In 2011 and 2012, a number of Kentucky Amishmen landed in jail for not carrying an SMV safety triangle on their buggies. This story got major news attention across the nation. State law was eventually altered to allow reflective tape instead of the triangle, thanks in part to 138 hand-written letters sent by an Amishman to Kentucky legislators. While the vast majority of Amish use the triangle, a…
Over a dozen Amish appeared in a central New York court last week to express displeasure over plans to build a casino in their community. “They could not imagine staying here with a casino,” explained their spokesman, Lynn Barbuto. What problem do the Amish have with the proposed gambling house? For one, traffic, which according to the article at 13wham.com (Update: article no longer online) would…
Maybe more than any other Amish place name, I’ve never had a clue how to pronounce “Chouteau” (Chah-toe? Shoh-two? Choo-tee-ow? 🙂 ). Lucky for me, this is a blog, not a podcast. Why am I pondering pronunciation quirks again? Well, our busy contributor Tom Geist checks in today with a visit to the Chouteau, Oklahoma Amish settlement. Tom, I should say, gets around pretty well. Besides recent…
The good folks at Business Insider published an article yesterday entitled “13 Money Secrets From the Amish“. I’m in it, and frankly that came as a surprise, since I hadn’t spoken to anyone at the site in some time. My contributions appear to be drawn from info shared 4 years ago, around the time my Amish business book came out. Lorilee Craker, author of Money Secrets of the Amish, also contributes…
Reader Brad of the Brethren recently raised the question of common ownership of goods among the Amish. Amish are not like Hutterites where the vast majority of property is shared in common. Amish individuals own private property like anyone else. Amish households operate independently in a commercial sense, though within a web of church and community support galvanized in times of need. But what about the handful of…
Kite Kommotion is an annual event in the town of Shipshewana in the Elkhart-Lagrange Amish settlement. From the event description: “Folks can take advantage of flying their own kites or watching performances by international kite teams and professional kite exhibitions.” A reader shares photos from the event’s latest edition. I guess these photos speak for themselves. Lots of kites, lots of kommotion. As you can…
Anna J. Weaver is an Amish artist living in New York state. If “artist” doesn’t strike you as a typical Amish occupation, that’s because it’s not–at least not in the classic sense of someone who creates painting, sculpture and the like. By the sound of things, however, Anna has made a pretty decent go of it as a painter. From a recent profile in the Erie Times-News:…
Health officials in eastern Ohio are grappling with a measles outbreak, the largest in the US since 1996, linked to an Amish mission trip to the Phillippines. From The Coshocton Tribune: Sixteen confirmed cases of the highly contagious disease have showed up near the Knox County village of Danville, less than 35 miles west of Coshocton County. Four members of an Amish community there recently traveled to the…
Do “classes” exist in Amish society? How is wealth distributed? Do Amish use food stamps? A new study in the latest JAPAS addresses these questions in the Holmes County Amish community (“Amish Economic Transformations: New Forms of Income and Wealth Distribution in a Traditionally “Flat” Community“, by Amyaz Moledina, David McConnell, Stephanie Sugars, and Bailey Connor). By tapping public data including Census info and real estate records, the authors develop a picture of Amish income and…
Too often, we hear stories of criminals seeking out Amish victims. Their crimes include: Burglary when homeowners are known to be absent (eg, Sunday morning) Swiping cash from roadside stands (both manned and unmanned) Assault and robbery Last Thursday, Amish once again fell prey to wrongdoers, this time in Lawrence County, Tennessee. One woman has been captured, and two more suspects are being sought, following what…