martin Luther's wife was a nun before she was Mrs. M, I have read. I am not aware of congregations in Germanic peoples immigrating in groups to a large extent. If I can get it finished I will be posting soon a history of my families and it is somewhat unique in that in areas of South east Wisconsin, we saw in the early 1840's intense immigrations of Pommerns, in particular and Brandenbergers in An area of Washington/Ozaukee County near Milwaukee, and then a little further out, in Dodge County, near Lebanon township, then Theresa, and Mayville area, Town of herman etc. In some of these areas the populations were also 90ercent Pommern/Brandedbergers, that came with the opening of government land for land grants. In check a 1947 Plat of the town of Theresa and I would estimate the surnames of the original immigrants are still close to 80 percent of the 1840's. These communities, were differently and definitively based on the the church being not only the spiritual center but also the social center and to a high degree the church members trading etc. was a large part of the economic base of the area. In 1950's it was still common for as many as 15 congregations of Lutherans in Dodge County Wisconsin to conduct a weekly or a bi-weekly church service in German. As late as the late 1920'a German was the primary language in the parochial schools of the area. AN example was my mother born in 1921, did not learn to speak English until 6th grade when the state of Wisconsin mandated english as the primary language in all schools. My great Grandmother who was a Zimmermann descendant, never learned to speak English, passing on in 1953 and born in this country. These areas were and to some degree still are tight in their Various"Germanic hertiages, with not only religion, but tradition as well. If You can imagine in suburban Milwaukee their are several radio stations that broadcast exclusive old time music formats(Polka, waltz, etc. as the Germans, Slavs, Polish still flow that in the older generations.) Even the younger generations follow the music, just go to the Dodge County, Wisconsin fair and see the turn out for the Polka bands that play daily. In summary, the religious heritage and the influence on many of the folks of Germanic roots in Southeast Wisconsin (until the 1950's) was not unlike what you would see in the tight knit community that is manifested today in the Amish society. Very few marriages outside the faith, to do so was caused for family upheaval, German spoke as the primary language in many households, though they knew English. Today the German accents is still present in many in the land OF dis, dat and doughs. Awfwiedersein Rob Bowe Donna D Seidel wrote: > Thank you for the postings on > Catholic and Lutheran immigration > history. > And Martin Luther's wife- my how interesting. > Never occurred to me.... > Perhaps members of congregations > immigrated in chuch groups? > Please continue to add these reminders > of our pasts :-) > Sometimes I get too focused on one > individual. > Donna Seidel with Zimmerman on > both sides of the family > The Swiss Christian Zimmerman family > that came to Kansas in the 1880s from the > old country > The Other Zimmermans who wound up > in Dekalb County Indiana- I know nothing > about these folks yet > > ==== ZIMMERMAN Mailing List ==== > Visit Daisy's Zimmerman Page! > http://www.rootsweb.com/~daisy/zimmerman.htm