Where to Find your Pennsylvania-Dutch Ancestors
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Where to search for your Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors in Pennsylvania —
Bethlehem
Allentown (Lehigh Valley)
Chambersburg
Lebanon
Lancaster
Reading
York
The Pennsylvania Dutch settled in the Delaware Valley, also known as the Pennsylvania Dutch Country. This large area includes South Central Pennsylvania, stretching in an arc from Bethlehem and Allentown in the Lehigh Valley westward through Reading, Lebanon, and Lancaster to York and Chambersburg. They were Germans, persecuted for religious beliefs, who arrived in America in droves.
Their origin was chiefly from the Upper Rhine and the Neckar region, the latter furnishing the Arabian or Rhenish Bavarian element. The Upper Rhine (German: Oberrhein [ˈoːbɐˌʁaɪn]; French: Rhin Supérieur) is the section of the Rhine between Basel in Switzerland and Bingen in Germany, surrounded by the Upper Rhine Plain.
Researchers will also find that the Germans in this region were called Pennsylvania Dutch. Germans refer to themselves as Deutsch, which is known as a dialect that has been corrupted or enriched by English words and idioms under a pure or modified pronunciation and spoken by natives; some of them are learning no other language but mostly spoke or understood English.
Since Pennsylvania was the main port thoroughfare, this is where they found their home. The language is, therefore, South German, as brought in by emigrants from Rhenish Bavaria, Baden, Alsace (Alsatia), Würtemberg, German Switzerland, and Darmstadt. There were also natives from other regions, with certain French Neutrals deported from Nova Scotia to various parts of the United States, including the county of Lancaster, where some families with French names from Alsace settled. Thus, the terms Jenkins, Evans, Owen, Foulke, Griffith, Morgan, and Jones occur in the county of Chester.
For the genealogist researching the origin of his progenitors, the following German and Anglicised forms may be compared, —
Albrecht Albright Leitner Lightner
Bachman Baughman Leybach Libough
Becker Freeauf Mayer Moyer
Dock Duck Meyer Mire
Eberhardt Everhart Mosser Musser
Eberle Everly Mosseman Musselman
Eckel Eagle Neumeyer Narmire
Ege[78] Hagy? Noll Null
Ewald Evalt Nüssli Nicely, Nissly
Fehr Fair Oberholtzer Overholser
Frey (free) Fry Pfautz Fouts, Pouts
Früauf Freeauf Pfeiffer Pyfer
Fusz (foot) Foose Reif (ripe) Rife
Geisz (goat) Gise Reisinger Riesinger
Gerber Garber Riehm Ream
Giebel Gibb Roth (red) Roath, Rote
Gräff Graff, -o, -ae Ruth Root
Guth Good, Goot Schellenberger Shallyberger[80]
Haldeman Holderman[79] Schenk Shank
Herberger Harberger Scheuerman Shireman
Hinkel Hinkle Schnebele Snavely
Hofman Hoofman Schneider Snyder, Snider
Huber Hoover Seip Sype, Sipe
Kaufman Coffman Seipel Seiple, Sible
Kaufroth Cuffroot Seitz Sides
Kehler Kaylor Senz Sense
Kochenauer Goughnour Spraul Sprowl
Koick Cowhawk Stambach Stambough
Krauskopf Krosskop Strein Strine
Kreider Crider Valentin Felty
Kreybil Graypeel WeltzhuBer BeltzhooVer[81]
Kühnlein Coonly, -ley Wetter Fetter
Kutz Kutts Wĭld Wilt
Source: Pennsylvania Dutch: A Dialect of South German With an Infusion of English by Samuel Stehman Haldeman; Alexander John Ellis. E
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