fourth generation
Family historyarold Schoen was born on November 17th, 1894 in Dexter, Michigan. Harold graduated from Dexter High School on June 7th, 1912. He subsequently lived on 4th Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan where he did maintenance work and assisted in construction of the Hill Auditorium for the University of Michigan for a couple of years. He eventually moved to Detroit where he was employed as a carpenter. Harold served in the US Army, 310th Engineers, 85th Division, for 19 months during WWI. He spent the winter of 1917 at Camp Custard (near Battle Creek, Michigan) and then served in both England and France. He was discharged in 1919.
Grace Hartway (Formerly Hartwick) was born on October 24th, 1898 in Chesterfield Township, Michigan. Grace completed two years at Baltimore High School and a year at St. John's Lutheran German School. She took secretarial courses at the Mount Clemens Business Institute for one year. Grace's first job was at the Wayne Printing Institute . Harold and Grace were married on January 27th, 1923 in Detroit. Together they had two children, including Lorraine (Fifth Generation). They lived in Detroit for 11 years until they returned to Grace's family farm on Hickey Road. |
Language HistoryHarold and Grace lived in the Detroit area during the time when the Northern Cities Vowel Shift was at its early stages. Initially, this shift was hallmarked by pronouncing an "a" as an "ea" (i.e. man shifted to me-an).
By the following generation, this vowel shift became a domino effect. on the rest of the vowels in the English language. |
Language samplePBS has produced an excellent called Do You Speak American? which explores dialects and accents. This webpage will allow you to experiment with the sounds involved in the Northern Cities Vowel Shift and includes a quiz to see if you can tell the difference between the sounds.
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