Paul and Jean Schneck, age 92, describe growing up on their parents' farm during the Great Depression and learning Pennsylvania Dutch. This is a uniquely American dialect formed by 17th and 18th century immigrants who were primarily from southwest Germany, Alsace, and Switzerland. These Lutheran, Reformed, and Anabaptist farmers and tradespeople spoke a variety of German dialects. When they arrived at the port of Philadelphia, many of them settled in Pennsylvania because of its religious tolerance and good farmland. In colonial days, the English people referred to these settlers as “Dutch,” a term that included all German dialect speakers. By 1776, there were an estimated 100,000 German-speaking people in Pennsylvania, a third of the population. By the turn of the 19th century, their regional dialects had blended into the dialect known today as Pennsylvania Dutch. Between the time of the forced removal of the native Leni-Lenape people to the land development of today was a period of 250 years in which Lehigh and Berks counties were dotted with thousands of family farms - built and lived in by Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants and their descendants. These farms ranged in size from 50 to 200 acres or more. Today, the dialect is mostly spoken in Amish and Old Order Mennonite communities, and it has faded in use among non-sectarian people.