February 22, 2009

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  A Bit of History.....

  

  Earlier when talking about shoo-fly pie and PA. Dutch food, I was asked where my roots are. Mine go back to Switzerland.

   

   

   

   

  

  The 5th generation yet from my Mother's family were  born in Switzerland in 1683 and then came to America in 1717.

  (This is our youngest granddaughter. She lives in Colorado so you don't get to see these grandchildren often on here. Lord willing that will soon change as we plan to visit them in the near future!!)

   

   

   

   

  

  When we travel, I've been asked the question if I'm Mennonite and when we get quite a distance from home, I have been asked if I'm Amish! Those of you who are familiar with the Amish know that there is quite a difference! We are members of the Church of the Brethren. Last year two couples from our church went to Schwarzenau, Germany to be part of the 300th celebration as that is where we were given the name, The Church of the Brethren in 1708.

  The picture above is from our livingroom window taken two weeks ago. This is how the Amish travel to their church service which is held in their homes. They take turns having the worship service and then they have the noon meal together.

   

   

   

   

  

  This picture made me think of being fed spiritually. Melissa, I remember reading how you thoroughly enjoy your Bible Study group. That's how I feel about our ministers. We are fed spiritually service after service and I have a deeply grateful heart.

   

   

   

  

  I wanted to show you whom the father is feeding in the picture  above this!  This is our first successful blue bird "delivery!" (July 2008) I didn't get much accomplished for two days as I was hoping and hoping I would see this little guy  leave the nest! He looked liked he just HAD to topple out! On the second evening we had  to go away for several hours and when we arrived back home it was dark. In the morning they were gone! (It appeared that there were two in the nest.) I searched the nearby trees for babies but alas, their little wings lifted them up and away. This experience was still a blessing to me.

   

   

   

  

  The dictionary defines "Dutch" as pertaining to Germany and the Netherlands. Since PA. was settled by so many from these countries we often hear the word "Dutch" used.

  But PA. Dutch is not Dutch at all. It is actually PA. German. Germany has dialects of German just like America has dialects of English. People brought these dialects of German with them from Germany. Here in America they got formed into what is today called PA. Dutch. How did it come to be called Dutch instead of German?

  In the German language the word for German is Deutsch and the word for Dutch is Deitsch. Somehow the words got confused and people began calling it PA. Deitsch. When that is translated back into English, it becomes PA. Dutch.

  The Amish groups speak PA. German. They refer to themselves as Deitsch and when they say it in English it comes out as Dutch. This has caused problems with the US census because these people list their nationality as Dutch and not as German.

  I hope this has been helpful with the "PA. Dutch sentence" I gave a few weeks ago!

  I needed help with this information and asked one of our friends at church, who teaches school, for his insight. Thank you, Frank. (He gave more information but for now I thought I'd stop here.) If you enjoy history you would love sitting in his classes!

   

   

   

   

  

  This is Kelly again!   May God give us wisdom as parents and grandparents to pass on our Christian heritage to our loved ones!

  Deuteronomy 6: 6 and 7 "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."

   

   

  • 11:15 pm
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