And to continue on with Pennsylvania history: In the early settling of the colony, the English, primarily Quakers, established themselves in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, primarily in Philadelphia. The Germans came in several waves and settled outside of Philadelphia (Germantown) and to the west. The Scotch-Irish also came in waves and settled further west, seen by the Quaker powers-that-be as a convenient buffer between the colony and the Indians, the Scotch-Irish having no compunction about fighting. The Scotch-Irish were lowland Scots who had migrated to Ulster (now Northern Ireland) in the 17th century. Due to one revolt or another, there were not many Irish left in Ulster, thanks to the England's policy of clearing out the lands and bringing in other settlers. When the Scotch-Irish started migrating to Pennsylvania in the early 1700s, they were really a breed apart -- neither Irish (they brought their Presbyterian faith to Ireland with them which later caused problems when England wanted them to pledge loyalty to the Anglican faith) but neither fully Scots after their sojourn in Ireland. One of their most fervent wishes in coming to America was to be left alone which helped make them ideal frontiersmen and women. (Part of the attraction of going to Ulster was to get away from the Highlanders who tore through their lands to fight the English across the border and English troops who did the same going north after the Highlanders.) As more and more of western Pennsylvania was purchased from the Indians, they continued moving west (as well as south down the Shenandoah Valley to North Carolina and eastern Tennessee). The Amish and Mennonite Germans who became known as the Pennsylvania Dutch largely stayed around York and Lancaster, but other Germans moved west into the areas the Scotch-Irish vacated, establishing great breweries such as Yuenglings all across the state. (I have a theory that history has covered up the real reason Jeb Stuart was late getting to Gettysburg -- the south was sorely lacking in good beer and Stuart had heard about this fabulous brewery in Pottsville and on the map it didn't look that far away ...) It's probably a stretch to say they shared a language with the English, at least initially. The Philadelphians were horrified by their dress and manners and glad to see them head out to the frontier. Since they had no allegiances to the old country and no particular love for the English, there was never any doubt where their loyalties lay during the 1770s. They provided Washington's army with fierce fighters and skilled marksmen. They did retain their Scottish respect for education and Presbyterian faith and left a trail of schools and churches on their way west. More than you wanted to know, eh?