Illinois Amish

The Amish and hunting with guns

The Amish and hunting with guns

Being a well-known non-resistant group, people sometimes wonder if the Amish use guns for hunting. John at the Spokesrider has posted a few questions on this topic, which I’ve been meaning to get to for a while (thanks John!). I remember while in the Arthur, Illinois settlement a few years ago being surprised to learn that the Amish do use guns for hunting.  Since that…

My top five Amish settlements

Who loves rankings? (everyone loves rankings)–today I offer my personal top-five favorite Amish settlements.  I hope you’ll indulge my self-indulgence for this one day (I’ve been wanting to do this post for a long time!).  I haven’t been everywhere, but of the 17-or-so communities I’ve visited, these are the ones I would most readily revisit (and do when I can), and why. 1.Daviess County, Indiana–I…

The Amish Church District

The Amish arrange themselves into compact groupings known as church districts. Each district has its own name, usually a geographically-based one–Lamoni South, Randolph, and Crab Orchard are examples of places providing names for districts, these being found in Iowa, Mississippi, and Kentucky Amish communities. Since the Amish travel by horse-and-buggy to one another’s homes for Sunday service, most districts are grouped together in a logical,…

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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…

One of my biggest nightmares

Accidents between Amish buggies and cars happen.  Way too often. This summer during a three-month stay in northern Indiana, three fatal accidents occurred.  One happened when a distracted driver hit an Amish man and two sons riding in a pony cart, killing all three.  Another was caused by an Amish Rumspringa-age youth, who attempted to pass in a no-passing zone.  He and the driver he…

Saline, Illinois Amish

A moving-day shot from the Saline, Illinois community mentioned yesterday, taken by Pamela Kay Schmalenberger of The Southern newspaper. One of the Amishmen commented that he hopes they can ‘blend in here without being too much of a nuisance to anybody’, and expects to enjoy the warmer weather. In recent years Amish have established many new communities, in places such as Colorado, Maine, and Montana. …

Come on down!

Around 50 Amish families are moving to start a new settlement in southern Illinois, and the natives seem pleased. The group is moving to Saline County from the Cashton, Wisconsin Amish community. Local Salinites look forward to having ‘good, safe neighbors’ as well as the boost to the economy they will likely experience. They’ve even donated a camper for one family as they construct a…

Stepping up, once again

Amish have been among the many helping clean up in southern Florida following last year’s devastating Hurricane Wilma. Amish Disaster Service out of Illinois has coordinated the Amish side of the effort.  Volunteers from New York, Iowa, and Illinois Amish communities have been trekking back and forth to the area since early January. The Amish have just been one part of a much larger effort…

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Debunking some Speech Myths

The Amish don’t use ‘thee’, ‘thine’, or ‘thou’, as you might think after watching Weird Al’s video. Neither do they speak like Alexander Godunov or Jan Rubes did in Witness. Check that, at least one Amishman today does–but he was born in Germany and converted to the faith in his 20’s. They mostly speak English like any rural Americans would.  Though you could say there…

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31 Flavors of Amish

Most Amish look alike to the man on the street. In reality the group is surprisingly diverse. Though tied by a set of core beliefs, the Amish have no national governing body, no pope nor patriarch. The individual congregation, guided by its bishop, decides its own rules and customs. This decentralized approach, along with a widely varying tolerance for progressive ideas, creates many different ‘flavors’…