A Goshen News article just out on layoffs among nothern Indiana Amish factory workers brings to light the challenge that local Amish, many of whom are dependent on factory income, are facing as hours and jobs are cut in a limping economy. Most Amish heads of household work in the local RV industry, and most people would consider RVs a non-essential item. Skyrocketing oil prices…
The Amish-produced periodical Family Life has a feature known as ‘The Problem Corner’. Readers send in questions for other readers to offer answers on. One problem, sent in by an Amish mother in 1990, goes as follows: “…We send our children to a public school, and I venture to guess 98% of the Amish children that attend there have their yearly picture taken. We know…
With an average of around seven children, Amish families are hefty by modern standards. Farm families tend to be the biggest. A dozen or more children is not rare. But the largest Amish family ever? There’s a good chance this was it: John Troyer, who lived near Kokomo, Indiana, had an unusually large family, perhaps the largest of all time among the Amish or Mennonites….
The latest issue of Family Life includes an article by David Luthy entitled Amish Settlements Across America: 2008. It’s a comprehensive listing of Amish settlements along with some commentary and analysis. Last time Luthy did one of these was in 2003. Interesting facts: Some settlements are very old, yet due to various factors, are very small today. Hicksville in Ohio was founded in 1914, yet comprises just one…
Just what do the Amish do for a living nowadays? The Amish have long been connected with farming. But in reality, this association has become less and less accurate over the past few decades. Published in 1995 (second edition 2004), Donald Kraybill and Steven Nolt’s Amish Enterprise documents one of the most significant changes in Amish society, the shift from agricultural to entrepreneurial pursuits. Today,…
Fireworks and cookouts are the name of the game today. And some Amish people will no doubt be participating in one, the other, or both. But as you’d expect, secular holidays take a backseat to church-sanctioned ones in Amish America. Generally speaking, Amish that are more in tune with the American mainstream (say, by virtue of their occupation, or church affiliation) would be more likely…
Here on the Euro side of the pond, the quadrennial European Football Championships are scrapping along nicely, with the continent in a frenzy for the sport that we Yanks most readily connect with Pele, Maradona and now the flamboyant Mr. David Beckham. Back home, looks like the NBA has been having a nice series. I’m sure some Amish have had a glance in the paper…
photo: waynet.org Indiana is an interesting place when it comes to Amish diversity. In the Hoosier state, you will find communities of New Order, Swartzentruber, ‘Swiss’, and of course, ‘standard’ Old Order Amish. One relatively new influence in the state has been the presence of two settlements of Lancaster Amish, which both formed in the 1990’s. The two settlements, on opposite sides of the state…
Rumspringa: To be or not to be Amish got a lot of attention when it was released in the spring of 2006, with media such as the Wall Street Journal calling it a ‘wonderfully rich portrait and history of the Amish as a people and a faith.’ Rumspringa is also, and primarily, an on-the-scene look at a crucial period of Amish adolescence. Tom Shachtman was…
As of 2024, there are two Amish communities in Orange County, Indiana – both a similar size (500+Amish people). Let’s have a look at a few more of Cindy Seigle’s Orange County, Indiana Amish photos with a few of my own comments attached. Again, we aren’t 100% sure which of the two Orange County groups each particular picture is from, but there are similarities between…