How come there haven't been a lot of genetic studies done on the Pennsylvania Dutch?

**~~Bobby Martnen~~** · 05-03-2018, 06:57 AM

We're just as important as other groups, but it seems like researchers are more interested in doing endless studies on Jews, Italians, and Spaniards.

**TeutonicBoyars** · 05-05-2018, 07:45 PM

Originally Posted by Bobby Martnen

We're just as important as other groups, but it seems like researchers are more interested in doing endless studies on Jews, Italians, and Spaniards.

I thought you were half-British?

**MysteriousWays** · 05-05-2018, 07:48 PM

Too small of a group, although the Amish specifically (and Mennonites more generally) have had genetic studies done, as they have some rare diseases, likely from inbreeding in such a small population. For the larger population that would be of at least partially Pennsylvania Dutch origins, it's just not that big, and mostly in a few counties in Pennsylvania I think.

**~~Bobby Martnen~~** · 05-05-2018, 07:55 PM

Originally Posted by TeutonicBoyars

I thought you were half-British?

I'm Anglo-American, not British.

**TeutonicBoyars** · 05-05-2018, 07:57 PM

Originally Posted by Bobby Martnen

I'm Anglo-American, not British.

I thought Anglo-American meant descendants of English settlers. My mistake.

**ovidiu** · 05-11-2018, 02:46 AM

I don't know but one of my good American buddies is half Amish, with his dad having been kicked out of the community for having an affair with an "English" lass apparently. The idea of rumspringa is also pretty fascinating to me.

Amish are mostly west German... I'd imagine there is a degree of what some may term "inbreeding" or at least a relatively limited overall diversity in their community. But the few I happened to meet seemed quite healthy, and they're great builders from what I hear.