German Footprints in America

Often overlooked because of their high degree of assimilation, people of German descent are actually the largest single ethnic group in the United States. German culture is far more rooted in America than commonly thought. For example, hot dogs, hamburgers and beer wouldn’t be classic American staples without German immigrants. In addition to enormous contributions to mainstream beer culture and food culture, they have also added to America’s agriculture, religious values and economy.

This history highlights German contributions to America, examining their roles from the earliest colonies through the settlement of the Old Northwest and past the Interwar Period. While most German immigrants belonged to the main Lutheran and Reformed churches, a diverse cast of immigrant groups is encountered, including Moravians, Huguenots, and Rhinelanders. Through them, discover the long-standing history of the German descendants and their impact in the United States beginning more than 200 years ago.

Sudie Doggett Wike is a retired physician who lives in Bristol, Tennessee.

Sudie Doggett Wike
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 303
Bibliographic Info: 11 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2022
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8575-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4518-6
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 England Sends German Metallurgist to America 15
2 German Immigrants to Jamestown 20
3 German Immigrants to Massachusetts Bay Colony 25
4 New Netherland, New Sweden and New Jersey 29
5 Protestant Reformation and the Thirty Years’ War 41
6 Germans Flee Rhineland for America 50
7 Jamestown Welcomes a German Explorer 56
8 Quakers Migrate to Penn’s Colony and Delaware Valley 65
9 German Protestants Migrate to Colonial America 83
10 France vs. England Conflict: Phase I Glorious Revolution 91
11 Phase II: War of Spanish Succession: Queen Anne’s War 99
12 The Great Exodus of the Palatines and Conrad Weiser 105
13 Phase III: War of Austrian Succession: King George’s War 116
14 Phase IV: French and Indian War and Bouquet’s Royal Corps 123
15 Pontiac’s War, Bouquet’s Regiment and the Delaware Indians 137
16 Germans and Scots-Irish Migrate to Virginia: Hite vs. Fairfax 150
17 Germans in Colonial Maryland, the Carolinas and Georgia 155
18 The Great Wagon Road and the Carolina Road 169
19 Quaker and German Longhunters and the Wilderness Road 177
20 American Revolutionary War Soldiers of German Descent 184
21 Germans Begin Migrating to Kentucky, Ohio and the Old Northwest 191
22 The Revolution of the 1848-ers 199
23 German Influx: Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota 205
24 Go West, Young Man: Louisiana, Oregon, California and Texas 219
25 Americans of German Heritage During World War I 225
26 World War II German Rocket Scientists Immigrate to USA: 127 Exceptional Men—by James Evans Lyne 232
27 Interview with a Contemporary German Immigrant 243
Appendix: Chronology: The Germans in America 247
Chapter Notes 251
Bibliography 265
Index 273