Hi Folks; I did a good bit of research to try to understand why so many of my ancestors fled Schleswig-Holstein in the mid-19th Century. This led me to understand that up until the time of the Prussian takeover, most if not all Germans were citizens of "city states", such as Hessen, Hanover or Holstein. If a German peasant had any patriotic feelings at all they were to one of these city states, vice a German federation (chances are that any such loyalties went no further than the local village). Since the Prussians required registration for conscription at a very early age (15, if I remember correctly), and since the young men felt absolutely no loyalty to Prussia, many fled elsewhere to avoid the draft. Once having arrived in the US however, their point of view in re citizenship often did a 180. Thus the irony that many who fled Prussia to avoid the draft ended up enlisting in US Federal or CSA military units. One interesting sidebar of my research is the discovery that my ancestors didn't even speak the same language as their Prussian "countrymen". They spoke Plattedeutsch vice German. Also known as Low-Saxon, this is a Germanic tongue more closely allied to Danish, Dutch and English than to proper German. Cheers, Masugu

Hello "Masugu" (et al), I found your observations regarding emigration and Prussian conscription interesting. To add further to your posting, in my own research of extended family, I found it curious that an emigrant from Pomerania, born in 1836, would enlist at the age of 28 in the American Civil War in 1864, serve honorably and be "mustered out" at Vicksburg, MS in 1865. Having served the American military effort, on the side of the Union I might add, his honorable discharged earned him automatic American citizenship without his having to complete the *three step* Naturalization process, incurred by other immigrants who did not join the American military. In addition, this Prussian (Pomeranian) born immigrant is buried in the military section of a U.S.A. cemetery while his Prussian born wife's remains are located elsewhere in the same cemetery. For what it's worth. Bette > Since the Prussians required registration for conscription at a very early > age > (15, if I remember correctly), and since the young men felt absolutely > no loyalty to Prussia, many fled elsewhere to avoid the draft. Once > having arrived in the US however, their point of view in re citizenship > often did a 180. Thus the irony that many who fled Prussia to avoid the > draft ended up enlisting in US Federal or CSA military units. > Cheers, Masugu

Hello Masuga, Some of your research appears to be flawed and I think it is not a good idea to fill the heads of American researchers with stuff such as < "city states" such as Hessen, Hannover, or Holstein>> that's just nonsense. I would suggest to anyone wanting to know about the country/state of their ancestors that they 'google' around or else look it up in the encyclopedia. You give people the impression that the only reason people left Germany/Prussia was to escape conscription. That's absolutely not true....how else would you explain the millions of single women who emigrated to the US because of the simple fact that they were not free to marry i.e. unless the feudal landlord gave his permission. In addition, there was the same potato plight in Germany in the late 1840s as the one that raged in Ireland. And your comments regarding the "platt-deutsch" a dialect that is still spoken in every village in Germany from the Baltic and Atlantic all the way down to Baden and Bavaria even to this day along with the standard 'high german' is just pure nonsense. Platt-deutsch has nothing to do with Low Saxony, it is a 'spoken language' or 'dialect' that's different in every German state. When I visit my hometown in Hessen, I too speak 'platt-deutsch' with my peers and anyone else who still remembers the local form of communication. Ursula from Michigan Wayne J. Straight wrote: > Hi Folks; > > I did a good bit of research to try to understand why so many of my > ancestors fled Schleswig-Holstein in the mid-19th Century. This led me > to understand that up until the time of the Prussian takeover, most if > not all Germans were citizens of "city states", such as Hessen, Hanover > or Holstein. If a German peasant had any patriotic feelings at all they > were to one of these city states, vice a German federation (chances are > that any such loyalties went no further than the local village). Since > the Prussians required registration for conscription at a very early age > (15, if I remember correctly), and since the young men felt absolutely > no loyalty to Prussia, many fled elsewhere to avoid the draft. Once > having arrived in the US however, their point of view in re citizenship > often did a 180. Thus the irony that many who fled Prussia to avoid the > draft ended up enlisting in US Federal or CSA military units. > > One interesting sidebar of my research is the discovery that my > ancestors didn't even speak the same language as their Prussian > "countrymen". They spoke Plattedeutsch vice German. Also known as > Low-Saxon, this is a Germanic tongue more closely allied to Danish, > Dutch and English than to proper German. > > Cheers, Masugu > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GERMANY-PASSENGER-LISTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > . >