The best areas for "the Frankish people and way of life" is easy to recognise. When the New English colonies were already full of people, the Germans and related people went further West, but mostly along the climatic line.
Some went to Texas etc. later, because of the cheap land and other kinds of business, but the typical bible belt of the plantations, poor farmers and black slaves being largely circled around.
Lutherans were always more rational, social, group oriented of the Protestant groups, this changed in Germany and other countries of Europe just after the 2nd World War and the complete "re-education" or "2nd reformation" of the Lutherans.
Look for German names, there are better sites than this one but still:
F.e. names like Schmidt, Karst, Mueller, Mayer etc.
The main exceptions in the South, for obvious reasons in later times, are Texas, Florida and California. The typical German settlers in larger groups however went mostly to the states mentioned, where they significantly influenced the local culture.
A good example for a harscher environment, yet good enough for the "Frankish way of life" being Wisconsin:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin
The whole "developed belt" West of the old English settlements of European character of the map wouldnt exist without the European immigrants, Germans as the primary group and cultural factor, together with the habitat and economy in question.
There could be independent people, living in close knit communities, not farmers in a wide and often rather foreign land...
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