Despite what you may read or hear elsewhere, no Old Order Amish live in California today. That said, you will find related groups, such as Beachy Amish (similar to horse-and-buggy Amish, but they use cars and more tech) or Mennonites. But it’s good to keep in mind that these related groups like Mennonites are not Amish – though they have some things in common. Amish…
photo: Jerry Olson/Post-Bulletin Some Amish in Minnesota will need a new outlet for their milk. The last creamery in Minnesota to accept milk in cans–mostly provided by local Amish–no longer does. I guess you call that an end of an era. Milk is an important liquid in Amish America. And surprisingly, a controversial one as well. Some Amish farmers have gotten in trouble for selling raw…
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…
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…
Diversity in the Amish world is a common theme of this blog. Ever wonder how different Amish groups use technology? Judging by the chart, it can be seen that the most conservative groups include the Swartzentruber Amish, Nebraska Amish, and the Buchanan County, Iowa Amish (the three of which Amish historian Steven Nolt groups together under the ultraconservative label, referring to the Buchanan group in…
Some Amish avoid vaccination. Why? There are a few reasons why, but some have a motive similar to why almost all Amish avoid insurance: it would be placing faith in an outside body instead of in God. A lot more Amish do vaccinate their kids than participate in insurance programs, however. The motive rings clear to non-Amish ears–why take the chance with your child’s life?…
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 think the ground is warm enough yet, maybe once the…
Typhoid fever and bad ‘plumbing’ did this bunch in. David Luthy, Amish convert and historian, explains in his Settlements that Failed that the Amish settlement at Ordway, Colorado started off promisingly enough in 1910. The area had been heavily promoted by a realty company for settlement, and proved attractive enough for some families to move there. A town named Dayton was meant to arise in…
Digging back a bit, I managed to pull up a neat story from the Cellar on an Iowa Amish settlement, originally found in the Iowa City Press-Citizen. After buying a tract of farmland, a developer auctioned off the unwanted turkey barn located on the property. After chopping it into four pieces, the local Amish managed to move it by hand to a location one mile…
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…