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When I first became interested in genealogy and started asking my grandparents about their parents and grandparents, they both described my grandmother's grandmother as "Dutchy". I initially thought I had stumbled on a family connection to the Netherlands that I never knew existed but then it became clear they were talking about her personality or mannerisms. The sense I got was that they both were very fond of her, but...(she was "Dutchy").

Both of my grandparents were born in 1914 and this great-great grandmother died in 1933, so I'm wondering if this was an expression from their youth (in the Midwest U.S.). I did a Google search and there are several expressions that incorporate the word Dutch, usually in a pejorative sense. I found this page, which includes the expression "His dutch is up," meaning dander/temper. Is anyone else familiar with this usage?

I am of German heritage and raised in the Midwest. My parents and grandparents used the term dutchy to describe a woman who dressed in and old-fashioned, overly conservative, unflattering manner. They didn't use the term specifically to describe a personality trait, but it could apply to a stern, conservative, old-fashioned person.

From my research, I have found this definition for Dutchy that I think suits your situation:

adjective

• Difficult to understand, slurred, imprecisely articulated (of one's speech) (dialect: regional to rural Central New York State)

He is so dutchy that we can hardly understand him.

I would assume this has a slight negative connotation so would fit into your impression that "they both were very fond of her, but...(she was Dutchy)"

The Urban Dictionary online has a number of ideas, but I suspect the OED gets closest

Frequency (in current use): Etymology: < Dutch adj., n.1, and
adv. + -y suffix1. Dutch-like. 1893 J. H. Ross in King's Business
(New Haven, Connecticut) 127 The faces [in Rembrandt's Scripture
pictures] are not ideal but Dutchy.

My suspicion is that this was a late-nineteenth/early-twentieth American expression for a person of Dutch, or possibly German descent, perhaps one who didn't speak English entirely fluently.

Did your great, great grandmother have Dutch or German connections?

When I wore badly matched or loud clothes as a child, my mother told me I looked Dutchy. I took it to mean rather outlandish.

I know it's been a while since this thread was last posted on, but my mother who was from the midwest used the term "dutchy" to describe slurred speech. So you would be dutchy if you were partially deaf, or had just gotten your mouth numbed at the dentist office.

My ultra-modern German mother used the term interchangeably with “kitschy.” It was not flattering. She thought her old fashioned mother-in-law’s floral, knickknack laden decorating was DUTCHY!