Sometime in the next few weeks, we’ll be launching a new feature on Amish America. The Amish State Guide will provide a state-by-state look at Amish communities in all 28 states (plus Canada) where they are currently present. The Amish State Guide will cover locations of present communities, history of Amish settlement in the state, [...]
Continue reading Previewing the new Amish State Guide: Michigan Amish
Rustic Russ reports on the Yoder Horse and Carriage Auction in Mount Pleasant, MI. Russ has a nice site with a number of Michigan Amish posts and photos. Furniture is among the many items sold at Amish auctions; woodworking has become a chief industry among Amish, many of whom have opened small businesses in recent [...]
Continue reading Mount Pleasant, Michigan Amish auction
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 [...]
Continue reading Amish Settlement Facts
Shannon shares some nice photos from the Amish settlement at Montcalm County, Michigan. Shannon says that the family she knows here belongs to the ‘Troyer Amish’ group. There are currently 24 Amish settlements in Michigan, according to the latest Calender, the almanac-and-guide to Amish church districts. The oldest Michigan settlement, that in the vicinity of [...]
Continue reading Amish in Montcalm County, Michigan
In 2003 Melvin Mullet chose to leave his Amish upbringing behind, and in this interview he explains some basics of Amish life (no longer online) as well as offering a little insight on how he sees the group, now that he is ‘on the outside’. One of the pluses of Amish life, according to Melvin, [...]
Continue reading Leaving the Amish behind
Busy Amish mom Lovina Eicher writes a weekly column from her home in a Michigan Amish community. It’s carried in over 130 papers across the country. This week she shares some thoughts on spring cleaning and how Amish and non-Amish kids get along. Kevin Williams, Lovina’s editor, also runs an interesting blog-and-news site on the [...]
Continue reading Peach pie and the latest from the Amish Cook
The crime was horrendous. But the point now is not the crime–it’s the hard issues at hand for the Amish community of Ed Gingerich–allegedly the only Amishman ever tried and convicted for the death of another human being. Gingerich killed his wife in a fit of insanity in 1993. A paranoid schizophrenic, he was convicted [...]
Continue reading An Amish killer’s attempt to return
Ever wonder why many Amish moms seem to prefer going barefoot while shucking corn or canning beans? The Amish Cook, Lovina Eicher, shares a bit in this excerpt from her column: The children just can’t wait until they can run outside barefooted. I caught a few of them trying to do it already. I don’t [...]
Continue reading Barefoot with the Amish Cook
‘We didn’t get out soon enough.’ In an article (no longer online) from the Toledo Blade, an Amish patriarch talks about moving from a liberal settlement to a more conservative one. This grandfather of 82 laments losing his two oldest boys to the world. Had the family moved sooner, they may have avoided the influences [...]
Continue reading Thinking Ahead
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 [...]
Continue reading Debunking some Speech Myths
