Kudos to Matthew for the link to a story about a Geauga County, Ohio man who joined the Amish in 2000. David Rapinz adopted the lifestyle around a decade ago. He met an Amish woman, Martha, who ‘took a chance on him before his baptism’, and later married her. Rapinz found beards, horses, and the Pennsylvania Dutch language all a bit unwieldy at first, but…
‘In 1847, nine families, all Bylers, moved to Lawrence, PA, they were: Solomon, Christian, Yost, Daniel, Noah, John, Reuben, Rudy, and Eli, and were among the first Amish in that section. In year 1880 bishop Crist (Christian) Byler walked from Lawrence County to the Valley. He traveled a distance of 250 miles in 4 days at the age of 68. He also made the trip…
Today marks a year since the Nickel Mines School shooting. Ten girls were shot. Five perished. Five lived on. A community was rocked by an unthinkable loss. The world watched and learned a rare lesson in forgiveness and grace. ‘The happening’ is the name local Amish attached to the event, and The Happening is author Harvey Yoder’s attempt to reconstruct, order, and make sense of…
The nine-year-old daughter of my friends ‘Aden’ and ‘Elizabeth’ invited me to visit her school last Monday. I couldn’t pass that up. Elizabeth and I walked up a few minutes beforehand; ‘Naomi’ was already there, so not to miss out on the half-hour of playtime before the first bell. A vigorous game of six-square was in session when we arrived. The kids let me join. …
Many people have seen photos of the fairly well-known ‘white-top buggy’ Amish. This group is based mainly in Pennsylvania’s diverse Big Valley region. They are most commonly known as the Nebraska Amish, named after a Nebraska-based bishop who helped the group get started in the late 1800s. Traditionally considered one of the most conservative Amish groups, they have also been called the “Old School Amish”….
Male teachers are a rarity in the Amish school. Primarily an occupation for young unmarried women, one father, ‘Robert’, estimated that there were only about a half-dozen male teachers in the Holmes County vicinity, out of approximately 170 one-room schools. A quick count in the 2005 church directory actually turned up closer to 20, but with many schools having more than one teacher, males still…
Sitting on the lawn around the firepit last week with some Amish friends, talk turned to ‘White’ Jonas Stutzman, who once lived just a few miles away. Stutzman was one of the first Amish settlers in Holmes County. He was also one of the oddest. photo: behalt.com ‘White’ Jonas is portrayed in a local attraction, Behalt–a huge cycloramic painting of Anabaptist history, done about fifteen…
I just sat down this evening with a beaming blacksmith, a new father of his first little boy after many girls. I’m doing interviews for a research project/book on Amish businesses. ‘Eli’, my seventh stop of the day, graciously shared his wisdom with me. After our short talk I flipped off the voice recorder and we continued chatting over a 9pm black coffee (I’ve noticed…
Amish, at least the ones I run into, always seem to like sharing. Besides the stick-to-your-ribs meals and cool drinks of water, I always seem to be getting takeaways from Amish friends–homemade wine, books,gourds, inspirational CDs for the car. Yesterday’s haul comes in the middle of canning season, following a bumper crop of tomatoes–a jar each of homemade ketchup and salsa. ‘Ervin’, my friend and…
I was invited by one of my customers to attend Amish church tomorrow. We’re going to meet at the farm and buggy over to the neighbor’s where it’s being held this week. Church is consistently held at 8, standard time, which these days means 9 am. I’m looking forward to the fellowship and food. I asked what to wear–‘Amos’ suggested regular Sunday attire. ‘Unless you…