Early Life of the Pennsylvania Germans

The Pennsylvania Germans also known as the Pennsylvania Dutch are a group of people who descended from German-speaking immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries. The early life of the Pennsylvania Germans was characterized by hardship and struggle. The first German-speaking immigrants to arrive in Pennsylvania were mainly Mennonites and other Anabaptists who were fleeing persecution in Europe. They arrived in Philadelphia in the early 1680s and quickly began to settle in the surrounding countryside. Life in the early years was difficult for these settlers. They faced numerous challenges such as clearing land for farming building homes and protecting themselves from native tribes who still inhabited the area. However despite these difficulties the Pennsylvania Germans were able to build a prosperous and unique culture that combined elements of their German heritage with the new world in which they found themselves.