Osiah Horst grew up in an Old Order Mennonite family in Canada. Osiah’s father Isaac wrote a column for a local newspaper which eventually grew into the book A Separate People: An Insider’s View of Old Order Mennonite Customs and Traditions, a witty and incisive look at Old Order Mennonite society. Isaac penned 2 dozen […]
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Interesting to say the least
I find other cultures very intereting but especially love to read about the Amish and Mennonite communities. I have several aquaintances in both communites and am in awe over the difference’s and little similarities they have. Would love to read this book!Thanks for offering it!
I would like to win this book
I am definitely interested in Plain living. I subscribe to The Budget and Die Botschaft so I can learn more about Plain ways and this book would help me to grow a deeper Faith. Reading about a topic helps understand it and I have visited Jamesport Missouri where there is a sizeable Plain community. I respect the work ethic and the satisfaction in doing a job well done for the sake of doing it well. I do think we could learn much from how the family and Faith are the cornerstones of their lives and how children and the elder folks. I dress Plain and read a lot, including the Martyrs’ Mirror and am learning German. I would like very much to join a Mennonite or Amish Church and have been directed to a Beachy Amish Church district in Indiana, now I have to find a way to get there since I do not drive. I know I would love this book, and if I do not win it, I surely will buy it. Danke for considering me. Whoever wins this will surely learn a good deal about your life and Old Order Mennonites in general, and I wish them well. Respectfully, Marybeth Trilling
Most Enlightening
As an almost lifelong student of the Plain People, I truly appreciate this article on the OOM. I look forward to reading the book and continuing to learn. Thanks!
Great info
I always enjoy the insite, especially first hand, into the lives of the people.
Would love to learn more about the ole order mennonites. What a great story. Thank you. Will share this on facebook.
I am very interested in learning more about Old Order Mennonites. Please enter me in the contest. Blessings.
This was an interesting interview. I think there is a lack of knowledge concering the OOM’s as the OOA seem to take the forefront in secular society when it comes to curiosity (from familiarity). I don’t know that’s so much intentional as it is that of uneducation about the various groups. Be that as it may, the opportunity to win, what looks to be a fabulous book, would be a wonderful tool to educate others on a people who are just as significant and varied as the OOA. Isaac Horst, from this interview, appears to be quite the accomplished man and I believe this would be a wonderful read! Thanks for the opportunity.
Interesting!
Erik,
Thanks for the post about this book! I am a Plain Quaker who lives in a Amish and Mennonite community. Many folks ask me questions about my Anabaptist “kin” and I cannot answer them all. I would love to win this book! After reading it myself, I’ll donate it to our tiny local library for others in the community to read as well. I’m doing the same with your book on business too. Why should it gather dust on my shelves while others could be reading it? The book will be there when I need it – or soon enough. It’s one of the ways I support my little community.
Paula
Thanks Paula! Glad you did, and I’m grateful to Osiah for taking the time. And great idea on the books.
I always enjoy your articles. Would love to win a book.
Osiah Horst on Old Order Mennonites (3-book giveaway)
Great Book , would love to read it.
Osiah Horst on Old Older Mennonites
Would love to win this book – have relatives who were Amish and also love reading about the Amish and the mennonites! Visit family in Amish country in Ohio!!!!!!
What a wonderful article. I would love to read more about the Mennonite community and the people who live within the group. Thank you for the opportunity to win a book.
Always hungry to learn more on the Plain People
I would love to read this treasure and add it to my collection!!!
Giveaway & greetings
Greetings from the Carolinas. We are two blogger friends (Tammie in NC and myself in SC). We love history and this book would appeal to both of us. I grew up in NJ and was close to Lancaster, PA. Loved visiting the Amish community when we could. I handle our facebook page and will happily share this.
Tammie and Friend, great to hear from you, and lovely blog you have. I am a Raleigh NC native and looking forward to being there in Feb.
What is your website?
Very interesting. Would love to read more about Old Order Mennonites.
Erik!
I’d love to win one!
I had not known that there are more Amish than Mennonites; I thought it was the other way around. I have several questions – where in the US do Mennonites live? Do they have their own separate schools like the Amish do, and do they leave school as early as the Amish do? We had occasion, some 15-20 years ago, to meet and spend a delightful day with a lovely Mennonite family from France – they lived and farmed in Alsace right along the Rhine . We had kept one of their children at our home for a short student exchange program. When we were over there a year or two later they were wonderfully hospitable to us and we kept up for a while but have lost touch. I was really surprised to learn that there were Mennonites in France!
The largest OOM community is the US is in Lancaster County, Pa. There are other smaller communities in Pa., in Blair, Union, Cumberland, Snyder, counties among others. New York, Indiana, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Kentucky also have OOM communities. And if I were to check my copy of “Anabaptist World USA” by Kraybill and Hostetter I could probably find some more.
Osiah Horst Giveaway
Would Love to read the Book.
They seem very similar to the OO Mennonites in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, who are frequently mistaken for Amish by tourists. As I recall, the Virginia OO Mennonites may use tractors for farming, but use horse and buggy for transportation.
Count me in, I’d love to read this! There’s a town called Excelsior and next to it Versailles in Missouri, and they have horse & buggy, black car, and “regular” Mennonites. I’d love to learn more about them.
giveaway contest
Would love to win a copy of this book. Was under the raising of Mennonite,and left it as a teenager. But my upbringing has brought my husband and I back to it. Is hard when there are no Amish or Mennonite around where we live. So Thanks Erik for the chance to win a book about them.
My curiosity is piqued! Please enter me in the drawing! Thanks!
Would love these books! I enjoy reading books like this. (I don’t do facebook or have a blog though).
Really enjoyed this interview. So much out there is of the Amish, but so little about the Mennonites. I have been visiting regularly a Mennonite message board for a year now trying to find out more about these people. I really wish more plain people would move into Texas. We have a handful of Beachy Amish, but to my knowledge, no Old Order Mennonite groups.
Hello, Jessica: I am sure we have met on another forum. Nice to see a bit of overlap here!
Would love to read this book-very interesting and insightful article into the Old Order Mennonite culture which we hardly ever hear anything about.
Sounds like a great read!
I intend to read the book, whether I win one or not!
Thanks for sharing with us!
Comment on Osiah Horst on Old Order Mennonites (3-book giveaway)
Thanks for this window into some Old Order Mennonites, Erik, I would love to read the book!
Always Interesting
I’ve become more interested in the Amish (and Mennonites) since moving to NE Iowa near the Hazelton and Edgewood Amish communities.
Thanks, Erik,for this interesting interview. (I think I have the book so don’t wish to be in the giveaway.)
Robin and all others interested — There is a fairly large
Old Order Mennonite community (Groffdale Conference/horse and buggy
Mennonites) in Northeast Iowa. General boundaries of the community
are Charles City on the south, the Minnesota border on the north,
Osage on the west, and Hwy. 63 on the east. I have visited the
community many times and find it very interesting. As I do in
Amish communities, to learn more about the OO Menn. community I go to the OO Menn. stores in the area (Sunnydale Dry Goods, Dutch
Valley Grocery, Farmland Hardware, etc. and also go to the OO
Mennonite produce auction (Cedar Valley). The people at all of
the stores are friendly and interesting to talk with. This
whole area is interesting if you are interested in learning about
differences and similarities among several Plain groups. In
addition to the Groffdale Mennonites, there are Weaverland OO
Mennonites (who drive cars), Holdeman Mennonites, Conservative
Mennonites (Nationwide Fellowship), and Old Order Amish. Several
among the various groups have stores in the area.
I'm Gonna Buy it, even if I don't win it
I am absolutely taken with the Amish, Quaker, Shaker ways of life. I know they have tough times, as we “Englishers” do, but their way of dealing with things is so much more peaceful. Our world has gone crazy here on the outside. I own every Amish, Quaker, Shaker Book ever written. And I cannot wait to go into a book store, or online and find the next one published and just waiting for me to snap it up. I get lost in your world when I’m reading. Only problem is I read so fast, that the next books not out soon enough ! Thank you for allowing me a small peak into your peaceful world. Maybe I should have been born into a different world, because I feel more calm and at home in your books then I do in my world….. I will buy this book, if I don’t win it….But since I read so much, would LOVE to win it ;). Thank You for sharing. Would also love to receive emails!
Thanks for the interview Erik. The book reviews have me hooked. I would love to win a copy of this book. Growing up among the Amish, I’ve always had a respect for their way of life. However, I’m not as familiar with the old order Mennonites, although I believe there is a rather large settlement about 40 miles away from where I live now. I’d love to delve a little deeper into their world. Thanks for the opportunity to win a book.
Can't wait to read.
I think this would be an awesome read. I love first hand ‘history’.
KATHY BEAN ?! “MY” Kathy Bean? Something we have in common !!!
Great Blurb
As always, another great blog entry! Looking forward to reading this book!
I am always interested in the Old Order Mennonite and Amish as we have them not to far from where I live. A couple of the Old Order Mennonite are friends of mine. Your interview was very interesting and I really enjoyed it.
Marilyn
Love reading about the Amish
I would love to win this book, I love reading about the Amish and visiting the areas they live in and shopping in their shops.
Wendy
Fascinated by what I read so far would like to read more. Our family history has broken ties on my dads side due to religious beliefs, that were never mended. I know basically nothing about my mom’s side since she married my dad, (again wrong church).
Book giveaway
I would love to read “A Separate People”. Please count me in!
This is a new find to me. I now want to read it. It kinda remind me a little of Elmo Stoll and David Wagler in sense of loving to read/write…. that itself it is usually a good sign of good read!
Wanting to read this series!!!
This series sounds fascinating and I want to read it very much.
Osiah Horst book giveaway
This interview was so very interesting. I enjoy learning about the Amish and have many nearby here in upstate NY. I would love to learn more about the Mennonites. Please enter me in the giveaway. thank you.
This sounds like such an interesting book. I would love to have some new, plain reading.
Mennonite heritage
Sounds like the book is a fine read; and an insight of the Mennonite community from within.
Because of my Mennonite heritage I truly would love to win the book. I agree with Paula. Its always good to pass along a good reading to a friend, a local library, etc; kind of keeping the journey going.
Thank you for offering the books Osiah. Very interesting interview and now I want to learn as much as I can about both the OO Amish and the OOM. I also was under the impression that there were more mennonite than Amish out there.
I would love to have this book! Hope I will win it. Will be letting others know about this book that are interested in the Amish and Mennonite lives.
There are more Mennonites than Amish in total but As Phyliss Pellman Good said the Amish are more visual. When Amish go liberal, they become Mennonite. The majority of Mennonites are not plain and therefore not noticeable. Since the modern Mennonites are more involved in active mission work than the OO groups are, there are now almost as many non-ethnic Mennonites as Swiss/German. There are large numbers of Mennonites in Africa, India, and in South and Central America.
OOM
Very interesting interview, thank you 🙂 I’ve been reading a blog by Monica – themennobrarian and to quote her: “The Amish are Mennonites. The Mennonites aren’t Amish. It’s complicated.” http://themennobrarian.blogspot.com/2011/01/some-mennonite-beliefs.html I’m still puzzling over that one! Her blog also discusses many of the perceptions and mis-perceptions of the Amish and Mennonites.
I’ll likely go ahead and buy the book so if I should be one of the lucky drawing winners I would like my copy to go to Paula McConnell to share with her friends. I also pass on many books I’ve read and enjoyed. Those that I haven’t particularly enjoyed go to our local charity thrift store.
Haven’t heard of this book. Throw my name in the pot. 😉
Very interesting interview. Thanks for all of the insight into the OOM. We have many OOA friends and see many of the similarities between the two. Thanks again,
Mennonites in Ontario
My friend Paula (also a blogger) lives in the Cobden area. She is a(n) (almost) Plain Anglican and she and her husband have many contacts in Mr. Horst’s group. The last time we got together with Paula, her daughter Ella, and her mother was in St. Jacobs, the big OOM community in Ontario. You can find Paula at “At Home With Us.” I have written about St. Jacobs at my blog “Anglican, Plain.”
I have known Paula to see her ever since she married Colin and have known him since he was just a teenager! I have never asked her about her plain dress but it was obvious that it did stand for something. We meet up at Farmers’ markets regularly and they live about 5 miles from us across the lake.
Good books!
Would really appreciate getting copies of these books.
BOOK GIVEAWAY
PLEASE ENTER ME ALSO. I SUPPOSE 10$ DOESN’T SEEM A LOT TO MOST. ON DISABILITY IT LOOKS A BIT BIGGER. BEING THRIFTY BECOMES A LIFE-STYLE. THE BOOK LOOKS VERY INTERESTING. I WOULD MUCH RATHER READ A HISTORY FROM A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE. PUTTING ONE’S LIFE INTO A WORK BRINGS THINGS ALIVE. COUNT ME IN.
This was very interesting. Would love to read the book! I enjoy reading non fiction first person accounts of Amish life.
Lovely Interview!
I enjoyed this interview. Thank you for doing it! 🙂
I would also love the chance to read these books!
Thanks so much!
Kindly,
Katy
Looking forward to this great giveaway. Love the Amish and like learning about their ways of life. Will share on facebook. Thank you for this contest. Have a great day.
Mblakeh3@frontier.com