Amish History

I came across the following list of Amish church rules in a book called Amish Roots: A Treasury of History, Wisdom, and Lore, edited by John A. Hostetler. These were the rules of a church in Mifflin County, PA in 1897, as recorded by a woman named Sadie Newman. Sadie was a convert to the […]

Continue Reading Rules Of A Pennsylvania Amish Church (1897)

One thing that has always fascinated me are the Amish communities which have a long history – but for one reason or another, today are surprisingly small in size. With the high Amish birth rate, and today most Amish choosing to remain Amish, you would expect most communities to continue growing larger with the benefit […]

Continue Reading 5 Old – But Surprisingly Small – Amish Communities

This past December, a group of Amishmen visited the White House and met with the president and vice-president. After the report of this unusual meeting emerged, Steven Nolt, author of A History of the Amish, shared a follow-up, adding some interesting detail about Amish encounters with past presidents. Steve first addresses the question: Was this […]

Continue Reading An Update To The Amish White House Story

Where does the name “Amish” come from? Which is the oldest Amish community? When did the Amish disappear in Europe? Today we look at these and other questions on Amish history: Where does the name “Amish” come from? Jakob Amman was an Anabaptist leader who took a harder line on religious practices than his brethren. Amman preached […]

Continue Reading 10 Questions on Amish History

In February we had a look at the first Amish settlement in North America, located at Northkill in Pennsylvania’s Berks County (founded approximately 1740). I recently came across an interesting Ontario historical blog with a photo of a plaque marking the location of the first Amish settlement in Canada, which came about some 80+ years […]

Continue Reading The First Amish Settlement in Canada

Cathedrals, Castles, and Caves: The Origins of the Anabaptist Faith is the new book by Marcus A. Yoder. Marcus serves as Executive Director of the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center and the Ohio Amish Library. Marcus and I touched base last December when I dropped by the Center (this is where I took the photos of […]

Continue Reading Marcus A. Yoder on Cathedrals, Castles, and Caves: The Origins of the Anabaptist Faith (Book Giveaway)

I came across some remarkable historical photos on the PBS American Experience site. I believe these were connected with the release of the documentary film “The Amish” in 2012, but I missed them the first time around. There are a total of 13 shots in the gallery which you can view in full, and in […]

Continue Reading 6 Fascinating Historical Amish Photos

You may have come across the term “Amish Mennonites” before. It popped up on the site here recently, in our post on the first Amish settlement in America. Both Jim Potter and Al in KY wondered, what does the term mean? You might see it in some accounts referring to a modernizing group which emerged […]

Continue Reading Who are the “Amish Mennonites”?

Where was the first Amish community in North America? Lancaster County is the oldest Amish settlement still around today. But it’s not the first place Amish settled on this side of the Atlantic. That distinction belongs to the Northkill settlement that existed in neighboring Berks County. It was organized by 1740, predating the Lancaster settlement […]

Continue Reading The First Amish Settlement in North America

The photo you see below, of Iowa Amish schoolchildren fleeing into a cornfield, was taken in 1965 by Des Moines Register photographer Thomas DeFeo and republished nationwide. It’s credited with spurring national support for the Amish, leading to the landmark Wisconsin v. Yoder 1972 Supreme Court decision (effectively allowing Amish to limit schooling to eight grades). The accompanying video features a number […]

Continue Reading The 1965 Iowa Amish School Incident (Video)