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I would say the Germany-American heritage is pretty well integrated with mainstream American culture and that includes the south.
I am from the south and my family goes generations back to the 1600s is mostly from here. My ancestry is that of a UK mutt. I am mostly British, but also have some Scottish and Irish blood in my veins. I also have one small part Cherokee Indian and one small part French in my ancestry.
Most people don't trace their family histories enough, but this is a very common mix that is found in the Georgia, Alabama, and Carolinas area.
Your ancestry sounds a lot like mine, mine includes English, Irish, Scottish, French, and Cherokee. I'm one of those that just says "I'm white".
Originally Posted by cwkimbro I would say the Germany-American heritage is pretty well integrated with mainstream American culture and that includes the south.
I am from the south and my family goes generations back to the 1600s is mostly from here. My ancestry is that of a UK mutt. I am mostly British, but also have some Scottish and Irish blood in my veins. I also have one small part Cherokee Indian and one small part French in my ancestry.
Most people don't trace their family histories enough, but this is a very common mix that is found in the Georgia, Alabama, and Carolinas area.
But that is how a lot of the German American in the south is... has been over in the New World for awhile... as you say your family goes back to the 1600s.
Not sure how far back immigration goes but it was still going rampantly in Chi/NYC up until the 30s-40s until they cut back their allotment.
For instance I am Irish on one side and German on the other... Both sides of my family didn't come over until after 1900 and settled in Chicago and Boston respectively. My great grandmother on dad's side was born in Ireland in 1870. And great grandmother on mom's side was born in Germany in 1897. We still have family heirlooms and stuff and I still have family in Ireland.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I felt like chiming in...
Having done my own genealogy and looked over family trees of quite a few famous Southerners I am a bit irked by the myth of the "homogenous Scotch Irish White Southern". I really think the percent of White Southern with only 18th Century Scotch Irish ancestry would have to be 1% or less.
White Southerns are generally a mix of English, Scottish, Welsh, German, Irish, and Dutch (as well as Scotch Irish, which combines Scottish and English). The mixture depends on the person. Often times the mixing occurred where these people arrived in Pennsylvania, before they even moved south. Remember most non English people pre 1800 came to port at Philadelphia, and many lived in Pennsylvania for several generations before moving South. Also, understand that non Anglo sounding German and Dutch names were changed and so you may have to go back generations to find those roots. I thought my Conover ancestors were English, but it is actually Dutch (Van Kaganhagen) There are lots of Maggards (a Scottish name) in E Kentucky who are actually Swiss German (Maegart). Lots of Millers that were Muellers, etc. My French Faure's became Fords. (I share an ancestor with country singer Tennessee Ernie "Ford")
In the South people tend to be much further removed from their ethnic roots. To sum up... listing American Ancestry on the census doesn't mean that there is no non Anglo or Scotch Irish ancestors among most White Southerners. For me why should I pick just one ancestry when I've been here 400 to 250 years and my most common ancestry (English) is only 35% of my total family tree?
German Americans and generally Americans of northern european descent are well assimilated into American culture. This kind of stereotype is mostly found among southern europeans like Italian Americans or Greek Americans.
They seem to be seen as the 'vanilla variety' in the Northeast and Midwest, but are German Americans seen more in light of their German identity in the South, where most are black, English, or 'Scotch-Irish'?
I think that there are more German Americans in the Midwest than the Northeast. Italians and Irish are more prominent from NJ to MA, and Germans and English are closely behind. PA (Northeast) and MD (South) are very German, though.
I hope this link works! The gray blue through most of the country is German, darker blue by NJ/Long Island, NY/eastern CT Italian, and lavender in the northeast like throughout much of MA is Irish. By this map, I see Germans vastly in the Midwest, Irish/Italians in the southern Northeast and English in the northern Northeast (like Maine) with some French and Irish thrown in. The South is mostly black, which is that dark magenta color, and 'American', which I'm assuming either means Native American or those who identify as American, ignoring their ancestry.
Haha Didn't realize how old this thread was but I hope my link is helpful!
Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
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Germans are not the dominant ancestry per county in the South except for Texas and Florida, and I would largely suspect those two are due to transplants. In the Midwest especially is where they are most dominant, particularly in the two cities I commute back and forth between.
Germans are not the dominant ancestry per county in the South except for Texas and Florida, and I would largely suspect those two are due to transplants.
You d be wrong about Texas. White Texan culture is very heavily influenced by massive German and Czech immigrations.
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