German Immigration in Buffalo & WNY 
Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 7:00 PM 

Tonawanda City Hall Community Room 
200 Niagara Street, Tonawanda, NY 14150 

Our guest speaker tonight was Debra Hall Stonish, a life-long resident of the Buffalo area where she still lives with her husband of over 40 years. She holds a BA and an MBA from SUNY at Buffalo. Her career revolved along finance and business where she held positions as VP at Marine Midland and M&T Banks. President of her family’s construction company; and CFO for a religious order. Debra also taught at her alma mater, UB, for 7 years as well as in the Entrepreneurship program at UB for 5 years. She is an enthusiastic promoter of Buffalo and proud to see its renaissance. Although she would have been happier to see it happening in her 20’s, she’ll take it in her 60s! 

Buffalo’s and certainly the Tonawandas’ history is a story of immigrants. Among the first immigrants were people from the German “states.” In fact, individuals of German heritage comprise the largest immigrant group to settle in the United States as a whole. The nation of Germany as we know it was not established until the completion of the Franco-Prussian war around 1870. The talk covered early immigration prior to this period through the early part of the 20th century. It also included information about the speaker’s family that came from what is now the Alsace region of France. 

Debra is an Explore Buffalo Master Docent.