Settlements that Failed

Thursday Amish links

Two interesting Amish-related links today. The first is not really a story about Amish, but touches on a place where a number of them work. Canton-based Belden Brick, through its Plant no. 6, has been a local institution in Sugarcreek, Ohio since 1957. Belden’s facilities dominate the town, and driving down the main thoroughfare, you cross railroad tracks that link the two halves of the…

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Settlements that Failed: Amish on the Border

Texas seems an odd spot to find Amish.  Besides the current community in Bee County, there have been at least four other attempts to settle the Lone Star State.  In his meticulously researched The Amish in America: Settlements that Failed, 1840-1960, David Luthy describes a short-lived settlement that came about in the state’s southernmost county. Amish fields today brim with corn, alfalfa and hay.  One…

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Amish Settlement Facts

The latest issue of Family Life includes an article by David Luthy entitled Amish Settlements Across America: 2008. It’s a comprehensive listing of Amish settlements along with some commentary and analysis.  Last time Luthy did one of these was in 2003. Interesting facts: Some settlements are very old, yet due to various factors, are very small today. Hicksville in Ohio was founded in 1914, yet comprises just one…

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Photos from the Martins in Poland

It’s the ‘long weekend’ in Poland (a combination of the traditional May 1st communist worker’s holiday and Poland’s May 3 constitution day), and I’ve just paid another visit to my friends Jacob and Anita Martin, whom I’ve written about a few times on the blog. The Martins, who’ve lived in Poland since 1993, struggled a bit at first, but have been able to build themselves…

Amish settlements that failed

The Amish Studies site based out of Elizabethtown College tells us that as of mid-2007, there were approximately 400 separate Amish settlements comprised of approximately 1,600 church districts in 27 states and Ontario. The Amish continue to grow at a rapid pace and can today be found in such unlikely places as Mississippi, Florida and Montana. photo:  Mennonite Church USA Throughout their 250-plus years of…

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Credit cards, nuclear power, and funny cigars

Okay, just a bit lazy today on the Amish blog and trying to get my act together to go run however many miles in the freezing Polish weather (snowed yesterday!), so I am going to do a little roll call of some of my favorite posts from the past year: Do the Amish use credit cards? Settlements that failed:  an evangelistic Amish group in Ohio…

NC Amish History: Skeeter birds, flaming muck, and the Dismal Swamp

Today, a small New Order Amish settlement is found in western North Carolina, near the town of Union Grove. Before this settlement came about, (and not counting a short-lived community in the late 50’s), the only other full-fledged attempt to settle in the Tar Heel State occurred in 1918, lasting a full quarter-century before extinction in 1944. The Amish who originally came here, mainly from…

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Settlements That Failed: “Urban Amish” in New Orleans?

A small, accidental settlement of Amish apparently once existed in New Orleans. David Luthy explains that in the 1800s, many migrant Amish came to America from Europe by way of the Mississippi River port. Sometimes it happened that an Amish family lacked the funds to continue upstream and onward to established settlements, often in Illinois.  Previous to 1850, stranded families formed a small and short-lived…

Settlements that failed: The Amish (don’t) go nuclear

The Amish settlement at Piketon, Ohio was an odd one to begin with. A few things made the Amish who settled here in 1949 different from most. One was their evangelistic emphasis.  Amish traditionally do not try to convert others.  Piketon, Ohio was begun by a minister sympathetic to the idea of spreading Amish beliefs. Secondly, they were the first Amish congregation ever to publish…