[78-L] speaking english,

[Steven C. Barr]

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From: <fnarf at comcast.net>
> When I was doing extensive newspaper research in places like Minnesota and 
> Iowa, I found that the Midwest states up until about WWI, and in some 
> cases WWII, had dozens upon dozens of German-language newspapers for the 
> many first-generation immigrants who, like all first-generation 
> immigrants, struggled with English, or never tried. The second gen speaks 
> both; the third gen only English. This has always been true.
>
In fact, Bloomington, Illinois (where I lived for several years while 
finishing university) had
a German-language newspaper prior to WWI...and many of the small towns in 
its vicinity
were heavily German-speaking! When the midwest was settled in the 1850's, 
many Germans
(who had left Germany for political reasons in most cases) were immigrating 
to the US, if
only because of the ready availibility of farmland. Also, the use of German 
stopped in most
cases after the US entered WW I; there was widespread anti-German feeling at 
that time...!

My first wife's parents had both been adopted into German-descent families; 
her surname
was Glaser. My mother-in-law had relatives who lived in Chicago, whom we 
visited; they
used the surname "Franklin," since their surname had been "Frankenstein" 
(hadly a name
people would wish to use?!).

Also, the in-laws belonged to (but rarely attended) a church in a nearby 
village, which
had German inscriptions in its stained-glass windows...!

Steven C. Barr