Visit the larger tourist-friendly Amish communities, and you’ll find the label “Pennsylvania Dutch” or just “Dutch”, and variations of it, everywhere. Amish use the term as well, for instance in the names of their businesses, or in nicknames. But where does this term come from? When you hear “Dutch” in a vacuum, the Netherlands (or Holland) invariably come to mind. And some accounts mistakenly have…
Which are the oldest Amish settlements? You can check out the list here or watch the short video below for the answer. Of these oldest communities: three of them were founded in the 1700s one of them is located outside of the US five of them were founded in one noteworthy seven-year stretch just one lies west of the Mississippi River I originally wrote about…
An Amish community was founded at Rector, Arkansas back in 2009. Though it managed to attract a number of families (including a minister), it never grew very large, and eventually went extinct about five years later. Despite their rapid growth and many new communities being founded yearly, this happens to some Amish settlements – for various reasons. Don Burke paid a visit to the Rector…
Amish no longer live in Europe, but how are they remembered there today? Romain Speisser shares one example from a hometown of Jakob Ammann. Amman lived in the area of Saint-Marie-aux-Mines (once known as Markirch) for years until Anabaptists were expelled from the region in 1712. Today, it hosts an annual event commemorating its Amish history, as Romain describes below. As every year since 1995,…
In this video I give the origins of the Anabaptist movement in brief, and describe how the Amish emerged from that movement at the end of the 17th century. I also explain who Jakob Ammann and Menno Simons were. Contrary to what some might suppose, the two never crossed paths, with Ammann arriving on the scene around 150 years after Simons. Menno Simons was a…
Georgia –Â along with South Carolina – are two states which people often wonder about, regarding the Amish. Are there any Amish communities in those states? Maybe it’s because they border other states with Amish, and Amish have been settling in the South in greater numbers over the past decade. However, neither state has an Old Order Amish population today (though both do have Beachy Amish…
This barn-raising story has some history attached. In Amish history, the name Joseph Johns is noteworthy, as he was the founder of present-day Johnstown, Pennsylvania. An Amish crew has rebuilt a barn which burned down on Johns’ former farm, and which had been built by his grandson Joseph Johns III. You might be wondering both about the surname here and the idea of an Amishman…
Romain Speisser, who gave us a look at the history of the Amish in Salm (Alsace, France), returns today with a historical look at the Heftler people – and in particular an Amishman named Joseph Beller, notable as being likely the last Amish person in his area. The name “Beiler” (seen often in Lancaster County) or its variant more common in the Midwest – “Byler”…
A tractor and a four-horse team were used to move a historic Amish schoolhouse Friday from a location outside Arthur, Illinois to its new home at the Illinois Amish Heritage Center. It took around two hours to move it about nine miles. Image: Heritage Iron Magazine The school had been purchased by a woman named Karen Miller, who had attended school there as an Amish…
We finish out the Rediscovering the Ausbund series with part 4 of 4 today. Thanks to Elam Stoltzfus for sharing with us. This series was originally published in Plain Values magazine. If you missed them, here are parts one, two, and three. Music, hymns and words are ingrained at an early age; indeed there is abundant evidence that babies can hear music before birth. Music…