German Dialect in Texas

[Kiltboy]

I've had some fun conversations with the residents of Muenster, TX, up here in northeast Texas. I use my Pennsylvania Dutch (really Pennsylvania Deutsch) and we can communicate. Well..., roughly. The German accents are still there, but you have to find them.

[frank_a]

My original Alguire ancestor in the New World came from Wurttemburg Germany docking in Philadelphia October 21, 1749. (The name then was spelled Allgeier, and over time ended up as it is today.) From what I can determine, they were Huguenots who had emigrated to western Germany from Eastern France in the 1500's. Once they came to the New World, they ended up in SE Ontario (Canada) in the 1770's as Tories, and it wasn't long before the guys started marrying Scottish women. From what we can determine, I am a bit more than 50% Scot, but it's a bit murky.

My dad and grandad were very proud of being Pennsylvania Deutsch (even if they were both mostly Scot)!

Frank

[cck]

German lingers in Austin. I was in the process of setting up a kilt night in Austin and I (mistakenly) listed the venue as Scholz Garden, when the correct name is Scholz Garten. Now we need to see if they serve beer or Bier.

[Piipriker]

That is very interesting. Is "rot" pronounced "red" and " blau" pronounced "blue?"

LOL, no

On the way to Hesse griin becomes grii (losing the n)
("ii" sounding like english "ee")

another one: über -> iwwer

salü Jörg

[EagleJCS]

In the US we seem to have a history of assimilation and are attempting backpedal in order to preserve our multi-cultural history. New waves of immigrants seem to benefit the most from this. Those of us who have been here a bit longer and fully assimilated seem to get accused of "playing at" being this or that when we rediscover our heritages.

Sorry to go off-topic, just wanted to respond to this.

I find this to be quite true. Having deep roots here in Kentucky (my paternal line has been here >200 years and my mother's mother's family almost as long), we lost the connection to 'the Old World' - i.e., we don't know where in Western Europe those families came from (We presume they're Western European because of the family names Scott and Haynes). My mother's father's family is German (specifically Hesse-Darmstadt), but they came over in the mid-1800's and settled in Wisconsin. It appeared they assimilated as quickly as possible due to the wave of anti-immigrant sentiments of the mid-1800's. (One ancestor even joined the US Army as a volunteer at the outbreak of the Civil War, before earning his citizenship, possibly to prove his 'American-ness'.)

In doing my family tree research and embracing 'kilted-ness' and all that entails, I have been met with bemusement (amusement?) from my own family members, not to mention my friends and neighbors.

[TheOfficialBren]

Sorry to go off-topic, just wanted to respond to this.

I find this to be quite true. Having deep roots here in Kentucky (my paternal line has been here >200 years and my mother's mother's family almost as long), we lost the connection to 'the Old World' - i.e., we don't know where in Western Europe those families came from (We presume they're Western European because of the family names Scott and Haynes). My mother's father's family is German (specifically Hesse-Darmstadt), but they came over in the mid-1800's and settled in Wisconsin. It appeared they assimilated as quickly as possible due to the wave of anti-immigrant sentiments of the mid-1800's. (One ancestor even joined the US Army as a volunteer at the outbreak of the Civil War, before earning his citizenship, possibly to prove his 'American-ness'.)

In doing my family tree research and embracing 'kilted-ness' and all that entails, I have been met with bemusement (amusement?) from my own family members, not to mention my friends and neighbors.

I hear you about that. My dad's family is firmly from the South and have been in the US for about a century and a few years. My mum's family is firmly English, mostly from the South as well, but have been here for two centuries. There hasn't been a kilt-wearer in my father's family since the boat ride over and it got a few cocked heads at first. It is troubling that people in this great nation are so often joyously ready and willing to abandon their own cultural identity and then shout from the rooftops that they (paradoxically) support others' cultural expression.

[Piipriker]

I've had some fun conversations with the residents of Muenster, TX, up here in northeast Texas. I use my Pennsylvania Dutch (really Pennsylvania Deutsch) and we can communicate. Well..., roughly. The German accents are still there, but you have to find them.

Pennsylvania Deitsch is very similar to the dialect in the Palatinate (where my grandparents came from), that is very closely related to my dialect. My hometown Saarbrücken is just 90 km from Kaiserslautern (K-town).

http://pdc.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haaptblatt

[Piipriker]

My original Alguire ancestor in the New World came from Wurttemburg Germany docking in Philadelphia October 21, 1749. (The name then was spelled Allgeier, and over time ended up as it is today.) From what I can determine, they were Huguenots who had emigrated to western Germany from Eastern France in the 1500's. Once they came to the New World, they ended up in SE Ontario (Canada) in the 1770's as Tories, and it wasn't long before the guys started marrying Scottish women. From what we can determine, I am a bit more than 50% Scot, but it's a bit murky.

My dad and grandad were very proud of being Pennsylvania Deutsch (even if they were both mostly Scot)!

Frank

I looked up the origin of the name Allgeier. It is a change from Allgäuer, meaning someone from the Allgäu. The Allgäu is a region in Swabia that is located in Württemberg and Bavaria. A smaller part of the Allgäu is in Austria. So I don't think that the family came from France. But there could still be some Huguenots in the mix as many came to Württemberg too.

[TheOfficialBren]

Personal identification is of paramount importance. If one identifies more with one aspect of their heritage over another then that is fine. Case-in-point: our family is of some mixed Scottish, English, and Cherokee heritage. I prefer to identify with the Scottish heritage the most, I don't care for the Cherokee part. My sister identifies with the Cherokee almost exclusively. It makes for heated family discussions. Lol.

The truth is that I might have a spec of Scottish in me but we are all the same species and when you get down to it we are all a hodge-podge of various cultures and races. I'm sure that if we were to all dig deeply enough that we would find some interestimg things.

I recall Neil Oliver participating in a DNA study and found out that he was less genetically Scottish than he expected.

Hoobity poobity. Be who you are and be true to yourself. That is what matters the most.