The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1872-04-26
S1isfellareuns.

! S9isfella
From the Johnstown. Pa.) Tribune.l
THE PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS.
Many OF the early settlers of Penn
sylvsnia and Maryland were Ger
mans, Hollanders and Ssiss, who
were driven by religious intolerance
in their own land to seek new homes
in America. William Penn, the
Quaker, founder of Pennsylvania,
and George Calvert, the Catholic
founder OF Maryland, having secured
the guarantees of civil and religious
liberty in the characters Of their res
pective provinces, the shores of the
Delaware and Chesapeake naturally
offered On asylum to all who preferred
tolerance to intolerance in matters OF
religion. During the closing year of
the seventeenth century, and up TO the
commencement OF the American
Revolution in the succeeding century,
many thousands Of the people we
have mentioned, crossed the ocean
and settled in Eastern Pennsylvania
and Maryland. Some of them pushed
into the Shenandoah Valley in Vir.
einia. The Rheinish provinces of
Germany seem to have furnished
large proportion Of the German set
tiers. Rheinish Bavaria (Pfalz),
Wurtemburg and Baden sent large
numbers of emigrants. Switzerland
sent many thousands There never
was a very large emigration OF HOl-
landers TO Pennsylvania, the prows
of their vessels being generally di-
rected toward New York.
In q brief time the representatives
of the three nstionslities became SO
thoroughly intermingled, by reason
of religious ties, intermarriages, SIM
ilarity of customs and language, and
general harmony of interests, that
they formed one homogeneous class,
by some called Pennsylvania Ger
mans, and by others Pennsylvania
Dutch. The Swiss settlers ceased
entirely to be called Schweizers or
Swiss. .....
With the perfect union thus estab-
lished, and familiar intercourse with
the English. speaking settlers, came
new colloquial and written lam
guage, also called Pennsylvania Ger
man, or Pennsylvania Dutch, which
is still largely spoken, but not much
written, in some sections OF PENN
sylvsnia, Maryland and Virginia, and
In some portions Of the Western
States to which The descendants OF
the Pennsylvania Germans emigra-
ted. AS language, it must in time
yield at all points to the pure English
and Germsn tongues. Few now
speak it who do not speak English.
1t is mainly compound OF the Ba-
yaria and Swiss dialects of the Ger
man language, with many English
and q few Dutch (Holland) words
added. 1t is doubtful if Pennsyl.
ysnis German could make himself
understood in any part OF Holland,
Germany or Switzerland to-day.
The religious belief of the early
Pennsylvania German is that OF the
Mennonites and German Baptists or
Tunkers. The MennOnites we're the
first to come. Their first settlement
in the country was made at German
town, in 1888, the year after Penn
commenced. his settlement at Phils-
delphis. Those who settled at Ger
mantown were Hollsnders.- The
Mennonites who followed them were
from Holland, Germany and Swift
zerland. The first colony of the
Brethren or Tunkers also settled al
Germantown and its vicinity in Ills
I-thirly-six years after the first Men.
nomite settlement. They we're Ger
mans who had taken refuge from re
Iligious persecution in Holland. 9th
er TuI kers followed in 1929, snt
during the succeeding years. Amer
ica soon became the stronghold o
the new religion. Although its ad
herents spread into various parts o
Germany, Holland and Switzerland
our researches led US to conclude tina
the most:.of them finally found thei
wsy to this country. The Monno
mites, on the other hand, are still
more numerous in Europe than il
America; Holland being their strong
hold. Here their founder, MEME
Simon, was born in 1496. Jscol
Amen, the leading spirit of the Omisl
branch of the Mennonite sect, was
native of Switzerland.
Strictly speaking, the Tunker ant
Mennonite faiths we're almost iden
tieaI at the time of which We ar
writing, differing only in minor par
ticulars. Both sects recognized ant
and still recognize the Dortrech
Confession of 1882 as their stsndar,
theological belief. The points o
difference relate chiefly to ChuIcl
government and other outward OBJ
, servances; but even in these there j
q great similarity of practice. Th'
Mennomites were in existence lont
! anterior to the Tunkers. Menn'
a Simon, their founder, was q cotem
r porary Of Luther in the sixteentl
2 century, while the Tunkers did no
: have a denominational existence un
!. ill the eighteenth century, their frs
= Church having been organized y
: 1708, at Swartzenau, in the PrOvine
d of Witgerstein. 1t is proper to an
that both the Tunkers and Mennt
mites claimed to have received thel
religious faith in great part from To
Wsldenses and Albigenses, an
b through them from the primiaV
:. Christians.
n 1t may be Of interest to the resde
). to learn that Witgenstein was torn
= erly q small State OF about twent!
FIVE German square miles, governe
n by q Count, and that half of it subs'
:, quently belonged to the Duchy Z
3 Nassau and half to Rheinish Prussl
e. Now, since Nassau was absorbed :
e e Prussia in 1868, it all belongs to u
= kingdom Of Prussia.
Ninety-nine out Of every hundre
of the Mennonites and Tunkers o
farmers. Their mode of LITE
simple in the extreme. The dre
plainly, live frugally, and practice
- very strict code of morals. The
- honesty, truthfulness and indust
are proyerbial. They do not ming
to much with the world, but are stage
sr at home, ninding their own businei
fer and minding it we'll. Poverty is