owing to its status as the country's predominant language. In Pennsylvania , which had

3638-521: The Texas Hill Country still exists but has been dying out since the end of World War II . Following the introduction of English-only schooling during both World Wars, Texas German speakers drifted towards English and few passed the language to their descendants. In the link provided, an archive of Texas German field recordings can be found. Texas German Archive The various German dialects that were brought to Wisconsin did not develop into

3745-653: The United States Census Bureau 's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the population. This represents a decrease from the 2012 census where 50.7 million Americans identified as German. The census is conducted in a way that allows this total number to be broken down in two categories. In the 2020 census, roughly two thirds of those who identify as German also identified as having another ancestry, while one third identified as German alone. German Americans account for about one third of

3852-491: The University of Wisconsin–Madison and George J. Metcalf from the University of Chicago . While towns may have differing grammatical structures and sometimes pronunciations as influenced by the first immigrant families, their regions, and consequent contact with English, there is no set in stone official grammatical syntax of the American German variety of German and so when taught, that of standard German from Germany

3959-722: The War of 1812 . In 1709, Protestant Germans from the Pfalz or Palatine region of Germany escaped conditions of poverty, traveling first to Rotterdam and then to London. Queen Anne helped them get to the American colonies. The trip was long and difficult to survive because of the poor quality of food and water aboard ships and the infectious disease typhus . Many immigrants, particularly children, died before reaching America in June 1710. The Palatine immigration of about 2100 people who survived

4066-414: The "Dutchman," and the German language quickly went from being viewed as distinguished and the language of the educated to being distrusted, and as such, anyone fluent in the language regardless of age associated with or who practiced traditions viewed as foreign of any type was subject to several public harassments, distrust, and on a few occasions, death. One such death of note was that of Robert Prager ,

4173-655: The 1848 revolutions sought political freedom, but few, save perhaps the Wends, went for religious freedom. The German settlements in Texas reflected their diversity. Even in the confined area of the Hill Country, each valley offered a different kind of German. The Llano valley had stern, teetotaling German Methodists, who renounced dancing and fraternal organizations; the Pedernales valley had fun-loving, hardworking Lutherans and Catholics who enjoyed drinking and dancing; and

4280-694: The 19th century, German immigrants settled in Midwest, where land was available. Cities along the Great Lakes, the Ohio River, and the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers attracted a large German element. The Midwestern cities of Milwaukee , Cincinnati , St. Louis , Chicago were favored destinations of German immigrants. The Northern Kentucky and Louisville area along the Ohio River was also

4387-628: The 19th century, pressure increased from the Russian government to culturally assimilate. Many Germans from Russia found it necessary to emigrate to avoid conscription and preserve their culture. About 100,000 immigrated by 1900, settling primarily in the Great Plains . Negatively influenced by the violation of their rights and cultural persecution by the Tsar , the Germans from Russia who settled in

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4494-567: The 19th century, the German press increased in importance and the number of dailies exploded. In 1909 a report stated "every American city or town with a large German population possesses one or more German newspapers. In New York City there are twelve or more... the best... being... the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung . The Illinois Staats-Zeitung has nearly as large a circulation, and the Milwaukee Germania claims

4601-634: The 21st century. Few German immigrants settled in the Deep South , apart from New Orleans , the German Coast , and Texas. Texas attracted many Germans who entered through Galveston and Indianola , both those who came to farm, and later immigrants who more rapidly took industrial jobs in cities such as Houston. As in Milwaukee , Germans in Houston built the brewing industry. By the 1920s,

4708-469: The Boston-born author of German and English lyrical poetry Paul-Henri Campbell . According to a government-financed survey, German was taught in 24% of American schools in 1997, and only 14% in 2008. German is third in popularity after Spanish and French in terms of the number of colleges and universities offering instruction in the language. What here is referred to as Standard American German

4815-697: The British Lords Proprietor) in the Piedmont of North Carolina in 1753. The tract was dubbed Wachau-die-Aue , Latinized Wachovia , because the streams and meadows reminded Moravian settlers of the Wachau valley in Austria . They established German settlements on that tract, especially in the area around what is now Winston-Salem . They also founded the transitional settlement of Bethabara, North Carolina , translated as House of Passage,

4922-799: The Burnetsfield Patent. By 1750, the Germans occupied a strip some 12 miles (19 km) long along both sides of the Mohawk River . The soil was excellent; some 500 houses were built, mostly of stone, and the region prospered in spite of Indian raids. Herkimer was the best-known of the German settlements in a region long known as the "German Flats". They kept to themselves, married their own, spoke German, attended Lutheran churches, and retained their own customs and foods. They emphasized farm ownership. Some mastered English to become conversant with local legal and business opportunities. They tolerated slavery (although few were rich enough to own

5029-640: The Duchy of Saxon-Altenburg , the son of a school teacher. The Douai family was of French extraction, having fled to Dresden after the fall of the French Revolution . The Douai family was poor and Adolph went to work at the age of 8. Nevertheless, as a boy he was well educated, graduating from the Altenburg Gymnasium and the University of Leipzig , where he studied philology and history. He worked variously in his boyhood years as

5136-402: The German Empire, and even speaking German was seen as unpatriotic. Many German-American families anglicized their names (e.g. from Schmidt to Smith , Schneider to Taylor , Müller to Miller ), and German nearly disappeared in public in many cities. In the countryside, the presence became quieter but persevered particularly in regions of many Germans. Many states otherwise forbade

5243-499: The German colony of New Braunfels . There he helped to raise funds to launch the Neue Braunfelser Zeitung in November 1852, a publication edited by his friend Ferdinand Lindheimer (1801-1879). Douai also attempted to establish another school, but the efforts of the free-thinker Douai were impeded by a local Catholic priest , who spoke out against the schoolmaster, prompting parents to withdraw their children from his school. Douai subsequently fell ill with cholera , resulting in

5350-451: The German immigrants who sailed across the Atlantic to Virginia and the British queen, Anne , who was in power at the time of the first settlement at Germanna. In 1721, twelve German families departed Germanna to found Germantown . They were swiftly replaced by 70 new German arrivals from the Palatinate , the start of a westward and southward trend of German migration and settlement across the Virginia Piedmont and Shenandoah Valley around

5457-402: The German states , a wave of political refugees fled to America, who became known as Forty-Eighters . They included professionals, journalists, and politicians. Prominent Forty-Eighters included Carl Schurz and Henry Villard . "Latin farmer" or Latin Settlement is the designation of several settlements founded by some of the Dreissiger and other refugees from Europe after rebellions like

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5564-446: The Germans rich lands on the right bank of the Mississippi River about 25 miles (40 km) above New Orleans. The area is now known as 'the German Coast '." A thriving population of Germans lived upriver from New Orleans , Louisiana, known as the German Coast . They were attracted to the area through pamphlets such as J. Hanno Deiler's "Louisiana: A Home for German Settlers". Two waves of German colonists in 1714 and 1717 founded

5671-411: The Guadalupe valley had freethinking Germans descended from intellectual political refugees. The scattered German ethnic islands were also diverse. These small enclaves included Lindsay in Cooke County, largely Westphalian Catholic; Waka in Ochiltree County, Midwestern Mennonite; Hurnville in Clay County, Russian German Baptist; and Lockett in Wilbarger County, Wendish Lutheran. Germans from Russia were

5778-412: The Scandinavian, had only 115. With the repression of the German language during World War I, the German press in America was reduced dramatically. Throughout much of the 19th century, there were fierce debates in many large American metropolitan areas with German immigrant communities, such as Chicago and St. Louis to determine whether public schools should offer German-language education. The issue

5885-408: The U.S. ramped up sharply during the 19th century. There is a German belt consisting of areas with predominantly German American populations that extends across the United States from eastern Pennsylvania, where many of the first German Americans settled, to the Oregon coast. Pennsylvania, with 3.5 million people of German ancestry, has the largest population of German-Americans in the U.S. and

5992-514: The US in the mid-1800s. There are fewer speakers of Alsatian in Indiana than of Bernese German, even though there are several thousand speakers. There are also speakers of Bernese German and Pennsylvania German living in the community. Most speakers of Alsatian also speak or at least understand Pennsylvania German. Speakers of Alsatian in Indiana are thus exposed to five languages or dialects: Alsatian, Bernese German, Pennsylvania German, Standard German and English. Amana German , West Central German ,

6099-566: The US to sell "liberty bonds." Newspapers of the time have stories of harassment of "slackers," who were forced to buy bonds and burn German books during the exhibition. It should be mentioned at this time that the dialects presented below are only partials to the whole dialectal picture of the stratum of German dialects spoken in the US. Alsatian, ( German : Elsässisch ), is a Low Alemannic German dialect spoken by Old Order Amish and some Old Order Mennonites in Allen County, Indiana , and their daughter settlements. These Amish immigrated to

6206-485: The United States in 2020. The Germans included many quite distinct subgroups with differing religious and cultural values. Lutherans and Catholics typically opposed Yankee moralizing programs such as the prohibition of beer, and favored paternalistic families with the husband deciding the family position on public affairs. They generally opposed women's suffrage but this was used as argument in favor of suffrage when German Americans became pariahs during World War I. On

6313-428: The United States in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1608, the German language, dialects, and different traditions of the regions of Germany have played a role in the social identity of many German-Americans. By 1910, an account of 554 newspaper issues were being printed in the standard German language throughout the United States as well as several schools that taught in German with class time set aside for English learning. As

6420-444: The banning of performing of music from German composers at symphony concerts including the attempt to rename certain foods. Sauerkraut for example would become Liberty Cabbage. "Hamburger" would be for a short while "Liberty Steaks." Language use had also been the primary focus of legislation at state and local levels. Some of these regulations included the publication of charters banning speaking German within city limits. A total ban on

6527-417: The blind in South Boston. While in Boston, Douai established a German workingmen's club which in 1859 sponsored a three-classroom school featuring the first American Kindergarten . In 1860, Douai became editor of the New York Demokrat , a position which he soon abandoned to assume the position of Principal of the Hoboken Academy. He taught there for six years, moving to New York City in 1866 to establish

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6634-668: The chance to start fresh in the New World. The arrivals before 1850 were mostly farmers who sought out the most productive land, where their intensive farming techniques would pay off. After 1840, many came to cities, where German-speaking districts emerged. German Americans established the first kindergartens in the United States, introduced the Christmas tree tradition, and introduced popular foods such as hot dogs and hamburgers to America. The great majority of people with some German ancestry have become Americanized ; fewer than five percent speak German. German-American societies abound, as do celebrations that are held throughout

6741-498: The city's schools sparked outrage from the city's German community. Hermann Raster , the Republican editor-in-chief of the Illinois Staats-Zeitung, and the Socialist politician Adolph Douai strongly opposed the new rule, and both became known as vocal critics of enforcing English-only education in the United States. When the U.S. joined in World War I , an anti-German hysteria quickly spread in American society. German-Americans, especially immigrants, were blamed for military acts of

6848-606: The colonists. German immigrants also settled in other areas of the American South , including around the Dutch (Deutsch) Fork area of South Carolina , and Texas, especially in the Austin and San Antonio areas. Between 1742 and 1753, roughly 1,000 Germans settled in Broad Bay, Massachusetts (now Waldoboro, Maine ). Many of the colonists fled to Boston , Maine, Nova Scotia, and North Carolina after their houses were burned and their neighbors killed or carried into captivity by Native Americans. The Germans who remained found it difficult to survive on farming, and eventually turned to

6955-480: The country to celebrate German heritage of which the German-American Steuben Parade in New York City is one of the most well-known and is held every third Saturday in September. Oktoberfest celebrations and the German-American Day are popular festivities. There are major annual events in cities with German heritage including Chicago, Cincinnati , Milwaukee , Pittsburgh , San Antonio , and St. Louis . Around 180,000 permanent residents from Germany were living in

7062-400: The dialect of that region. While the language is stable among the Old Orders and the number of speakers growing due to the high birth rate among the Old Orders, it is quickly declining among the non- plain Pennsylvania Germans (also called Fancy Dutch ). Plautdietsch , a Low German dialect, is spoken and most often associated with "Russian" Mennonites who immigrated mostly to Kansas in

7169-431: The fall of 1877 there was a short-lived plan for Douai to serve as English-language translator of Das Kapital , the magnum opus of Karl Marx first published in 1867. In January 1878, the German-language socialist daily newspaper the New Yorker Volkszeitung (New York People's News) was established, and Douai began to write extensively for the publication. It was there that Douai gained his greatest public fame as

7276-430: The famous blade town of Solingen . With their skills, they made wagons that carried the frontiersmen westward; their cannons provided the Union Army with artillery in the American Civil War , and their automobile company became one of the largest in America, although never eclipsing the "Big Three", and was a factor in the war effort and in the industrial foundations of the Army. Great Britain, whose King George III

7383-401: The first colonization of Louisiana with German immigrants. Of the over 5,000 Germans initially immigrating primarily from the Alsace Region as few as 500 made up the first wave of immigrants to leave France en route to the Americas. Less than 150 of those first indentured German farmers made it to Louisiana and settled along what became known as the German Coast. With tenacity, determination and

7490-401: The first generation of college-educated German Americans were moving into the chemical and oil industries. Texas had about 20,000 German Americans in the 1850s. They did not form a uniform bloc, but were highly diverse and drew from geographic areas and all sectors of European society, except that very few aristocrats or upper middle class businessmen arrived. In this regard, Texas Germania was

7597-622: The first planned Moravian community in North Carolina, in 1759. Soon after, the German Moravians founded the town of Salem in 1766 (now a historical section in the center of Winston-Salem) and Salem College (an early female college) in 1772. In the Georgia Colony , Germans mainly from the Swabia region settled in Savannah, St. Simon's Island and Fort Frederica in the 1730s and 1740s. They were actively recruited by James Oglethorpe and quickly distinguished themselves through improved farming, advanced tabby (cement) -construction, and leading joint Lutheran- Anglican -Reformed religious services for

7704-585: The following varieites of Stinkkatze / Stinkkatz' / Stinkkotz / Stinkchaatz (Swiss-German speaking communities) have been found in many midwestern states spanning to Texas. die Schulmeisterin Schulmeisterin (f) Throughout the history of the German language in the United States, through the coexistence with English, there are many loanwords which have been absorbed into the American variety of German. There are also many usages which have been preserved in American German varieties including usages from

7811-562: The general population by referring to them, respectively, as the "Amish" and the "English." Pennsylvania "Dutch" is sometimes used in worship services, though this is more common among the Amish than the Mennonites. More mainstream (city) Mennonites may have a working knowledge of the language, but it is not frequently used in conversation or in worship services. Old Order Amish , Old Order Mennonites and other Pennsylvania Germans speak

7918-498: The government of Russia. Douai married Baroness Agnes von Beust on September 26, 1843, in the city of Königsberg . Together they eventually had ten children. Life in Russia had a radicalizing impact upon Douai and after 5 years in the country he returned to his native Altenburg, convinced that a revolution for constitutional and democratic government was in the wings. There he bought a building and hired assistants and established

8025-766: The governor. Churches during this period such as the Lutheran Church became internally divided over services and religious instruction in German and English. Closely related to the forced decline of German is the near default of the American war loans to the Triple Entente resulting in the introduction of the first to the fourth Liberty Bonds by the Federal Reserve. After March 1918, the Federal Reserve Bank started to use dozens of mobile "war exhibits" stationed on trains that drove through

8132-403: The lack of certain objects (ie. der Truck) in pre-20th century German. Dialect leveling is also found throughout regions where German is still found. Though previous studies have tried to pinpoint certain words to specific locations such as Stinkkatze with Texas German dialects, further research has since found these words in use extending beyond their originally perceived regions. For example

8239-446: The largest circulation of all. The Milwaukee Herold comes not far behind. Philadelphia has its Demokrat , Baltimore its Correspondent , Cincinnati its Volksblatt , St. Louis... its... Die Westliche Post , where Joseph Pulitzer started his career, and Der Anzeiger des Westens ." It also reported that compared to 17,194 English papers in the U.S. in 1900, there were 613 German ones. The next largest language group,

8346-492: The leadership of D'arensburg these Germans felled trees, cleared land, and cultivated the soil with simple hand tools as draft animals were not available. The German coast settlers supplied the budding City of New Orleans with corn, rice, eggs. and meat for many years following. The Mississippi Company settled thousands of German pioneers in French Louisiana during 1721. It encouraged Germans, particularly Germans of

8453-586: The loss of their language, the ethnic group remains distinct, and has left a lasting impression on the American West. Musician Lawrence Welk (1903–1992) became an iconic figure in the German-Russian community of the northern Great Plains—his success story personified the American dream. Adolph Douai Karl Daniel Adolph Douai was born February 22, 1819, in Altenburg , Thuringia , in

8560-429: The manifesto of their settlement the ability to practice their respective Christian denominations, retain their culture and language, and retain immunity from conscription for them and their descendants. As time passed, the Russian monarchy gradually eroded the ethnic German population's relative autonomy. Conscription eventually was reinstated; this was especially harmful to the Mennonites, who practice pacifism. Throughout

8667-610: The mid-1870s. These Mennonites also found in Canada tended to slowly assimilate into the mainstream society over several generations, but Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonite immigrants—mainly from Mexico , where there is lesser to no assimilation—brought Plautdietsch back to Kansas. Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonite migrants from Mexico formed a new settlement in Seminole, Texas , in 1977. In 2016 there were about 6,000 Plautdietsch speakers around Seminole. A dialect called Texas German based in

8774-560: The mid-1920s. The Supreme Court case in Meyer v. Nebraska ruled in 1923 that these laws were unconstitutional. In October 1918, a bill intended to restrict federal funds towards states that enforced English-only education was created. On April 9, 1919, Nebraska enacted a statute called "An act relating to the teaching of foreign languages in the state of Nebraska," commonly known as the Siman Act. It provided that "No person, individually or as

8881-664: The middle of the 19th century, English was used as a second language in the churches, but there were regions in which German was the main church language into the 20th century. In 1937 both churches fused and joined the United Methodist Church in 1968. The first German newspaper in the U.S. was der Hochdeutsch-Pennsylvanische Geschicht-Schreiber, oder Sammlung Wichtiger Nachrichten aus dem Natur- und Kirchen-Reich ("the High German-Pennsylvanian story-writer, or collection of important news from

8988-709: The most traditional of German-speaking arrivals. They were Germans who had lived for generations throughout the Russian Empire , but especially along the Volga River and the Black Sea . Their ancestors had come from all over the German-speaking world, invited by Catherine the Great in 1762 and 1763 to settle and introduce more advanced German agriculture methods to rural Russia. They had been promised by

9095-543: The northern Midwest saw themselves as a downtrodden ethnic group separate from Russian Americans and having an entirely different experience from the German Americans who had emigrated from German lands. They settled in tight-knit communities who retained their German language and culture. They raised large families, built German-style churches, buried their dead in distinctive cemeteries using cast iron grave markers, and sang German hymns. Many farmers specialized in

9202-637: The numerous dialects of the German regions. This preservation is a common phenomenon that occurs when a language leaves its original region: While the language in the original country moves forward, words and meanings in the new region freeze and often do not change along with the mother country. "Ich will ein Bild abnehmen." "Ich gleich dich!" "Ich mag dich!" "I like you!" German American German Americans (German: Deutschamerikaner , pronounced [ˈdɔʏtʃʔameʁɪˌkaːnɐ] ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to

9309-452: The old country dominated the city's Socialists . Skilled workers dominated many crafts, while entrepreneurs created the brewing industry; the most famous brands included Pabst , Schlitz , Miller , and Blatz . Whereas half of German immigrants settled in cities, the other half established farms in the Midwest . From Ohio to the Plains states, a heavy presence persists in rural areas into

9416-579: The opportunity to own land, and religious freedom. Often immigrants paid for their passage by selling their labor for a period of years as indentured servants . Large sections of Pennsylvania, Upstate New York , and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia attracted Germans. Most were Lutheran or German Reformed ; many belonged to small religious sects such as the Moravians and Mennonites . German Catholics did not arrive in number until after

9523-762: The other hand, there were Protestant groups who emerged from European pietism such as the German Methodist and United Brethren; they more closely resembled the Yankee Methodists in their moralism. The first English settlers arrived at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, and were accompanied by the first German that was to settle in North America, physician and botanist Johannes (John) Fleischer (in South America Ambrosius Ehinger had already founded Maracaibo in 1529). He

9630-581: The patriot side . The Muhlenberg family, led by Rev. Henry Muhlenberg was especially influential on the Patriot side. His son Peter Muhlenberg , a Lutheran clergyman in Virginia became a major general and later a Congressman. However, in upstate New York, many Germans were neutral or supported the Loyalist cause. From names in the 1790 U.S. census, historians estimate Germans constituted nearly 9% of

9737-712: The population. By 1850 there were 5,000 Germans, mostly Schwabians living in, and around, Ann Arbor, Michigan . Many concentrations acquired distinctive names suggesting their heritage, such as the " Over-the-Rhine " district in Cincinnati, " Dutchtown " in South St Louis, and " German Village " in Columbus, Ohio. A particularly attractive destination was Milwaukee , which came to be known as "the German Athens ". Radical Germans trained in politics in

9844-659: The production of sugar beets and wheat, which are still major crops in the upper Great Plains. During World War   I, their identity was challenged by anti-German sentiment . By the end of World War   II, the German language, which had always been used with English for public and official matters, was in serious decline. Today, German is preserved mainly through singing groups, recipes, and educational settings. While most descendants of Germans from Russia primarily speak English, many are choosing to learn German in an attempt to reconnect with their heritage. Germans from Russia often use loanwords , such as Kuchen for cake. Despite

9951-557: The realms of nature and the church"), later known as die Germantauner Zeitung . It was a German-language paper, Der Pennsylvanische Staatsbote that on July 5, 1776, was the first paper to report the American Declaration of Independence , and it did so in German translation. English readers would have to wait a day later to read the English text in The Pennsylvania Evening Post . In

10058-435: The shipping and fishing industries. The tide of German immigration to Pennsylvania swelled between 1725 and 1775, with immigrants arriving as redemptioners or indentured servants. By 1775, Germans constituted about one-third of the population of the state. German farmers were renowned for their highly productive animal husbandry and agricultural practices. Politically, they were generally inactive until 1740, when they joined

10165-421: The summer of 1848. Douai prevailed on the charge of treason but was nevertheless sentenced to one year in prison on three of the counts against him, a result which forced him to close his school and disburse its property. Following his release from prison, Douai was pressured by the government to emigrate and did so. Douai came to the United States and made his new home in the country's new state of Texas in

10272-506: The teaching of German in both public and private education could be found in at minimum 14 states, including some states that would extend this to ban the teaching of all languages except for English, although the majority would ban non-English languages typically only banned German. A total ban on teaching German in both public and private schools was imposed for a time in at least 14 states, including California , Indiana , Wisconsin , Ohio , Iowa and Nebraska . California's ban lasted into

10379-482: The termination of the school. With his first business effort a failure, Douai moved to nearby San Antonio and turned his attention to newspaper work, launching a newspaper, the San Antonio Deutsche Zeitung (German News). In his paper's pages, Douai unflinchingly denounced slavery as an evil incompatible with democracy and urged its abolition . Douai advocated in favor of establishing

10486-735: The time in Belleville, Illinois until his death. A few German Jews came in the colonial era . The largest numbers arrived after 1820, especially in the mid-19th century. They spread across the North and South (and California, where Levi Strauss arrived in 1853). They formed small German-Jewish communities in cities and towns. They typically were local and regional merchants selling clothing; others were livestock dealers, agricultural commodity traders, bankers, and operators of local businesses. Henry Lehman , who founded Lehman Brothers in Alabama,

10593-525: The total population of people of German ancestry in the world. The first significant groups of German immigrants arrived in the British colonies in the 1670s, and they settled primarily in the colonial states of Pennsylvania , New York , and Virginia . The Mississippi Company of France later transported thousands of Germans from Europe to what was then the German Coast, Orleans Territory in present-day Louisiana between 1718 and 1750. Immigration to

10700-620: The use of German in public and the teaching of German in schools. During the early 20th century, as influential White Anglo-Saxon Protestants in the United States sought to regain the upper hand of power and social influence, which had been heavily threatened by the waves of immigration, used politics and through the funded formation of the Ku Klux Klan , would help to give rise to anti-immigrant and distrust aimed at German-Americans among other groups of people. Through advertising and government-funded marketing, German-Americans also known as

10807-423: The white population in the United States. The brief Fries's Rebellion was an anti-tax movement among Germans in Pennsylvania in 1799–1800. The largest flow of German immigration to America occurred between 1820 and World War   I , during which time nearly six million Germans immigrated to the United States. From 1840 to 1880, they were the largest group of immigrants. Following the Revolutions of 1848 in

10914-591: Was a particularly prominent example of such a German-Jewish immigrant. They formed Reform synagogues and sponsored numerous local and national philanthropic organizations, such as B'nai B'rith . This German-speaking group is quite distinct from the Yiddish-speaking East-European Jews who arrived in much larger numbers starting in the late 19th century and concentrated in New York. The port cities of New York City, and Baltimore had large populations, as did Hoboken, New Jersey . In

11021-623: Was also the Elector of Hanover in Germany, hired 18,000 Hessians . They were mercenary soldiers rented out by the rulers of several small German states such as Hesse to fight on the British side. Many were captured; they remained as prisoners during the war but some stayed and became U.S. citizens. In the American Revolution the Mennonites and other small religious sects were neutral pacifists. The Lutherans of Pennsylvania were on

11128-605: Was followed in 1608 by five glassmakers and three carpenters or house builders. The first permanent German settlement in what became the United States was Germantown, Pennsylvania , founded near Philadelphia on October 6, 1683. Large numbers of Germans migrated from the 1680s to 1760s, with Pennsylvania the favored destination. They migrated to America for a variety of reasons. Push factors involved worsening opportunities for farm ownership in central Europe, persecution of some religious groups, and military conscription; pull factors were better economic conditions, especially

11235-521: Was forced to walk the route. With shattered glass bottles being thrown down in his walking path, he was forced to sing patriotic songs. He was forced during this walk to kiss an American flag which had been wrapped around him. He was walked to a hanging tree at the edge of town where he was lynched. In an article from The St. Louis Global-Democrat, it was reported that there had been multiple incidences of mobs tarring and feathering individuals. Other acts of discrimination based on ethnic background included

11342-547: Was of considerable local interest, as German-speaking families overwhelmingly sent their children to parochial schools at which instruction was conducted in German. In some German immigrant neighborhoods in Chicago, public school attendance was so low that the press reported the institutions as being practically empty. The decision of the Chicago Public Schools to make English the sole language of instruction in

11449-590: Was the largest single immigration to America in the colonial period. Most were first settled along the Hudson River in work camps, to pay off their passage. By 1711, seven villages had been established in New York on the Robert Livingston manor. In 1723 Germans became the first Europeans allowed to buy land in the Mohawk Valley west of Little Falls . One hundred homesteads were allocated in

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