--- In cybalist@..., markodegard@... wrote:
> Torsten writes:
> > I just thought of another irritating fact. Upstate New York was
> > colonized by the Dutch (note the spelling and pronounciation of
(the
> > originally Native?) Schenectady). The main entry route for
> immigrants
> > was up the Hudson river and along the canal from Albany
> > (Rensselaersburg) to Lake Erie.
>
> While the Dutch settled briefly in a colony along the Hudson,
upstate New York west of Albany was settled only after the revolution
(when Sullivan destroyed the Iroquois threat). When the Mohawk valley
and westward was settled it was by English speakers (eben those of
Dutch ancestry who were not the majority)
As for the Amish speaking Low German, I disagree. While the
Mennonites originated in Holland, the Amish themselves originated in
Switzerland, which is in the High not Low German area. Any bits and
pieces of Amish German I've heard sound pretty much like High German
to me, for example their word for their way of life: Ordnung (same as
the High German word exactly!) Lancaster County wasn't settled until
the mid 1700s anyway, after the Dutch were gone from New York.