Posted on 08/26/2007 2:04:22 PM PDT by Dysart
The Pennsylvania German language is alive and well, I can report. The Amish girls at the farmer’s market I go to every Friday talk to each other exclusively in German.
Mine, too! Ernest Tubb, the Texas Troubadour, was my fave. Mickey Gilley did a good one, too.
About 20 miles rom me....great food!
Many of the German immigrants to Texas were recruited by noble land developers like Prince Solms with leaflets describing the great potential for them in a new free land.
A lot of them left Germany during the 1840s as a reaction to the militarization of the Prussians. Some of the liberal Germans that immigrated were so highly cultured that among the first organizations they started in those frontier villages were string quartets and mannerchoirs.
By 1860, the largest ethnic population in Texas was of German extraction, most of it centered in San Antonio and the Hill Country northwest. One town, Fredericksburg, made a treaty with the Comanches who controlled that area of the state that was never broken.
In the 60s I used to be approached on the streets of some of the old German towns like New Braunfels and Fredericksburg by older residents who would speank to me in German because my appearance made them think I was of local German extraction.
Wonderful festivals full of ‘gemutlichkeit’ in those old German towns.
Thanks so much, I’ll try it.
My mother’s family traces its history to the Prince Solms colony (mid 1800s) - they are Bavarian.
It’s a country beer joint, I sure was fooled for many years.
Y’all are a fountain of historical enlightenment. Vielen Dank.
Thanks for the tip. Thanks for your service. And thanks for that great tagline!
Gar nichts.
However, it is imperative that you leave your mark - be sure to sign or carve your name onto or into something for posterity, a wooden beam or an outside wall. *I’m there* - several times, lol.
Here’s something else kind of unique about Fredericksburg and the Hill Country’s German population - I posted about Sunday houses when we had some threads on “Katrina cottages”:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1735172/posts?page=15#15
Yes, you are correct, though I have found out that several of my “cousins” now live south of the boarder in mexico, poor suckers
That’s the great thing about Texas, you can get a taste of Germany in Fredericksburg, a taste of Czech culture at WestFest, and go to Panna Maria, the first permanent Polish settlement in the United States.
Funny you should mention that, but on my 3 or 4 greats grandfather Etienne, the 1st to come to the US on his country of origin it say Empire of the Germans.
I don't care what John Edwards says.
I attended the same school as my mother did. It was a three room country school. However when she was attending it was taught in German and Spanish Hence the need for three rooms.
When my brothers attended it was taught in English and Spanish. By the time I attended it was only English. It was thought natural for children to learn in their native languages in pre-WWII Texas.
I later spoke with a Spanish descent friend. His comment was, That it was very hard for rural Spanish speakers to learn English in that day. Most of the Germans spoke all three languages,. They conducted business with the Hispanics in Spanish. I know my father was highly regarded for his ability to speak Spanish.
I, myself, speak German very well and would often do the translating for my Army unit in Germany. One of the few extra duty jobs I actually relished.
Oh! and FWIW, My family is listed in the 1880 census as being here since 1873. For those who wonder about loyalties due to our being capable of speaking another language. We have been involved on the U.S side in every war since arriving.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
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