DON'T YOU READ YOUR E-MAIL CONTACT THE INDIVIDUAL DIRECT. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ursula B. Adamson" <ubatrans@klondyke.net> To: <"Wayne Straight"@mail.rootsweb.com>; <germany-passenger-lists@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 11:30 AM Subject: Re: [G-P-L] [GERMANY-PASSENGER-LISTS] Conscription > 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 > > > > > > . > > > > ------------------------------- > 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