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I've known tons of white Philadelphians that have part German heritage. The Germans came to the US, for the most part, earlier than other European immigrants. Mid 1800's for a lot of them. They are more assimilated, but still many, many whites in Philly have part German ancestry. I know a fair number myself.
In the counties to the west past the Philly metro (Lancaster, York and Adams) a large portion of the German population can trace their roots to colonial times, most came for religious reasons. A friend of mine (guess his last name!) can trace his roots to the residence of this house. His parents worked for the Mennonite Church, worked abroad for a while. Moved back and just bought a rowhouse in Lancaster.
Know a few others of similar heritage.
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Olney was a heavily German community. The Catholics there went to Incarnation Parish and St. Helena. Fair number of German Lutherans in that hood as well. Another German Catholic parish was St. Boniface in Kensington. They had masses there in German into the 70's.
There's a Lutheran Church in Queens (Astoria) that has services in German to this day. A friend's grandmother goes there.
Do you think people in the South that claim Irish ancestry are "Irish" as we know it? I find it laughable to meet these Irish down South and they and their families have been Baptist fundamentalists their whole lives. Sorry, that just doesn't jive with just about every single Irish-American I've known in my life.
I am almost 99% sure they are Scotch-Irish. A completely different ethnicity.
It's true but you generalize a lot. There was some Irish Catholics who immigrated in port and mining towns of the south. But their number was smaller compared with the North and smaller than the Scotch-Irish already present. We don't exactly what percentage of people claiming Irish ancestry are actually of Scotch-Irish ancestry, it can be the half of them or 80 %.
Also nowadays there a lot of transplants from the northeast in the south.
The other thing is that some Irish Catholics mixed with people of British and German background, who are predominantly Protestant so that's why there are less Catholic. It's almost the same case in the north because a survey in 1990 show that 45% of those claiming Irish origin are Catholic, while 39% are Protestant.
In the counties to the west past the Philly metro (Lancaster, York and Adams) a large portion of the German population can trace their roots to colonial times, most came for religious reasons. A friend of mine (guess his last name!) can trace his roots to the residence of this house. His parents worked for the Mennonite Church, worked abroad for a while. Moved back and just bought a rowhouse in Lancaster.
Know a few others of similar heritage.
There's a Lutheran Church in Queens (Astoria) that has services in German to this day. A friend's grandmother goes there.
In the counties to the west past the Philly metro (Lancaster, York and Adams) a large portion of the German population can trace their roots to colonial times, most came for religious reasons. A friend of mine (guess his last name!) can trace his roots to the residence of this house. His parents worked for the Mennonite Church, worked abroad for a while. Moved back and just bought a rowhouse in Lancaster.
Know a few others of similar heritage.
There's a Lutheran Church in Queens (Astoria) that has services in German to this day. A friend's grandmother goes there.
This article focuses on Philadelphia in particular. The author, Russel Kazal, asserts that the "German identity" in Philadelphia had all but disappeared by the early 20th Century.
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On a regional level, the Midwest, which drew the greatest concentrations of nineteenth-century German immigrants, does seem more willing to display its German ethnic roots, as a visitor to Cincinnati's annual Downtown Oktoberfest might note. Yet in the mid-Atlantic--the focus of eighteenth-century German settlement and a close second to the Midwest as a destination for nineteenth-century German newcomers--German ethnicity has a remarkably low profile. In the popular imagination, the descendants of eighteenth-century Rhenish immigrants who populated the Pennsylvania backcountry are known as "Pennsylvania Dutch," a usage that evokes the Netherlands. The region's cities yield barely a sign that they once hosted some of the nation's largest populations of German immigrants.
The other thing is that some Irish Catholics mixed with people of British and German background, who are predominantly Protestant so that's why there are less Catholic. It's almost the same case in the north because a survey in 1990 show that 45% of those claiming Irish origin are Catholic, while 39% are Protestant.
Makes sense. Philly area is more Protestant than Boston I think due to loads more African Americans. It is noticeable how few blacks you see in downtown Boston compared to downtown Philadelphia. Another way Baltimore and Philly are very similar.
My Italian relatives are from fabric row in S. Philly way back. Then they migrated to Upper Darby. And finally some are moving back to S. Philly while others moved to Cherry Hill and S. Jersey. I think you are spot on though about why the city limits are still more Irish. Northeast Philly didn't change nearly as much as S. Philly. Back in the 60's and 70's S. Philly was heavily, heavily Italian-American. Think Frank Rizzo.
Mayfair was very Irish-Catholic, and still is today. Think St. Matt's Parish in Mayfair vs. St. Monicas in S. Philly.
Personally I find Southern cities like Atlanta, Birmingham, Jackson, and even Charleston boring in comparison with their mostly Wasp and African American populations. Very little European ethnicity compared to northeast cities. I always get a kick out of census statistics showing all these Irish down South. They are just white Southern Scotch-Irish protestants checking the Irish box. They have zilch in common with Irish-Catholics. In fact in Ireland those two groups despised each other, probably to this day still do in some quarters.
How is Philadelphia more Protestant than the most Puritan place in the entire country?
And by the way, Philadelphia isn't Protestant because of black people. Those Churches existed before they were black neighborhoods.
Someone's probably mentioned this - hey, maybe I did earlier for that matter - but New Orleans, one of the most Southern of cities, has a lot of Irish history.
Someone's probably mentioned this - hey, maybe I did earlier for that matter - but New Orleans, one of the most Southern of cities, has a lot of Irish history.
Irish Americans are well aware of this. Harry Connick Jr being Jewish/Irish (mother from NYC father Irish from NO). Years ago I remember Notre Dame played U of Alabama at the Sugar Bowl and supposedly there were loads of people in New Orleans supporting Notre Dame. New Orleans seems quite Catholic to me also.
This article focuses on Philadelphia in particular. The author, Russel Kazal, asserts that the "German identity" in Philadelphia had all but disappeared by the early 20th Century.
Why do you keep saying things like Germans disappeared? They have not. In Philly they are all intermarried with other ethnicities like all the rest of us.
How is Philadelphia more Protestant than the most Puritan place in the entire country?
And by the way, Philadelphia isn't Protestant because of black people. Those Churches existed before they were black neighborhoods.
And South Philly was majorly Irish in parts.
Small parts of S. Philly had Irish, but their presence was not nearly as large as Italian. Irish were more Fishtown, Kensington, Mafair and West Philly.
And you are wrong btw about Boston and Philly. Just as I thought, in their metro areas Boston has a higher % of Catholics. Within the city limits probably even moreso. Philadelphia is around 45% or more Black. Mostly all of them protestants from the South. Add them together with the White prostetants and you have a higher percentage protestant than Boston. Boston is no where near almost 50% Black. Spend one day walking around downtown Philly and one day in Boston and you compare.
Boston is 39.3% Catholic. Philadelphia is 30%. See link below.
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