The area of Hicksville, Ohio (Defiance County, is home to an Amish community of just one congregation in size. What makes it interesting is that it is also quite old, being founded in 1914 (making it the 3rd or 4th-oldest Ohio Amish community). Amish settlements come and go. There are over 400 Amish communities today. But there have probably been 150+ which were founded and…
Canning is an important part of the Amish home economy. Sprawling gardens provide a wide range of produce for Amish families. Canning helps keep Amish in fruits and vegetables throughout the winter. Amish also can some meats. Today Tom shares some photos from an Amish basement, also in the Jasper, New York Amish community. This is from the basement of a family with…
Kauffman’s Bulk Foods 3215 Five Corners Road Jasper, NY 14855 Inside an Amish Bulk Foods Store Tom shares some photos today from an Amish bulk foods store in the Jasper, New York Amish community (about 90 minutes south of Rochester). Horses go here. Tom observes: “It is interesting when I go to Kauffman’s there are more English folks than Amish shopping. Jasper is a rural…
Happy Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil apparently saw his shadow this morning, so batten down the hatches for another 6 weeks of chilly weather. This annual tradition has a couple of connections to the Penn. Dutch. First, there happens to be a sizable Amish settlement in Clearfield County in the vicinity of Punxsutawney, PA (1,000+ people). I don’t know of any groundhog-related customs associated with this…
I found myself thinking about this after reading an article about an Idaho family. Originally running in the Lewiston Tribune under the title “Amish family in Winchester finds its way” (and elsewhere as “N. Idaho Amish family embraces modern ways”), the article contains the following description: In many ways the Miller family is as Amish as the people they left back home in Wisconsin 10…
An ancient Anabaptist hymnal The Ausbund is a very important book for the Amish. This hymnal contains centuries-old songs originating with Anabaptist captives held at the Oberhaus castle prison in Passau, located in present-day southeastern Germany. Amishman Benuel Blank wrote The Amazing Story of the Ausbund about this remarkable songbook. About the Ausbund Blank writes: The Ausbund hymnbook, used by the early Anabaptist Swiss Brethren, is…
In yesterday’s interview, Saloma mentioned an upcoming PBS special on the Amish, part of the American Experience series. American Experience has a good reputation for in-depth documentary films, mainly of a historical nature. “The Amish” is a 2-hour film described as “an extraordinarily intimate portrait of contemporary Amish faith and life”. Quite a few Amish participated as well as numerous experts on the Amish….
Saloma Miller Furlong was raised Amish in Ohio. Why I Left the Amish is the story of her childhood and adolescence, and eventual departure from Amish society. I enjoyed meeting Saloma for the first time this summer while in PA, and have always appreciated her comments here on the blog. I just recently had a chance to read Why I Left the Amish and found…
I had originally planned to try a separate post for each question, but realized that would take awhile and that some can probably be answered in shorter form. So here are some more of your questions from the “Submit your Amish questions” page. We’ll get to more later: Fr. Andre Leveille, CSC: Do the Amish have baptism, communion, confirmation, marriage, ordination and annointing of the…
Stephen B writes: While I certainly understand the idea behind Plain-ness, of not calling undue attention to one’s self out of modesty and of not wanting to be too much of this world, it seems to me that as times and fashions change, the Amish haven’t really updated their fashions enough to actually *stay* plain. That is, it was one thing, back when, to wear…