Pennsylvania Dutch

ThePennsylvania Dutch(Pennsylvania German:Pennsylvanisch Deitsche),also referred to asPennsylvania Germans, are an ethnic group inPennsylvania(U.S.),Ontario(Canada) and other regions of theUnited StatesandCanada, most predominantly in the USMid-Atlanticregion.They largely originate from thePalatinateregion ofGermany, and settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. While most were from the Palatinate region of Germany, a lesser number were from otherGerman-speakingareas of Germany and Europe, includingBaden-Württemberg,Hesse,Saxony, andRhinelandin Germany,Switzerland, and theAlsace–Lorraineregion ofFrance.
The Pennsylvania Dutch are either monolingual English speakers or bilingual speakers of both English and the Pennsylvania Dutch language, which is also commonly referred to as Pennsylvania German.Linguistically it consists of a mix ofGerman dialectswhich have been significantly influenced by English, primarily in terms of vocabulary. Based on dialect features, Pennsylvania Dutch can be classified as a variety ofRhine Franconian, with thePalatine German dialectsbeing most closely related.
Geographically, Pennsylvania Dutch are largely found in thePennsylvania Dutch CountryandOhio Amish Country. The main division among Pennsylvania Dutch is that between sectarians (those belonging to theOld Order Mennonite,Amishor related groups) and nonsectarians, sometimes colloquially referred to as ″Church Dutch″ or ″Fancy Dutch″.
Notable Americans of Pennsylvania Dutch descent includeHenry J. Heinz, founder of theHeinzfood conglomerate,U.S. PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower, and the family of businessmanElon Musk.
Differing explanations exist on why the Pennsylvania Dutch are referred to asDutch, which typically refers to the inhabitants of theNetherlandsor theDutch language, which is only distantly related to Pennsylvania German.
Several authors and etymological publications consider the wordDutchinPennsylvania Dutch, which in medieval times could also be used to refer to speakers of various German dialects, to be an archaism specific to 19th-century American English, particularly in its colloquial form.An alternative interpretation commonly found among laypeople and scholars alike is that theDutchinPennsylvania Dutchis an anglicization or "corruption" (folk-etymologicalre-interpretation) of the Pennsylvania Germanautonymdeitsch, which in the Pennsylvania German language refers to the Pennsylvania Dutch or Germans in general.However, some authors have describedthis hypothesisas a misconception.
The migration of the Pennsylvania Dutch to theUnited Statespredates the emergence of a distinct German national identity, which did not form until the late 18th century.The formation of theGerman Empirein1871resulted in asemantic shift, in whichdeutschwas no longer principally a linguistic and cultural term, but was increasingly used to describe all things related to Germany and its inhabitants. This development did not go unnoticed among the Pennsylvania Dutch who, in the 19th and early 20th century, referred to themselves asDeitsche, while calling newer German immigrantsDeitschlennerlit.'Germany-ans'.
The Pennsylvania Dutch live primarily in theDelaware Valleyand in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, a large area that includesSouth Central Pennsylvania, in the area stretching in an arc fromBethlehemandAllentownin theLehigh Valleywestward throughReading,Lebanon, andLancastertoYorkandChambersburg. Smaller enclaves include  Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking areas inNew York,Delaware,Maryland,Ohio,West Virginia,North Carolina,Indiana,Illinois,Wisconsin,Virginia, and the Canadian province ofOntario.
The Pennsylvania Dutch, primarily German-speaking immigrants from Germany (particularly thePalatinate region), Switzerland, and Alsace, moved to the USA seeking better opportunities and a safer, more tolerant environment. Many, including Amish and Mennonites, faced religious persecution in Europe. Pennsylvania, established byWilliam Pennas a haven for religious minorities, promised the religious freedom they sought. Economic hardship, marked by war, famine, and limited land access in 17th and 18th century Germany, pushed many to seek a better life in the New World, which offered abundant land and resources.
Europe’s, and especially Germany's, political instability, with frequent wars like the devastatingThirty Years' War, contrasted with the relatively stable environment of the American colonies. The availability of fertile land was a significant draw for the immigrants, who were mainly farmers and craftsmen, for whom the chance to own and cultivate their own farms was highly appealing. Positive reports from early settlers as well as active recruitment by William Penn encouraged friends and family to join them, fostering tightly-knit communities.
About three fourths of all Germans in Pennsylvania were subject to several years of indentured servitude contracts. These indentured servants, known asredemptioners, were made to work on plantations or perform other work to pay off the costs of the sponsor or shipping company which had advanced the cost of their transatlantic voyage.In 1764, theGerman Society of Pennsylvaniawas founded to protect the German redemptioners.
The bulk of German migration to the American colonies began in 1683 but concentrated on the first half of the 18th century.Overall, the historian Marianne Wokeck estimates that just under 81,000 German-speakers entered the port of Philadelphia between 1683 and 1775, with two thirds of the immigrants arriving before 1755 of whom the majority (ca. 35,000) arrived in the five year period between 1749 and 1754.In 1790, ethnic Germans comprised 38% of the population of Pennsylvania, or approximately 165,000 people. Of these, over half resided in the counties of Berks, Lancaster, Northampton and York.
Anglo-Americansheld much anti-Palatine sentiment in the Pennsylvania Colony. Below is a quotation ofBenjamin Franklin's complaints about the Palatine refugees in his workObservations Concerning the Increase of Mankind (1751):
The Germans who immigrated to the United States saw themselves as related though distinct from later (post-1830) waves of German-speaking immigrants. The Pennsylvania Dutch referred to themselves asDeitscheand would refer to Germans who arrived after the period of almost non-existent emigration between 1760 and 1830 from the German lands asDeitschlenner, literally "Germany-ers", compareGerman:Deutschländer.
The Pennsylvania Dutch composed nearly half of the population of theProvince of Pennsylvania. The Fancy Dutch population generally supported the Patriot cause in theAmerican Revolution; the nonviolent Plain Dutch minority did not fight in the war.Heinrich Miller of the Holy RomanPrincipality of Waldeck(1702-1782), was a journalist and printer based in Philadelphia, and published an early German translation of theDeclaration of Independence(1776) in his newspaperPhiladelphische Staatsbote.Miller, having Swiss ancestry, often wrote about Swiss history and myth, such as theWilliam Telllegend, to provide a context for patriot support in the conflict with Britain.
Frederick Muhlenberg(1750–1801), a Lutheran pastor, became a major patriot and politician, rising to be elected as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Pennsylvania Dutch contribution to the war effort was notable:
Many Hessian prisoners, German mercenaries fighting for the British, were held in camps at the interior city of Lancaster, home to a large German community known as the Pennsylvania Dutch. Hessian prisoners were subsequently treated well, with some volunteering for extra work assignments, helping to replace local men serving in the Continental Army. Due to shared German heritage and abundance of land, many Hessian soldiers stayed and settled in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country after the war's end.
Pennsylvania Dutch were recruited for the AmericanProvost corpsunder Captain Bartholomew von Heer,a Prussian who had served in a similar unit in Europebefore immigrating toReading, Pennsylvania, prior to the war.
During the Revolutionary War theMarechausseeCorps were utilized in a variety of ways, including intelligence gathering, route security, enemy prisoner of war operations, and even combat during theBattle of Springfield.The Marechausee also provided security for Washington's headquarters during theBattle of Yorktown, acted as his security detail, and was one of the last units deactivated after the Revolutionary War.The Marechaussee Corps was often not well received by the Continental Army, due in part to their defined duties but also due to the fact that some members of the corps spoke little or no English.Six of the provosts had even beenHessianprisoners of war prior to their recruitment.Because the provost corps completed many of the same functions as the modern U.S.Military Police Corps, it is considered a predecessor of the current United States Military Police Regiment.
Nearly all of the regiments from Pennsylvania that fought in theAmerican Civil Warhad German-speaking or Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking members on their rosters, the majority of whom were Fancy Dutch.
Some regiments like the 153rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry were entirely composed of Pennsylvania Dutch soldiers.The47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regimentalso had a high percentage of German immigrants and Pennsylvania-born men of German heritage on its rosters; the regiment's K Company was formed with the intent of it being an "all-German company."
Pennsylvania Dutch companies sometimes mixed with English-speaking companies. (The Pennsylvania Dutch had the habit of labeling anyone who did not speak Pennsylvania Dutch "English.") Many of the Pennsylvania Dutch soldiers who fought in the Civil War were recruited and trained atCamp Curtin, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Dutch regiments composed a large portion of the Federal Forces who fought in theBattle of GettysburgatGettysburg, Pennsylvania, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War.
Immediately after the Civil War, thefederal governmenttook steps to replace Pennsylvania German schools with English-only schools. The Pennsylvania Dutch fought to retain German as an official language in Pennsylvania to little success.
Literary German disappeared from Pennsylvania Dutch life little by little, starting with schools, and then to churches and newspapers. Pennsylvania Dutch became mainly a spoken language, and as education came to only be provided in English, many Pennsylvania Dutch became bilingual.
The next blow to Pennsylvania Dutch came during World War I and World War II. Prior to the wars, Pennsylvania Dutch was an urban language spoken openly in the streets of towns such as Allentown, Reading, Lancaster and York; afterwards, it became relegated only to rural areas.
There was rampant social & employment discrimination for anyone suspected of being German. Meritt G. Yorgey, a Pennsylvania Dutch descendant who grew up during the height of anti-German sentiment, remembers the instructions of his father: "Don't ever call yourself "Dutch" or "Pennsylvania German." You're just American."
Many Pennsylvanians of German heritage have chosen to assimilate into Anglo-American culture, except for a significant number of Amish and Mennonite plain people who have chosen to remain insular, which has added to the modern misconception that "Pennsylvania Dutch" is synonymous with "Amish."
Palatine Dutchof New York in the27th Infantry Divisionbroke through theHindenburg Linein 1917.
Before World War II, the Nazi Party sought to gain the loyalty of the German-American community, and established pro-NaziGerman-American Bunden, emphasizing German-American immigrant ties to the "Fatherland". The Nazi propaganda effort failed in the Pennsylvania Dutch community, as the Pennsylvania Dutch felt no sense of loyalty to Germany.
During World War II, a platoon of Pennsylvania Dutch soldiers on patrol in Germany was once spared from being machine-gunned by Nazi soldiers who listened to them approaching. The Germans heard them speaking Pennsylvania Dutch amongst each other and assumed that they were natives of the Palatinate.
An early group, mainly from theRoxborough-Germantown area of Pennsylvania, emigrated to then colonial Nova Scotia in 1766 and founded theTownship of Monckton, site of present-dayMoncton, New Brunswick. The extensiveSteevesclan descends from this group.
After the American Revolution,John Graves Simcoe, lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, invited Americans, including Mennonites and German Baptist Brethren, to settle in British North American territory and offered tracts of land to immigrant groups.This resulted in communities of Pennsylvania Dutch speakers emigrating to Canada, many to the area called the German Company Tract, a subset of land within theHaldimand Tract, in the Township of Waterloo, which later becameWaterloo County, Ontario.Some still live in the area aroundMarkham, Ontario,and particularly in the northern areas of the currentWaterloo Region. Some members of the two communities formed theMarkham-Waterloo Mennonite Conference. Today, the Pennsylvania Dutch language is mostly spoken byOld Order Mennonites.
From 1800 to the 1830s, some Mennonites inUpstate New Yorkand Pennsylvania moved north to Canada, primarily to the area that would becomeCambridge,Kitchener/WaterlooandSt. Jacobs/Elmirain Waterloo County, Ontario, plus theListowelarea adjacent to the northwest. Settlement started in 1800 by Joseph Schoerg and Samuel Betzner, Jr. (brothers-in-law), Mennonites, fromFranklin County, Pennsylvania. Other settlers followed mostly from Pennsylvania typically byConestoga wagons. Many of the pioneers arriving from Pennsylvania after November 1803 bought land in a sixty thousand-acre section established by a group of Mennonites from Lancaster County Pennsylvania, called the German Company Lands.
Fewer of the Pennsylvania Dutch settled in what would later become theGreater Toronto Areain areas that would later be the towns ofAltona, Ontario,Pickering, Ontario, and especiallyMarkham Village, Ontario, andStouffville, Ontario.Peter Reesorand brother-in-lawAbraham Stoufferwere higher profile settlers in Markham and Stouffville.
William Berczy, a German entrepreneur and artist, had settled in upstate New York and in May 1794, he was able to obtain sixty-four acres in Markham Township, near the current city ofToronto. Berczy arrived with approximately one hundred and ninety German families from Pennsylvania and settled here. Others later moved to other locations in the general area, including a hamlet they founded,German Mills, Ontario, named for its grist mill; that community is now calledThornhill, Ontario, in the township that is now part ofYork Region.
InCanada, an 1851 census shows many Black people and Mennonites lived near each other in a number of places and exchanged labor; the Dutch would also hire Black laborers. There were also accounts of Black families providing childcare assistance for their Pennsylvania Dutch neighbors. These Pennsylvania Dutch were usually Plain Dutch Mennonites or Fancy Dutch Lutherans.The Black-Mennonite relationship in Canada soon evolved to the level of church membership.
Pennsylvania Dutch society can be divided into two main groups: the sectarian "Plain Dutch" and the nonsectarian "Church Dutch" also known as "Fancy Dutch".These classifications highlight differences in religious practices, lifestyle, and degrees of assimilation into broader American society.
The Plain Dutch consist of Anabaptist sects, including the Amish, Mennonites, and Brethren. They are known for their conservative, simple lifestyle, characterized by plain dress and limited use of modern technology. These communities typically reside in rural areas, maintaining traditional farming practices and close-knit communal living. Pennsylvania Dutch (a dialect of German) is widely spoken among them, both in daily life and religious settings. The Plain Dutch adhere strictly to their religious and community norms, emphasizing a strong cultural and religious identity with minimal integration into mainstream American culture.
The Church Dutch, in contrast, belong to more mainstream Protestant denominations such as Lutheran, Reformed, United Church of Christ, and some Methodist and Baptist congregations. This group is more integrated into broader American society and is more likely to adopt modern conveniences and technologies. While they may still preserve some Pennsylvania Dutch traditions and language, English is predominantly used in daily life and religious practices. The Church Dutch exhibit a higher degree of assimilation into American culture, while still retaining elements of their Pennsylvania Dutch heritage.
The primary differences between these groups lie in their religious practices, lifestyle, language use, and cultural integration. The Plain Dutch are more conservative and focused on maintaining their distinct cultural identity, whereas the Church Dutch are more assimilated and open to modern influences. In time the Fancy Dutch came to control much of the best agricultural lands, ran many newspapers and maintained their German-inspired architecture when founding new towns in Pennsylvania.
There is little evidence specifically of Black Pennsylvania Dutch speakers during the early 19th century; following the Civil War, some Black Southerners who had moved to Pennsylvania developed close ties with the Pennsylvania Dutch community, adopting the language and assimilating into the culture. An 1892 article inThe New York Sunnoted a community of "Pennsylvania German Negroes" inLebanon Countyfor whom German was their first language.
Today Pennsylvania Dutch culture is still prevalent in some parts of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Dutch speak English, with some being bilingual in English and Pennsylvania Dutch. They share cultural similarities with the Mennonites in the same area. Pennsylvania Dutch English retains some German grammar and literally translated vocabulary, some phrases include "outen or out'n the lights" (German:die Lichter loeschen) meaning "turn off the lights", "it's gonna make wet" (German:es wird nass) meaning "it's going to rain", and "it's all" (German:es ist alle) meaning "it's all gone". They also sometimes leave out the verb in phrases turning "the trash needs to go out" in to "the trash needs out" (German:der Abfall muss raus), in alignment with German grammar.
The Pennsylvania Dutch have some foods that are uncommon outside of places where they live. Some of these includeshoo-fly pie,funnel cake, pepper cabbage, filling and jello salads such as strawberry pretzel salad.
The Pennsylvania Dutch maintain numerous religious affiliations; the greatest number areLutheranorGerman Reformedwith a lesser number ofAnabaptists, includingMennonites,Amish, andBrethren. The Anabaptist groups espoused a simple lifestyle, and their adherents were known asPlain Dutch; this contrasts with theFancy Dutch, mostly of the Lutheran, or Evangelical and Reformed churches, who tended to assimilate more easily into the American mainstream. By the late 1700s, other denominations were also represented in smaller numbers.
Among immigrants from the 1600s and 1700s, those known as the Pennsylvania Dutch included Mennonites, Swiss Brethren (also called Mennonites by the locals) and Amish but also Anabaptist-Pietists such asGerman Baptist Brethrenand those who belonged to GermanLutheranorGerman Reformed Churchcongregations.Other settlers of that era were of the Moravian Church while a few wereSeventh Day Baptists.Calvinist Palatines and several other denominations were also represented to a lesser extent.
Over sixty percent of the immigrants who arrived in Pennsylvania from Germany or Switzerland in the 1700s and 1800s were Lutherans and they maintained good relations with those of the German Reformed Church.The two groups founded Franklin College (nowFranklin & Marshall College) in 1787.
According to Elizabeth Pardoe, by 1748, the future of the German culture in Pennsylvania was in doubt, and most of the attention focused on German language schools. Lutheran schools in Germantown and Philadelphia thrived, but most outlying congregations had difficulty recruiting students. Furthermore Lutherans were challenged by Moravians who actively recruited Lutherans to their schools. In the 1750s, Benjamin Franklin led a drive for free charity schools for German students, with the proviso that the schools would minimize Germanness. The leading Lutheran school in Philadelphia school had internal political problems in the 1760s, but PastorHenry Melchior Muhlenbergresolved them. The arrival ofJohn Christopher Kunzefrom Germany in 1770 gave impetus to the Halle model in America. Kunze began training clergy and teachers in the Halle system. Reverend Heinrich Christian Helmuth arrived in 1779 and called for preaching only in German, while seeking government subsidies. A major issue was the long-term fate of German culture in Pennsylvania, with most solutions focused on schools. Helmuth saw schools as central to the future of the ethnic community. However  most Lutheran clergy believed in assimilation and rejected Helmuth's call to drop English instruction. Kunze's seminary failed, but the first German college in the United States was founded in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1787 as Franklin College; it was later renamedFranklin and Marshall College.The Moravians settled Bethlehem and nearby areas and established schools for Native Americans.
In Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Dutch Christians and Pennsylvania DutchJewshave often maintained a special relationship due to their common German language and cultural heritage. Because bothYiddishand the Pennsylvania Dutch language areHigh Germanlanguages, there are strong similarities between the two languages and a limited degree ofmutual intelligibility.Historically, Pennsylvania Dutch Christians and Pennsylvania Dutch Jews often had overlapping bonds in German-American business and community life. Due to this historical bond there are several mixed-faith cemeteries inLehigh County, including Allentown's Fairview Cemetery, where German-Americans of both the Jewish and Protestant faiths are buried.
Although speakers of Pennsylvania Dutch can be found among both sectarians and nonsectarians, most speakers belong to theOld Order AmishandOld Order Mennonites. Nearly all Amish and Mennonites are naturallybilingual, speaking both Pennsylvania Dutch and English natively.The Pennsylvania Dutch language is based onGerman dialectswhich have been significantly influenced by English, primarily in terms of vocabulary. Based on dialect features, Pennsylvania Dutch can be classified as a variety ofRhine Franconian, with thePalatine German dialectsbeing most closely related.The language is both commonly referred to asPennsylvania DutchandPennsylvania German, with the latter being more common in scholarly publications.
The primary use of Pennsylvania Dutch, both historically and today, has focussed on spoken communication. Although there is a relatively large collection of written texts in the language dating back to the mid-nineteenth century (such as newspaper columns, short stories, poems, plays, and dialogues) their production and reception have been limited to a minority of speakers. The significance of English among today's sectarians extends far beyond its use for communication with outsiders for business and other purposes as English is the primary language for active literacy. While Amish and Mennonite sectarians can read the Bible, prayer books, and hymnals in German, most other reading materials are in English.Research has show that nonsectarian speakers of Pennsylvania Dutch have a more pronounced Pennsylvania Dutch accent when speaking English compared to sectarian speakers such as the Old Order Amish or Old Order Mennonites.
In the 20th century, the linguists Albert F. Buffington and Preston A. Barba developed a system for writing Pennsylvania Dutch that was largely based on contemporary German orthography, however this is not in common use. No prescribed norms for writing Pennsylvania Dutch exist and in practice most speakers orientate themselves on both German and English spelling systems.
Due toanti-German sentimentbetweenWorld War IandWorld War II, the use of the Pennsylvania Dutch language declined, except among the more insular and tradition-boundPlain people, such as the Old Order Amish andOld Order Mennonites. Many German cultural practices continue in Pennsylvania in the present-day, andGermanremains the largest ancestry claimed by Pennsylvanians, according to the 2008 census.