I find this very interesting about the language. My gr grandfather came over here in 1854 but his birth certificate is in French. He did speak German as when he left the old country he came to WI and stayed with a family from Baden, Germany. That to me is an indication that his particular language was German or what you say is called Alsatian. This to me means that they had their own language or I should say there own dialect. I am confused on this as my gr grandparents on my dad's side came from Bavaria and that whole are spoke German and no French. They were not Catholic. I enjoy this site as I have learned so many things. Keep up the good work. -----Original Message----- From: alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of brian@amason.net Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 10:31 AM To: alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [A-L] Bischwiller On Mon, November 10, 2008 8:06 am, Etienne Herrbach wrote: > Hello, > > a few precisions on Brian's post : > >> Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2008 23:19:23 -0600 (CST) >> From: brian@amason.net >> >>> said he was born in Alsace. He was French and his native tongue was >>> French. >> Many Alsatians native tongue up until post WWII was Alsatian. Which >> is a >> Germanic dialect. Alsatians certainly spoke French and German, but >> Alsatian would have been the language of everyday use. > > Before WWI, very few Alsatians in the countryside understood French. > They spoke dialect and understood German. Particularly the newspapers > and the Catholic and Protestant worships were mainly in German (with > some local exceptions). I still disagree here. First I never said "every" Alsatian spoke French and German. Secondly pre-WWI local newspapers more commonly in Alsatian. Not French or German. Still I would have expected Catholic worships to be in Latin. > >>> Loraine borders partly on Hesse-Darmstadt. > > No, Lorraine borders with Palatinate and Saarland. That is of course correct. Not sure where I got that. > >>> Alsace and Lorraine were a part of Prussia for a period of time. > > Alsace and Moselle were part of the German Empire ruled by the > Prussians, between 1871 and 1918. No Elsass and Lothringen were part of the German Empire. Moselle was created from the province of Lorraine in the 1780s. You can call it Moselle, put it doesn't alter the fact it was a part of Lorraine. Best regards, Brian -- Resources for Alsace-Lorraine list members: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ALSACE-LORRAINE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 3607 (20081112) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 3623 (20081118) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com