The Pennsylvania Dutch and The German-American Diaspora in 1790

Abstract

Previous efforts to determine how many inhabitants of Pennsylvania and other states were of German descent at the taking of the first Federal Census in 1790 have produced estimates that vary greatly. This study presents an improved procedure for using surname analysis to calculate the German stock in post-Revolutionary America, and it offers new data describing the distribution of that group throughout Pennsylvania and the rest of the United States. The revised estimates show that German-Americans were not only the predominant ethnic group in Pennsylvania, but also were dispersed more widely among its counties than had been thought. The study then employs the same methodology to identify localities in other states inhabited by sizeable German communities, in order to trace patterns of internal migration by Pennsylvania Dutch emigrants, and also to provide more accurate information about the group's contribution to 18th-century population growth and frontier expansion.