Pennsylvania Dutch Stories | 1976 Recording of Dr. William S. Kistler, born 1910

Dr. Kistler was recorded on March 24, 1976 by Susan Berky Read for her college folklore project. Susan took photos of Dr. Kistler in 1986 at the Goschenhoppen Folk Festi​​val in Perkiomenville, Pa., where Dr. Kistler volunteered as an interpreter. He dressed that day in overalls and a hat.
There are two stories Dr. Kistler tells in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect:
18:35 FIRST STORY PARAPHRASE
Amandus liked to be with his friends every evening to talk and have at few drinks and come home late. Amanda (his wife) stayed home caring for the children and do whatever else that needed to be done. Amanda disliked this but couldn’t do anything about it.
One late evening when Amandus came home, he went to get his usual glass of drink before going to bed. As he was drinking, he thought "this doesn’t taste right," and made a face. Then he said "I, I, I, I drank wash blueing!" (dye) In great fear, he called Amanda and said "come quick I am dying, I swallowed wash blueing!"
Amanda said she has waited a long time for something to happen, and told Amandus to use his undershirt to wipe away the blue "diarrhea."
19:40 SECOND STORY PARAPHRASE
A young man had a car with a rumble seat (an uncovered seat in the rear of a car). On Sunday afternoons, he liked to drive his friends up and down Main Street. One Sunday, he wanted to back out near his house, so Jimmy asked the man in the rumble seat "is something coming?" The young man in the rumble seat said "I think not." Seconds later, "Flatch, I thought nothing was coming," said Jimmy. The man in the rumble seat answered, "I thought the same thing!"
__________
Dr. William S. Kistler was born in 1910 in Pennsburg, Pa. In 1939, he received a medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. During WWII, he served as a lieutenant colonel in the medical corps in Europe. After the war, he had a private family practice for 40 years in East Greenville, Pa. Dr. Kistler was also a staff physician at Grand View Hospital and the former Allentown Hospital. He was the husband of Winnie Kistler, with whom he had six children. Dr. Kistler was involved in many community organizations and also farmed and kept bees on his land.
Dr. Kistler's ancestors settled in what came to be known as Kistler's Valley, which straddles Lynn Township in Lehigh County and Albany Township in Berks County. The Kistler Valley traces its origins to the birth of America, back to the immigrant John George Kistler and his brother, John, who came to colonial Pennsylvania as teenagers in 1737. They were Swiss Lutherans, and in the 1740s, they settled in a valley south of the Blue Mountain. John George Kistler served in the French and Indian War. He and five of his sons (Jacob Michael, Samuel, John, George, and Philip) served in the Revolutionary War. The Kistlers were farmers, living among other immigrants from the German Palatinate and Switzerland (the English called all people from German-speaking regions of Europe “Dutch”). These people were mostly Lutheran and Reformed, the rest were Anabaptists. The dialects they brought with them from Europe fused into a uniquely American dialect-Pennsylvania Dutch. This dialect was the dominant language in many communities throughout southeastern Pennsylvania into the early 20th century. Born in 1910, Dr. Kistler was of the last generation of non-Anabaptists who learned Pennsylvania Dutch as their first language and thus were fully fluent. Most rural Pennsylvania Dutch children born prior to WWI only began learning English when they went to first grade in their one-room schoolhouses. As adults, the dialect remained their preferred language in their homes and communities. At the time of this recording in 1976, Pennsylvania Dutch was still spoken and understood by many Lehigh and Berks County natives of Germanic and Swiss origin over the age of 40. Dialect speakers could regularly be heard around town at auctions and restaurants, after church, and at the grocery store and bank. This was also true in Northampton, Montgomery and Lancaster counties and other counties in southeast Pa. Although it is fading in use today among the general public, the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect is still spoken in Amish and Old Order Mennonite communities. The inflections and flavor of Dr. Kistler’s dialect is unique to the region and the people he grew up with; to hear him speak is to hear the voice of his ancestors.
Dr. William S. Kistler passed away at age 90 in his Zionsville home on December 21, 2000.
- Life details from "The Morning Call" December 23, 2000

[@betsylaub6697]

Love this - what a treasure!

[@darleneschneck]

Thank you!!

[@exrezcnm]

Doc Kistler was my doc!