Changes

'''Missouri French'''

'''Missouri French'''

Washington County is notable for having one of the highest concentrations of persons of French descent in the American Midwest. At the 2000 census, 15.6% of residents reported having French ancestry, larger than any other group except those identifying themselves as generically American. Such Franco-Americans are especially numerous in the Mine a Breton area adjacent to Potosi and in the unincorporated Old Mines community farther to the northeast. They are mostly descended from the original French colonists who settled there in the 18th century, often known as the "Missouri French" or the "Paw-Paw French." Though the predominant element in Washington County life through the early 19th century, they had become economically and culturally marginalized by the time of the [[Civil War]], due to the influx of Anglo-Saxon American settlers with more wealth and more connections to the new government.  

Washington County is notable for having one of the highest concentrations of persons of French descent in the American Midwest. At the 2000 census, 15.6% of residents reported having French ancestry, larger than any other group except those identifying themselves as generically American. Such Franco-Americans are especially numerous in the Mine a Breton area adjacent to Potosi and in the unincorporated Old Mines community farther to the northeast. They are mostly descended from the original French colonists who settled there in the 18th century, often known as the "Missouri French" or the "Paw-Paw French." Though the predominant element in Washington County life through the early 19th century, they had become economically and culturally marginalized by the time of the [[Civil War]], due to the influx of Anglo-Saxon American settlers with more wealth and more connections to the new government.