Email From Adrianne kee46@email.msn.com  to HUNSUCKER-L@rootsweb.com

Email Dated June 13, 2000

By Bruce W. Barnes, PHD
Akron, Ohio

Spring 1985

While my uncle referred to us as flatheaded "Dutchmen," and our ancestors
came from Germany to PA, am I a PA German or PA Dutch?  The former seems to
be a better term.  Richard H. SHRYUOCK wrote that it is to be assumed that
PA Germans were those Germans who immigrated into that province or state
prior to about 1812, and their descendants in other religions including the
Carolinas, Iowa and Ontario. 36 {

Since my earliest ancestors arrived in 1751, they would fit into this
category.  SHRYOCK said that he employed the term "PA Germans" to include
both the German and the English speaking descendants of the original German
settlers from PA never referred to themselves as "the Dutch," but correctly
termed themselves "Germans." 38 {

The term "Dutch" was used mainly by English speaking people who cold not
properly pronounce the word "Deutsch," the German word for German.  "PA
Dutch" is the language that was a dialect of the early German settlers that
settled in PA.  The language was familiarly known as "PA Deutsch."  it was
made up of the dialect used in the ancient Palatinate, Wuerttemberg, Baden
and other areas bordering the Rhine, intermixed with English words. 39 {
Royal Governor TRYON of North Carolina visited Captain BARRINGGER on the
Dutch Buffalo Creek before the Revolutionary War and referred to him as "the
gallant Dutchman." 40 {

Both the language and the names of these early settlers did not die easily.
The PA Germans in what is now Cabarras Co. were isolated from their English
speaking neighbors in a rural setting.  The German language was the language
of the cradle, altars, firesides, baptisms, marriages, and funerals.

Because these people spoke German, they took little interest in the politics
of their own day.  The Bible of Luther was used in their schools and
churches. 41 {

Before the Revolutionary War, the modern day COON was KUHN, BARRINGER was
BEHRINGER, SMITH was SCHMDT and WILLIAMS was WILHELM. 42 {  } Because of the
commercial and legal transactions that required English, a change eventually
took place, and even their surnames were anglicized. 43 {  } One of our
relatives, Sarah FAGGART, married an Elijah COTTON in 1808.  The records
state that at the time of her marriage she spoke only German, while he spoke
English but could understand German.  Sarah was born I 1790 and died in
1853.

Bernheim noticed in 1872 that the German communities were rapidly losing
their language, reminding his readers that there had been a time when many
Negro slaves spoke  nothing else.  Nine years later, in 1881, the Rev. Jethro
Rumple wrote:

The PA Dutch has almost ceased to be heard on our streets, where once its
quaint tones of mingled German and English was so familiar.  The dialect is
gone, but the accent and the idiom still linger on in many tongues, and the
tradition and folklore of the Old World still flow in deep undercurrent in
many families.  It was estimated that in the year 1899 about twelve members
of St. John's in Cabarrus could still speak "Deutsh."  44 {  }

My records and research contradict some of these writings.  For example, the
first English school was not opened in Cabarrus Co. until 1898 by John
YEOMAN.  If the language of the school was German, it seems hard to believe
that only twelve could still speak German I 1899. 45 { }  The Germans in
Cabarrus Co. apparently clung to their language a long time both at home and
in church.  SHARPE states in 1856, that the Lutherans in Cabarrus County
frequently used the word "already" in the sense of "now."  They also used
"Parson" in addressing their minister, e.g., Parson HAHN or Parson
BLACKWELDER.

The German accents must have still been very strong after 1900.  My Uncle,
mother and her oldest sister can still recall their folks speaking with a
strong accent.  Today, the German culture that was brought to Cabarrus
County has evaporated, and has been assimilated with other cultures.

In my own family, I have done what some people would think of as
anachronistic.  I have given my children the German names - Arnim, Marin and
Jan - and we have spoken only German with them since birth.  But I am
witnessing what our earliest ancestors must have experienced, because our
children must communicate with their peers.  They now speak English back to
us.  We attend Zion Lutheran Church in Akron, Ohio, every other Sunday
morning.  The services are in High German, both the singing and preaching.
While we were visiting St. John's Lutheran Cemetary in Mount Pleasant,
Cabarrus County, NC, in December, 1976, and were photographing gravestones
of our ancestors, 46 [  } the sounds of my children yelling - "Vater, hier
ist ein Faggart" - to me certainly sounded good in that necropolis near the
Dutch Bufflo.

......to be continued....

 

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