This
file part of www.dodgejeffgen.com
website
Lester
W. J. "Smoky" Seifert
(1915-1996)
Dodge County
Oderbrüchisch
Autobiography
of Lester W. J. "Smoky" Seifert, 1940s
Commentary:
Lester W. J. "Smoky" Seifert
(1915-1996) was a leading figure in the development of German-American
linguistics. Prof. Seifert was born and raised in Dodge County, WI, and grew up
speaking the Oderbrüchisch (East Low German) dialect,
High German, and English. Originally intending to become a Lutheran minister,
he was educated at Northwestern College in Watertown, WI, and Brown University,
and eventually became a professor of German at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. Most of his published research was on German in Wisconsin
and Pennsylvania Dutch, the subject of his doctoral dissertation. In this clip
Prof. Seifert interviews himself, recounting some of his family history.
“My name is Lester Wilhelm Julius Seifert. I
was born in Juneau, Dodge County, that's here in Wisconsin, in 1915, on August
15th. My father, his name was Julius August Seifert. He was born in Hustisford, Dodge County, Wisconsin. My mother, her name
was Anna Sophie Ernestine J. She was born near . . . between Mayville and
Theresa, in the year 1878, I believe, I'm not too sure about that. And my
father was born in 1872, but there also I'm not too sure. My grandparents
on my father's side, Grandfather Seifert, his name was August Seifert.
He was born in Germany, but was just five years old when they came to the U.S.,
his parents. They settled near Hustisford, had a farm
there, but when my grandfather was older, and he also had a farm, they sold the
farms and moved to Juneau, and there we always had the same farm.”