Pennsylvania Amishman John Stoltzfus has agreed to take some reader questions. We can’t guarantee answers to everything. But if you’ve got something you’d like to ask John about the Amish, leave it in the comments here, and you might get an answer in a future post. And as John noted in his first post, “my views will not be the only view from our people,…
Over the weekend an Amish teen in Vernon County, Wisconsin died while cutting ice. In light of today’s topic of Amish and self-sufficiency, it seems tragically coincidental to now hear of an accident like this one. In more conservative communities, Amish use ice houses to keep food cold. In cold-weather areas Amish harvest their own ice. In some sense these Amish are further along the…
Time for number 3 in our series of Amish vocabulary quizzes. Each of these words has some significance or relation to the Amish. I think this one may be slightly more difficult than the previous two quizzes, but we’ll see. 1. Charming Nancy 2. Inverter 3. Organdy 4. Jayco 5. Harmony 6. The Echo 7. Uffgevva 8. Rest Haven 9. Passau 10. Vorsinger
The following is taken from an anonymous obituary found in The Diary. The gentleman in question, a Mr. Stoltzfus, was in his early 80s at the time of death. According to the obit, among other relatives, Stoltzfus was survived by “98 grandchildren; 32 step-grandchildren; 143 great-grandchildren; numerous step-great-grandchildren”. I am always amazed by numbers like these, which are not uncommon for Amish individuals, especially when they…
Amish: A Secret Life is a new BBC documentary following David and Miriam Lapp of Lancaster County. From the description on the BBC website: An intimate portrait of Amish family life and faith – this film opens up a world usually kept private. Miriam and David are Old Order Amish and photography is not permitted under the strict rules of the Amish church. So when…
Something fun today. I thought it might be nice to highlight some of the more interesting recent comments from Amish America readers. We typically get between 200 and 300 comments each week. So even if you’re checking in frequently, you’re likely to miss some, which often appear on old posts as well as the fresh-baked ones. Even if I can’t reply to everything, I do…
Orlando Fragasse was his real name, and he was my friend. “Peach” or “Peaches” is what everyone called him though, on account of his big peachy-looking cheeks, a nickname he picked up in childhood and stuck, to the point that even his own children would use it. We met on my first bookselling trip to Holmes County, and Peach’s place, the creaky but cozy home…
If you’ve been following the Kentucky Amish SMV case, you know that some people still do. Jacob Gingerich of Graves County, Kentucky recently wrote 138 letters to KY legislators explaining the Swartzentruber Amish position on the safety triangle. Thanks in part to Gingerich’s efforts, a compromise bill acceptable to his people has quickly passed the KY Senate and is now moving through the House with…
Some may have heard that Stephen Scott passed away suddenly last week. Stephen was a member of the Old Order River Brethren church, an Anabaptist researcher and the author of numerous books on Anabaptist topics, such as Plain Buggies and Why Do They Dress That Way? I came to know Steve at the Young Center at Elizabethtown College in 2008, and catching up with him…
Rachel Yoder was killed by a stray bullet from a hunter’s rifle, according to new reports. A hunter was getting ready to clean his weapon about a mile and a half away, and discharged the firearm into the air. In the most recent news piece I can find, Holmes County Sherriff Timothy Zimmerly describes it as “in all probability” accidental. If there is any “good…