I thought I was German. My family hailing from Bremen, West Germany area. Am I r

Question:My father says Pa. Dutch which makes sense, his Iowa family has Bedford, Pa tie. But, my one aunt said Danish and I found a North Sea Isle called Foehr. That being near Frisia as mentioned in new released Beowulf. Not a riddle to you--but what is then my likely derivation if Foehr is the homeland? Not looking for geneology cites, but guesses or educated guesses.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: My father says Pa. Dutch which makes sense, his Iowa family has Bedford, Pa tie. But, my one aunt said Danish and I found a North Sea Isle called Foehr. That being near Frisia as mentioned in new released Beowulf. Not a riddle to you--but what is then my likely derivation if Foehr is the homeland? Not looking for geneology cites, but guesses or educated guesses.

This isn't quite the answer you want but in general to find out information one works from the known to the unknown. So your father and aunt gave you some clues, which may or may not be true.

!. Ask other family members.
2. Check census records - esp the 1900, has lots of info.
3. Depends when they emigrated. As someone else said, the Pa Dutch (i.e. Deutsch) were from Germany but settled in Pa 17th and 18th centuries. Immigration records are on Ancestry.com for 19th and early 20th centuries - a lot anyway.

My gg grandfather was from Bremen. I do not think it is in Schleswig-Holstein but is somewhat to the west of that province, in Hannover. So I think there would be more of a Dutch influence there, not Danish.

You can't assume they were from Foehr, or the Frisian Islands or even Bremen yet, you don't have enough facts.

Don't know and don't care.

if it's a nationality issue, always remember this. on document, your nationality depends on where you were born.

well, talking about race, that, i think is questionable if you'll ask me.

Yes, no, maybe. *smile* well, you asked for guesses!!
So, I tried wikipedia (having never heard of the Isle). And it said,

"Due to the state's history between Denmark and Germany, Schleswig-Holstein combines Danish and German aspects of culture."

So, the area has been part of both Denmark and Germany. Or, you probably can't come to a total specific "am I German or Danish?". If your family indeed originated here, and moved to Bremen, then you would have elements of both in your background.
ps... I tend to not like questions of what is the ethnic background of such and such, because there often ISN'T a clear answer.

We have no clue because you don't tell us what the surname is and when your family arrived. Since Germany only unified in the 1870s, if your family left that area earlier than that it could have been a land that no longer exists which was listed as their homeland.

If your dad says you're "Pennsylvania Dutch" then that really means you come from the Anabaptists who were originally Swiss, then went to the Palatinate, then came to the US and are now known as Mennonites and Amish. If your family has been in North America that long, then the records on the family are probably pretty well researched. Your job is to do the research on your particular line back to the early 1800s so that you can tap into the published research on the Anabaptists.

If your family is from the north coast of present-day Germany, the Danish-German connection makes sense. "Fehr" without the o, is a common name among the Mennonites who originated in Friesland. The oe sound in German was confusing, so many Germans would simplify things by dropping the o. The name, pronounced FAIR, would sound similar. The PA Dutch Mennonites originated in southern Germany and Switzerland. I would imagine that your family has intermarried with an assortment of people over the years, which will confuse the issue. Now the Bremen connection: Bremen was the "jumping off place" for many immigrants who were sailing from the major port of Bremerhaven. One of my grandmother's documents has her from Bremen, although she was from Austria, but the information was taken from her immigration papers which listed Bremen as her point of departure from Europe. You might try looking at searches done by people name Fehr, to see where they came from.

Pennsylvania Dutch are Germans, mostly from the Palatinate or Rhineland Pfalz. In colonial days, German colonist were usually called Dutch. That is what Deutsch sounded like to the ears of English speaking people.