Germans of Louisiana
Germans formed the largest foreign-speaking ethnic group of nineteenth-century Louisiana, larger than all the others combined. During the antebellum period, an estimated 12 percent of the New Orleans population was German, making the city the largest German colony below the Mason-Dixon line. Other significant settlements were established in north Louisiana near Minden and in the Louisiana prairie near Rayne. Today, descendents of these immigrants make up over a fourth of the population. This book examines the state's German buildings, towns, monuments, prominent individuals, and more. This first comprehensive study of the German history and heritage of Louisiana provides information on the historical background of the colonial era, as well as immigration and settlement patterns of the nineteenth century. Also included are details of typical trades and businesses founded, owned, or dominated by German immigrants, a history of churches and synagogues in the New Orleans area, and facts about German social and civic life. Ellen C. Merrill received grants from both the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and the National Park Service to research this book. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Newcomb College in 1957 and spent three years in Europe at the University of Heidelberg, where she earned a diploma from the School of Translators and Interpreters. She returned to the States to obtain her Ph.D. in German language and literature from Tulane University. She has taught at Dillard University, Nicholls State University, Loyola University, and the University of New Orleans and has served as the director of the German archive at the Historic New Orleans Collection.