Arrest of Atzerodt

[Claudine]

(08-21-2012 10:00 AM)jonathan Wrote:  [...] Two things about that bother me though. First, I've been to Germany, and I know that there is a lot of English spoken there, though I don't know if it would have been the same in the mid 1800's, and I don't know if it would have been the case where Atzerodt lived as a boy. Second, it's always been my impression that immigrants tend to be eager to adopt the language, and so it seems like a lot of English would have been spoken while George was growing up, even in Germantown, MD.

In the mid 1800's simple folks, working men, farmer didn't learn any foreign language. If available they attended rural schools, learned how to read, write, how to calculate and their catechism. There was simply no need to learn a foreign language. In general the level of education depended on the area, the state you lived in. Maybe intellectuals were able to read or write in English, even though French was still more spread. However, in some German states like Hannover, Prussia (dynastically linked to Britain) or Hamburg, as an economic centre, existed a certain affinity and you probably found more English speaking people (intellectuals, nobility or business men) there than in other German territories.

[L Verge]

I think the exact same thing can be said of folks in the U.S. during the 19th century. Generally, only the upper classes would be exposed to a foreign language in their schooling. Also, public schools were practically non-existent in the rural areas of the South (and Maryland is the South). I believe that George Atzerodt would have been schooled at home and in the German language.

There are still large pockets of Amish communities in both Charles and St. Mary's Counties here in Maryland - our two most southern counties. I have been around them most of my life because they have wonderful farmers' markets. There is still a trace of the German accent in their speech.

[Rogerm]

The Amish, and a few Mennonites, still speak a German dialect, mistakenly named "Pennsylvania Dutch" which probably has its roots from the Palatinate part of Germany; but, as a language, developed in North America. My mother's ancestors first came over from Switzerland to Pennsylvania in the 1730s or 1740s; and her brothers and sisters could still speak it fluently into the early 2000s. My mother is still living at age 87 and can still speak a few phrasing from the dialect. However, as the youngest member of the family, they only spoke to her in English so that she wouldn't be made fun of in school because of their accent. Therefore, her knowledge of "Pennsylvania Dutch" has always been limited.