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 Amish, having worked for an Amish family and joining the…
A Roundup of News on the Amish & COVID-19 Some news from different states on how the coronavirus situation is affecting the Amish. Ohio Earlier in the week we learned how church was continuing while school had been called off by the Amish in Lancaster County. There had been speculation that church would be halted in Holmes County, Ohio. An Amish friend in that community…
Free Rein One day in late fall, snow fell and caught me unprepared for winter. Hoping to save a little time, I took a different way home, one with which I was not too familiar, yet I anticipated no problem. Old Dobbin obligingly trotted on, but I was not far until I began to have doubts that this road was leading me home. By now…
I didn’t plan to post so much on the coronavirus situation. But then again no one expected it to be this disruptive. So here’s one more piece – but one which I hope presents a different and possibly helpful perspective. I’m not going to say that I agree with everything advocated here from the Amish side. But I will say there might be something valuable…
There is a certain type of driver who likes gunning his engine and waking up the residents of the local graveyard when passing through town. That driver is unlikely to heed the warning of this post. But others who drive vehicles louder than a typical car would do well to keep the lesson drawn here in mind when around buggies. A week after the logging…
Sam Mullet was the pseudo-Amish bishop of a breakaway church who orchestrated the beard and hair-cutting attacks which terrorized an Ohio Amish community in 2011. Mullett is currently serving out the end of his 10-year, 9-month sentence in a halfway house. He would like to be released to finish his sentence under house arrest due to the coronavirus threat. Mullett is 74 years old and…
Following our NYC Amish singing post, I came across a few more nice videos of Amish singing. This one features three Amish teens from somewhere in Minnesota. The song is “The Whippoorwill Song” (aka “I Give You Freedom”), written by Alfred B. Smith in 1975 (lyrics below). You can hear quite a contrast when it’s just three singing, versus the groups of two dozen or…
While putting together last week’s post on 5 old but small Amish communities, I came across another real estate listing for an Amish farm – this time in Indiana in the Kokomo settlement. While the exterior photos are not great (taken on an overcast day), there are good photos of the interior showing the different rooms. This place has a classic Amish look to it…
Questions on the Amish & coronavirus – awareness, risk, and protection from disease With the coronavirus topic heavy in the media, I thought it might be worth addressing several questions regarding COVID-19 infection and the Amish. Do the Amish know about COVID? Reader Beverly posed this question yesterday. With all the recent hubbub over this public health issue, it might seem odd to think that…
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 of time. We see this in many examples today, as…