Mennonite & Anabaptist

Amish Cook: Prayers For Haiti

The Anabaptist missionaries kidnapped over two weeks ago in Haiti made national news. The 17 remain in custody, victims of a criminal gang demanding $1 million per person for their release. These kidnappings brought about a flood of reporting in the following days, but I notice there seems to have been little-to-no news over the past 10 days. The kidnapped missionaries’ organization is Christian Aid…

Pennsylvania Relief Sale: 65 Quilts To Be Auctioned Online @ 10 AM Today

Pennsylvania Relief Sale: 65 Quilts To Be Auctioned Online @ 10 AM Today

It’s the 65th Annual Pennsylvania Relief Sale, and 65 quilts will be sold online today (Saturday April 10) starting at 10 AM. This sale benefits Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). Amish support and participate in MCC disaster relief efforts. Here are some of the quilts. These are not necessarily Amish-made (going by the names, most of them are not) but it appears some might be, and…

Irish Amish?

Irish Amish?

Do the Amish live in Ireland? There are no Old Order Amish communities in Ireland, but Beachy Amish do live there. The question is revisited today by irishcentral.com in an article titled “Did you know Ireland has an Amish community?” The Christian Fellowship of Dunmore East, Co. Waterford is Ireland’s only Amish-Mennonite community. It was founded in 1992 by William McGrath, an Irish American who…

The Old Order Mennonite Population (Horse & Buggy): 38,000+ in The US, Canada & Belize

The Old Order Mennonite Population (Horse & Buggy): 38,000+ in The US, Canada & Belize

The Young Center at Elizabethtown College provides annual Amish population numbers, with totals for each state, province and so on. But they also have figures for the Old Order Mennonite population, a group similar to Amish in many ways (and in some cases living next door to them as neighbors). According to their latest tallies, the horse-and-buggy Old Order Mennonites number over 38,000 across their…

Visiting An Old Order Mennonite Horse Auction – And Casket Shop (22 Photos)

Visiting An Old Order Mennonite Horse Auction – And Casket Shop (22 Photos)

Jim Halverson shares a visit he made back in the fall to the Wakarusa area of northern Indiana. This town lying north of Nappanee is in the vicinity of a small Old Order Mennonite community. Jim made two interesting stops while in the area, as you’ll see below. Instead of trick-or-treating on Halloween, I attended the Wakarusa Driving Horse Auction. Wakarusa is about 15 miles…

Ontario Amish & Mennonites Tied To COVID Increase

Ontario Amish & Mennonites Tied To COVID Increase

I’ve seen a lot less coverage of the Amish & COVID north of the border, perhaps because their populations are smaller and/or because I’m less plugged in to the Canadian media. It may also be – and this is just speculation – because Canadian media is less likely to publish stories readily identifying the subject with their religious background? I seem to recall such a…

Amish Cook Gloria Yoder On The Hochstetler Shooting

Last week we learned the tragic story of Jonathan and Wilma Hochstetler, a Mennonite couple shot in a late-night robbery in Indianapolis, with Wilma losing her life. Jonathan happens to be a cousin to Amish Cook columnist Gloria Yoder – the oldest cousin of 47 on her father’s side, as she describes him. In this week’s column, Gloria gives more details on the shooting, Jonathan’s…

Amish-Raised Couple Shot, One Killed In Indianapolis Robbery

Amish-Raised Couple Shot, One Killed In Indianapolis Robbery

This is a pretty awful and senseless story which hit me for several reasons. This couple is Mennonite, apparently grew up in an Amish community, and probably still have a good number of family who are Amish (two photos of family in the article linked below appear to be Amish). Hochstetler family photo provided by Andrew Yutzy Here’s what happened, via the Indianapolis Star: Sam…

Life In A Belize Mennonite Colony (Documentary)

Life In A Belize Mennonite Colony (Documentary)

This is an absorbing 42-minute documentary on the Little Belize Mennonite colony. Little Belize is the home of approximately 3,000 Old Colony Mennonites, living on about 100 square kilometers of land. The Old Colony Mennonites are Plain Anabaptist cousins of the Amish, with numerous similarities to them. The producers of the documentary, made for the Deutsche Welle network, were granted permission to film some families…

Lillian Fern Stoltzfus 1974 – 2020

Lillian Fern Stoltzfus 1974 – 2020

I was shocked to see this obituary today. I immediately recognized the photo from the back of her book. Lillian Fern Stoltzfus wrote a very nice guide to learning Pennsylvania Dutch called Speaking Amish. I don’t believe I ever met Lillian or anyone in her family, but have known of her for years. I would often see her books in stores in Amish communities and…