Le 10 nov. 08 à 21:29, alsace-lorraine-request@rootsweb.com a écrit : > Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:16:48 EST > From: Nutmeg421@aol.com > > In a message dated 11/10/08 10:18:04 AM, etienne.herrbach@wanadoo.fr > writes: >> Before WWI, very few Alsatians in the countryside understood >> French.?? >> They spoke dialect and understood German.? > > My grandfather knew French, as did my father who helped me with my > college > French. Of course, my grandfather died in the 1860s before Germany was > organized. He also spoke German and Italian, and learned English > when he came to > America. They left from LeHavre, not Hamburg, went to England and > left there for > America. My grandfather came to America very young, in about 1868. > He said he > arrived in NYC on Good Friday, 1867, but we found that to be untrue. > It was > probably 1868 or even earlier. If he was 18, it was 1866. They are > not listed in > the Germans to America books. Charles and Nicholas Becker. Jean, another idea (already raised by another lister): it was not uncommon that Alsatian emigrants didn't head to the USA directly. Some emigrated to one place for some time (Germany for instance), then to another, and finally to America. Etienne