Petersen (1632–1706) and Jens Jacob Eschels. However, when their farmsteads turned out to provide an insufficient income for a family in the mid-19th century, many people from Föhr chose to emigrate to North America. There they settled mainly in California becoming chicken farmers, and in New York City where they established themselves in the delicatessen business. Other factors for leaving the island were unemployment, and the mandatory Prussian military service that was introduced after the Second Schleswig War. After 1842, when King Christian VIII of Denmark chose Föhr as his summer residence, the island became popular as a tourist resort. During the Second Schleswig War, Danish Lieutenant Commander Otto Christian Hammer, commanding a flotilla in the North Frisian Isles, resided in Wyk auf Föhr and was able to defend the islands against superior Austrian and Prussian naval forces. He was eventually captured by Prussian Lieutenant Ernst von Prittwitz und Gaffron. On 17 July 1864, while Hammer was at sea, 250 Austrian troops landed on Föhr and occupied the island until November 1864. In the aftermath of that war and the subsequent Austro-Prussian War, Prussia annexed Schleswig-Holstein in 1867 and Föhr became part of the Prussian Schleswig-Holstein Province. The three hamlets of Utersum, Witsum and Hedehusum were the only ones to vote for Denmark in Zone II of the Schleswig Plebiscites in 1920; yet as they were not located directly at the border they remained within Germany. On 1 January 2007 the formerly independent municipal entities of Amt Föhr-Land, Amt Amrum and Wyk auf Föhr were merged into one municipality (Amt) Föhr-Amrum. Language and culture Language A major part of the population in the west of the island speaks, besides German, a local idiom of the North Frisian language known as Fering or Föhring. Fering is again divided into the two dialects of Westerland Föhr and Osterland Föhr, being the western and eastern halves of the island respectively. In Osterland Low German is more popular than Fering and especially in Wyk the traditional language is Standard German. During the whaling campaigns from the 17th to the early 19th centuries, many seafarers from Föhr changed their Fering birth names to Dutch names because they were regarded as being more practical for their work abroad and more fashionable at home. Many Dutch loanwords were also introduced to Fering at that time and are still in use today. There are various interpretations concerning the