Amish History

Today we have part 3 of 4 in Elam Stoltzfus’ series on the Ausbund. If you missed them, here are parts 1 and 2.  2017 was the 500 year anniversary of the start of the Reformation. The anniversary commemorated Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses on the church doors in Wittenberg in 1517, which was […]

Continue Reading Elam Stoltzfus: Rediscovering the Ausbund (Part 3)

Here’s Elam Stoltzfus with part 2 of 4 of his Rediscovering the Ausbund series, originally published in Plain Values magazine. If you missed part 1, find that here. All photos here are by Elam. My father Elmer was an Ausbund song leader. When we met for church, he would lead the Amish congregation in song, starting […]

Continue Reading Elam Stoltzfus: Rediscovering the Ausbund (Part 2)

We’ve got two winners today of German Lutherans to Pennsylvania Amish: The Stoltzfus Family Story by Nic Stoltzfus (if you missed the interview with Nic, find it here). But first, an excerpt from the book. This is a section on the question of who was Nicholas Stoltzfus’ wife. She was at least partially known, but […]

Continue Reading Who Was Nicholas Stoltzfus’ Wife? (Excerpt & 2 Stoltzfus Family Book Winners)

Mark Louden gave a talk last month entitled “A Historical Look At The Amish” which you might enjoy. This hourlong talk was given online for the Allen Public Library of Allen, Texas. Mark is the author of Pennsylvania Dutch: The Story of an American Language and professor of Germanic Linguistics at the University of Wisconsin […]

Continue Reading Mark Louden: A Historical Look At The Amish (Audio Lecture)

I enjoy looking at old postcards. I came across five interesting vintage Amish postcards on Flickr to share with you. Several of these are from the Lancaster County area. One or two have a touch of humor to them. Let’s have a look. 1. Greetings From The Pennsylvania Dutch Country This is a card with […]

Continue Reading 5 Vintage Amish Postcard Scenes

Reader Romain Speisser has shared a guest post today on the history of the Amish in his region of Alsace in France. Romain writes about the “Heftler” people and some of the significant figures of the area – as well as one important oak tree over two centuries old. I share with you Romain’s post […]

Continue Reading Amish History: Anabaptists in Salm (Alsace)

Riehl is not the most common of Amish names. You’re most likely to come across it in Lancaster County, and that community’s daughter settlements, but even then it is far outnumbered by all the Stoltzfuses, Fishers, and Zooks. The Riehl surname is noteworthy for having one of the more famous “Amish origin” stories of any […]

Continue Reading Amish History: The Ludwig Riehl Story

A very important person as regards Amish religious freedom passed away a month ago. I’m not sure how many Amish people know of William C. Lindholm today, but he was instrumental to the freedoms Amish now have in educating their children. Young Center Senior Scholar Steven Nolt shares the following on Lindholm and his relevance […]

Continue Reading William C. Lindholm 1932 – 2020

Back one more time with another edition of five Amish surname histories. If you missed previous posts, you can find them here: Part 1 (Beachy, Swartzentruber, Lapp, Hostetler, Stoltzfus) Part 2 (Zook, Gingerich, Troyer, King, Lehman) Part 3 (Yoder, Schrock, Fisher, Stutzman, Wagler) These are excerpted from Joseph Stoll’s series “Amish and Mennonite Family Names,” […]

Continue Reading The Stories Of 5 Common Amish Family Names (Part 4)

In another sign of things heading in the direction of “normal”, the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center in Berlin, Ohio (Holmes County) re-opened this week. The center says in a Facebook post that they have made a few upgrades in the past months. This is the place where you’ll find the giant “cyclorama” painting of […]

Continue Reading Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center Re-Opens (Holmes County)