Yes I have Swiss German Lancaster Co Pa connections with my Grandfather's line of Troyer. They were from the Bern area of Switzerland and were persicutied by the Swiss as they were menonites and would not join the army with the Swiss rented out to other countries to make money. Now they are more neutral but back in 1700's they rented out their army or were protecting Switzerland from invasions. So a lot of Pa Dutch were Swiss. Pa Dutch term was a corruption of Deutch meaning German or German speaking so could be German, Swiss, or Dutch. Gaile ----- Original Message ----- From: Claire K <seekay@comcast.net> Date: Monday, January 3, 2011 6:10 am Subject: Re: [PAFRANKL] Fw: Franklin County memories To: Gordon Crooks <gordoncrooks@verizon.net> Cc: PAFRANKL-L@rootsweb.com > I had a friend from Switzerland visit, and took her to Lancaster > Co., where we took a horse and buggy tour with a Mennonite > driver.  He said something in PA Dutch and she almost fell > off her seat because apparently some of the words were Swiss > German.  I'd taken German visitors there (and they thought > the language was "Americanized" / corrupt German), but she was > my first Swiss German speaker, so my first clue that there was a > Swiss German influence on the language.  Interestingly, > though, she knew nothing about the community's connection to > Switzerland -- I guess the Swiss got rid of the Anabaptists / > Mennonites so thoroughly that no memory of it lingers in their > history. > Claire K. > > > On Jan 3, 2011, at 8:03 AM, Gordon Crooks wrote: > > > Hi Folks: This came to me from a friend ... > > > >      --- > > > > ...Most Mennonites although called Pennsylvania Dutch or old > German were actually of Swiss ancestry (but not necessarily). > > >   > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PAFRANKL- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >