Several waves of German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries. The first wave, invited by William Penn himself, consisted largely of Anabaptists, including Amish, Mennonites, and Dunkers. These groups were seeking religious freedom after the chaos of the Thirty Years’ War, which had devastated much of Germany. After around 1720 they were joined by mainstream Protestant denominations such as Lutherans, Moravians, and members of the German Reformed church. On the eve of the American Revolution, around one-third of Pennsylvania’s population was German-speaking. Of course, as for…
