Pine Valley's first prominent middle class family ironically came from Belgium, as are the Lords and the Mersins. They were technically of Walloon and possibly Polish descent.
In 1871, six siblings previously never speaking English had to become American citizens. After signing American citizenship, only one survived and his name was Hector.
Hector was pretty fluent in American English and was enterprising even for a skinny guy. He was single until meeting a Lithuanian Jewess driving on a train. Their on and off again love led to a complex marriage and ultimately the birth of their only surviving child, Henry, in 1897.
Such an arrival possibly impacted Pine valley more than anything before the show ALL My Children had first aired.