The German and Swiss Settlements of Colonial Pennsylvania: a Study of the So-called Pennsylvania Dutch

This is an important academic work for anyone interested in why their German and Swiss relatives left their homes and family for a life in the New World. I recommend it's purchase to anyone.

The chapter titles are: "The Historic Background", "The settling of the German counties of Pennsylvania", "Over land and sea", "Manners and customs of the Pennsylvania-German farmer in the eighteenth century", "Language, Literature and Education", "The religous life", "In peace and war", and "Conclusion". The book is well footnoted, making further in-depth study possible. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the progress of the German farmers in clearing the land and turning it into productive bountiful farms. Also, the descriptions of early religous life and the introduction of Methodism into what was previously mostly a Lutheran community.The book includes a good surname index, which makes it useful for genealogical research.