Amish America

PA transplants: The Amish of Parke and Wayne Counties, IN

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 (Parke and Wayne Counties), number just a handful of church districts each. 

The most obvious tip-offs that you are not in a typical midwestern Amish community are the gray-topped buggies, the style of clothing, and the last names.  Stoltzfuses abound.

Lancaster Amish have typically formed daughter settlements closer to home, ie, in other parts of Pennsylvania, or in neighboring states like Maryland.

One attraction of Indiana is the relatively inexpensive farmland.

Conventional wisdom has it that a Lancaster farmer can sell his home farm and buy several similar-sized farms in these areas.  That is a big attraction for the highly farm-oriented Lancaster Amish.

Steven Nolt and Thomas Meyers' book An Amish Patchwork is an interesting look at Old Order diversity in Indiana.  It also examines the Old Order Mennonite presence in the state.  Recommended read.

Photos from the Martins in Poland

 

It's the 'long weekend' in Poland (a combination of the traditional May 1st communist worker's holiday and Poland's May 3 constitution day), and I've just paid another visit to my friends Jacob and Anita Martin, whom I've written about a few times on the blog.

The Martins, who've lived in Poland since 1993, struggled a bit at first, but have been able to build themselves a very basic but cozy home in a birch forest outside of Warsaw. 
 

Anita says that at first the home was not much more than a kitchen, with she and Jacob sleeping on one end and the kids on the other.  The Martins have gradually added on and now have quite a bit of square footage.

It was not until about five years ago that they got an indoor bathroom, but now enjoy a few small luxuries, including a nice-sized fridge and a washing machine.  Anita showed me her new stove, which she uses to bake bread.

The Martins live simply but happily.  They say they get along well with most of the neighbors, who are a mixture of Warsaw 'city people' and long-time locals.  Jacob has a reputation as a dependable worker with 'farm-smarts'.  He gets called out to deliver calves from time to time.
 
Little Krzysiek (Chris) spent most of our walk yesterday trying to feed my brother and I what he called 'chocolate'--dried-up chunks of mud found by the side of the lane.  This got the other kids worked up into a near riot.  'We want you to try it first,' we told the four-year-old, who adamantly refused.

The Martins originally came to Poland with the intention of starting a Beachy Amish congregation, but soon realized that it would be more difficult than they had hoped. 

Two of the original three families soon returned to the US.  Left alone, the Martins now attend a Pentecostal church in Warsaw.

Photos here are from late April and early March.

Click for more on the Beachy Amish from the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online.

Hypochondriac diseases will prevail...

I may have missed this before, but this is the first year I've seen the Calender printed in an English version as well as in the usual high German.

The bulk of the 88-page pamphlet, produced by an Ohio Amish printer, is a more-or-less comprehensive listing of Old Order Amish church districts along with their respective ministers.

The Calender/Almanac also contains a curious mixture of folk wisdom, Christian teaching, and astrology.

Astrology?  Sounds strange, especially for the Amish, but it seems to be the case.  For example, on the back cover, one finds a chart entitled Anatomy of Man's Body, As said to be governed by the twelve constellations.

                                                                                                                                 

Making Predictions

The 2008 Almanac also informs us that 'Jupiter is the Reigning Planet this year' and gives the prognosis for a range of topics:   

FISH.  Will everywhere be moderately abundant.

DISEASE.  In the Autumn headaches and hypochondriac diseases will prevail.

GRAPE CULTURE.  In the course of twenty-eight years it happens scarcely once--as the ancients say--that in one year of that series a good vintage will take place, and mostly but an ordinary wine will be produced.

The booklet also lists important days for the 2008 calendar year, including church feasts and the beginning and ending of the summer 'dog days', a listing of church readings and hymns, and Christian-themed poetry. 

It's curious to see the Amish distribute a guide with such a sizable dose of zodiac-infused 'wisdom'.

Though certain Amish may have had a history of buying into 'suspect' sources of wisdom--practicioners of the more 'hokey' medical practices come to mind--I'm not so sure the Amish take the astrological bit of the Calender so seriously, if at all. 

Since its much earlier incarnations, the almanac has typically contained folklorish bits of knowledge, good chunks of both astronomy and astrology, weather divination, and the like, and that tradition seems to have carried over into today's Calender.

Finally, the Calender/Almanac contains a fair dose of humor.  Here's a bit from this year's edition:

The mother of a 6-year old met him as he got off the bus and asked, "How was your school day?"

"Mom," he replied, "today our teacher asked me whether I had any brothers or sisters, and I told her I was an only child."

"And what did she say, dear?"

She said, "Thank goodness."

Come take a 'drive' through a PA Amish community

It might not be too clear in the photo, but in the New Wilmington, Pennsylvania Amish settlement, even the milk house doors get painted blue.  Photo from late September 2007.

And if you'd like to get a closer look at this community, Bill shares how, thanks to some lovely Google technology:

PA 208 is available in "Street View" on Google maps. The Amish settlement runs from Volant to the east of New Wilmington and to Pulaski to the west. On Google maps type in New Wilmington PA and you will find Rt. 208. Zoom in at the Intersection of 208 and Mercer Rd. and turn the image and you will find an Amish schoolhouse.

Travel west in street view and past this same intersection you will come upon two men in an open buggy on their way to work. 360's east and west of New Wilmington will give you views of Amish farms, barns, homes and out buildings. A few more buggies are on the road elsewhere. The light blue doors tell you you're in Amish country.

'They don't make manure'

Spring is here, and that means plowing and planting time.

Most Amish do not use tractors in the field.  Some will keep a tractor for around-the-barn tasks, such as filling the silo.

Why do the Amish avoid tractors?

photo: Bill Coleman

Part of the problem is their similarity to cars. 

Get comfortable behind the wheel of a tractor, the thinking goes, and it's a short hop to sitting behind the wheel of a car.

 

John A. Hostetler discusses the Amish mindframe in Amish Society:

'When tractors were first introduced on American farms, the Amish rejected them with the comments, "They don't make manure" and "They ruin the land."'

 

photo:  Randall Persing

'Tractor farmers have greater convenience, more choice as to when they will till the land, and can get the job done faster than the Amish.'

'Tractors, Amish farmers say, compact the land, which results in reduced yields.  Amish farmers who have bought land from the non-Amish have noted that the soil begins to work easier after the third year.'

 

 No Mules in the Midwest?

Horse power' may refer to actual horses, or to mules, which are especially popular among the Lancaster Amish. 

A Holmes County, Ohio acquaintance mentioned that he had heard of one or two that were starting to use mules in his area.  But generally most Midwestern Amish stick with the big draft horses, the mighty Belgians and Percherons.

photo:  Randall Persing

Hostetler says that Lancaster County Amish believe 'that mules eat less and have greater endurance.  Such preferences appear to vary among farmers, as others consider mules to be more obstinate than horses.'

 

But it looks like there's a deeper reason for the 'mule taboo' in the Buckeye state:

'In Ohio, raising mules was forbidden by an Amish Ministers' Conference in 1865 on the grounds that it was "improper to mix the creatures of God such as a horse and donkey by which mules arise, because the Lord God did not create such in the beginning."'

I wonder if Ohio Amish still feel the same way about mixing species, and particularly the dog breeders--ever hear of a 'puggle' or a 'labradoodle'?

 

Five Californias-full of Amish

Amish communities are like big blobs on local maps, constantly expanding, creeping ever outward into English-settled lands.

lithograph:  Stan Jolley 

An Amish friend recently pointed out that the Amish population (roughly 220,000 today), currently doubling in size every 20-odd years, will hit a million sometime in the 2050s.

For what it's worth, 200 years from now, if current trends hold (a huge 'if'), we should expect to see...204 million Amish on the planet.

That would be over five times the current population of our largest state, and over two-thirds the population of the entire country.

Sure, that's just fun with numbers.  But at the same time it's fascinating to contemplate.  What will Old Order communities look like then?  Will the 'Old Order' even exist in anything resembling its present form? 

Will Amish in future accept education beyond eighth grade, as some have said they will be forced to do in order to survive?  What other, perhaps currently unknown, technologies will creep into Amish life?

It's probably as hard to imagine now as it would have been for Amish forefathers, 200 years ago, to imagine Amish life today.

An unusual crossing

Cindy Seigle snapped a few more photos of the Orange County, Indiana Amish a week or two back, after a shock of heavy rains that caused major flooding. 

Cindy says this carriage was floating around on the water as it gamely made its way across.

Hopefully the folks down there have their basements pumped out by now.  I recall a huge dumping of rain in the northern Indiana (Elkhart/Lagrange) community two summers ago.  The next day the settlement looked like a waterpark.  Didn't see any buggies-turned-boats but the place was a mess.

See more photos of this southern Indiana Amish community here and here, or direct from Cindy's site.

An Amish 'computer'?

'Made specifically for the plain people by the plain people'.

The Classic boasts 'unequaled safety'.  It is 'Not just a locked computer', promising 'No modem, no phone port or Internet connection, no outside programs, no sound, no photographs, no games or gimmicks'.

The ad is found on page 3 of this year's Lancaster County Business Directory, a collection of advertisements of hundreds of (mostly Amish and Mennonite) area businesses.

   

Some Amish church districts allow, or at least tolerate, laptops and desktops. 

In others, the line gets drawn at the word processor.

In this regard, the computer is now a bit like the cellphone has become in some communities. 

As with the cell, it has gotten to the point where the computer is openly used in some districts--while in others owning one will get you into trouble. 

At the same time, it's probably not nearly as common as the cell, as it's a lot harder to hide a Dell than it is a Nokia.

Also (somewhat) like the cellphone, the computer has even affected the way some Amish communicate--there are a few Amish that use email, as I've found as I continue to add to my (admittedly still meager) 'Amish email rolodex'.   

Montcalm County, Michigan Amish reader photos

Shannon shares some nice photos from the Amish settlement at Montcalm County, Michigan.

Shannon says that the family she knows here belongs to the 'Troyer Amish' group.

There are currently 24 Amish settlements in Michigan, according to the latest Calender, the almanac-and-guide to Amish church districts.

The oldest Michigan settlement, that in the vicinity of Centreville in St. Joseph County, dates to 1910.  It is also the largest of the Michigan settlements, with 11 church districts as of this year.

St. Joseph County may contain the oldest Michigan settlement, but it wasn't the first to be founded.

 

According to David Luthy's The Amish in America:  Settlements that failed, six settlements had already been founded in Michigan by 1910, five of which were still in existence at the time of the founding of the St. Joseph settlement.

All of these communities 'went extinct' at some point, though most were fairly long-lived, lasting 20, 30, 40 and one over 50 years.

The longest-lasting of these early settlements that went extinct was that of Mio in Oscoda County, way up in the northern part of the Michigan 'hand'.

 Mio is unusual because after its 'extinction' in 1954, no Amish lived in the area until 1970, when families from Geauga County, Ohio began to settle in the area of the former community, creating a new settlement that numbers three churches today.

Shannon says that the family she is acquainted with in Montcalm County is quite friendly with outsiders, even running a dinner service for visitors, as Amish families sometimes do.

At the same time, the group leans to the more technologically-conservative side of the spectrum, with open-front buggies and oil lamps in use.   

Thanks again to Shannon for the nice photos--see more of them at her blog Speaking in Plain Shamish.

The Amish and photos and bending the rules

Mike Fisher, who was raised Amish until the age of nine, has a couple of photos up on his blog of he, his brothers and his father dating to the time when they belonged to an Amish church.

Interesting to see.  It raises the question of just how many Amish homes have those illicit photos tucked away in the backs of drawers? 

In a larger context, I often wonder how often the rules 'get bent' in Amish society.  Sometimes you see evidence of it. 

Certain Amish acquaintances come to mind--for this particular farm family, the milkman actually shows up to collect milk when it's technically still Sunday night, rather than in the wee hours of Monday morn...