Amish America

Kokomo, Indiana Amish; Amish attitudes towards unions

The Amish settlement at Kokomo, Indiana, founded 1848, is the third-oldest in Indiana.  Yet despite having been in existence for over 160 years, Kokomo remains a tiny settlement of just 2 church districts. 

Meanwhile, other settlements founded in the state at roughly the same time have grown and thrived.  The Nappanee and Adams County settlements approach 40 and 50 church districts respectively, while the Elkhart-Lagrange settlement, founded just 7 years before Kokomo, today numbers over 130.  Why is Kokomo, unlike its neighbors, a small size today?

Kokomo is a settlement which has been affected by schism and progressivism to a significant degree.  A break in the 1850s which resulted in the conservative ‘Old Order’ element and the more progressive ‘Amish Mennonite’ element affected Amish communities across the nation, including Kokomo.  Afterwards, the conservative ‘Old Order’ faction at Kokomo prospered for a time, before beginning to decline to an 1892 low of six families and 17 members. 

Later, ranks increased as families began moving in from other communities, and particularly from the Arthur, Illinois settlement, which resulted in the formation of 2 church districts in 1908.  The peak of the Kokomo community likely occurred in the mid-1930s. 

After this period, according to the history recorded in the Nappanee Amish directory, “a serious decline took place.”  Old Order Amish joined Beachy Amish and Mennonite groups and also moved to other Midwestern Amish communities.  Over the first half of the 20th century, nearly 500 church members in the Kokomo settlement either affiliated with higher churches, moved out, or simply left the church altogether.  

Today, the Kokomo settlement is uncommon among Amish communities in that it permits the use of tractors in the field.  According to Meyers and Nolt’s An Amish Patchwork, Kokomo Amish marry at a slightly older age than other settlements in the state (age 23 for men and 22 for women), and have slightly fewer children on average, at 6 per family. 

As in many other Amish settlements, small businesses and the carpentry trade have become more common in this community as farming has declined.  Unlike in the Elkhart-Lagrange settlement, Kokomo Amish do not seek employment in local factories.  This, as Kraybill and Nolt explain in Amish Enterprise, is due to the unionized nature of local factories as well as a high school diploma requirement. 

For that matter, Amish in general are against union membership, and those who join unions face excommunication.  Unions are looked upon unfavorably by Amish for a number of reasons.  One reason is that Amish feel that the means unions employ to achieve their aims, such as work strikes, qualify as use of force, and thus clash with the tenet of nonresistance adhered to universally by Amish.  

Sources: Nappanee Amish Directory 2001; An Amish Patchwork: Indiana's Old Orders in the Modern World; Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits

The top 10 Amish settlements

The ten largest Amish settlements, in increasing order:

10. Allen County, Indiana (Founded 1852; 19 church districts).  This Amish settlement located to the north of Fort Wayne is a Swiss-ethnicity community.  Open buggies are driven here;  the construction trade is popular.  Allen County Amish homes are often built of red brick, unlike those of most other Amish.  The three most common last names here are Graber, Lengacher, and Schmucker. 

9. Mifflin County, Pennsylvania (Founded 1791; 22 districts).  Also known as Kishacoquillas Valley or more commonly, 'Big' Valley, this settlement is home to three distinct Old Order Amish groups: the black-buggy driving Renno Amish, Byler Amish (yellow buggies), and the most conservative group, the 'Nebraska' Amish, aka 'white-toppers'.  'Big Valley' is, in fact, a big valley--about 30 miles long, and around 5 miles wide at its widest. 

8. Daviess County, Indiana (1868; 24 districts).  This community also has Swiss roots, though Amish here use closed-top carriages and other differences exist.  Daviess County Amish speak with a distinctly 'southern' accent. 

7. Arthur, Illinois (1865; 27 districts).  The largest and oldest Amish settlement in Illinois.  The Arthur settlement is very entrepreneurial, with numerous Amish cabinet shop and furniture businesses scattered around the flat countryside surrounding the small town. 

6. Nappanee, Indiana (ca. 1841; 37 districts).  This community lies not far from the largest in Indiana, that of Elkhart/Lagrange Counties to the north-east.  Similarly to that community, Nappanee Amish have been heavily involved in the RV industry.  Amish Acres is a big tourist attraction here.  It's not impossible that this and the Lagrange/Elkhart settlement will 'grow into' one another in future, forming one even larger settlement. 

5. Adams County, Indiana (1850; 47 districts).  This Swiss community lies on the opposite side of Fort Wayne, Indiana from Allen County, with which it has close ties.  One of the more conservative Amish settlements.

4. Geauga County, Ohio  (1886; 86 districts).  Ohio's second-largest settlement, about an hour east of Cleveland.  The Geauga County Amish settlement originated from the Holmes County settlement to the south.  

3. Elkhart/Lagrange Counties, Indiana (1841; 133 districts).  Indiana's largest Amish settlement long thrived thanks to the RV industry.  With the local economic downturn some Amish have had to look elsewhere to make a living.  This community has featured heavily in recent media examinations of the Amish youth period known as Rumspringa. 

2. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (ca. 1760; 171 districts).  Lancaster is the most well-known, and the oldest existing Amish settlement.  Lancaster is in certain ways different from most other Amish communities, for example in its 'urban' character.  Nearly half-a-million people live in Lancaster County, with perhaps 6 or 8% of them being Amish.  Holmes County, Ohio, on the other hand, is home to around 40,000 total residents, with the Amish likely comprising half the population (not including Amish in neighboring counties).

1. Holmes County, Ohio (1808; 220 districts).  Holmes County is the largest and arguably most diverse Amish settlement.  Amish affiliations range from the ultraconservative Swartzentruber Amish to the more progressive New Order Amish.  The unusual 'White' Jonas Stutzman was one of the first Amish to settle here.  

(Sources: Amish Studies web site; David Luthy's Amish Settlements Across America: 2008, GAMEO)

Amish business blooms under blessing of recession?

"Amish see the recession as a challenge and a blessing" by Allison Linn at msnbc is a well-done article about the northern Indiana Amish economic situation which shows anecdotal evidence of elevated entrepreneurial activity in the community. 

This includes the increased presence of Amish vendors at an annual woodworking exhibition as well as established entrepreneurs reporting greater interest from would-be businesspeople.  Interest in business loans is apparently up among Amish as well.

The region, heavily dependent on the RV industry, has been walloped by the recession. 

In March, the area recorded an unemployment rate--at nearly 19%--over twice national levels.  Unemployment remains high.  The most recent numbers I can find--from June--show Elkhart County at 16.8%, and Lagrange at 15.8%.

Yet Amish seem to be making out alright.  “Of all the people that got laid off, I can’t think of one Amish person I know that is out of a job and is at a place where he doesn’t know what to do,” says one Amish informant in the article.

Reliance on the wisdom of experienced mentors is one key reason for success among Amish businesses. 

Other recent posts on the northern Indiana Amish:

A 'pivotal time' for Northern Indiana Amish

Indiana Amish and daylight savings

Indiana Amish lecture by Professor Steven Nolt

The northern Indiana Amish and the RV blues

Arthur, Illinois Amish

Outside of a childhood trip to Lancaster County and a brief day in southern Michigan, Arthur, Illinois was the community where I first came to know Amish, while selling books there in 2004.  This is an article about the Arthur Amish community.  Arthur is in fact the sixth or seventh largest Amish community, with Geauga County, Ohio being the fourth largest. 

Arthur is a community about 3 hours south of Chicago in the flat farmland of central Illinois.  The Amish community spreads outward from the small village of Arthur about a half-dozen miles in each direction.  It stretches from the edge of Sullivan, the seat of Moultrie county to the southwest, to Arcola, located off the busy I-57 corridor corridor to the east, and up to highway 36 to the north.  The gridlike, mile-blocks of country road around Arthur are easy to navigate.  Most roads are gravel, though as I recall, a bit less dusty that those in Daviess County Amish settlement, and mostly navigable during the rain (which can't be said about a few of the mud-susceptible byways in Daviess County, as I found out the hard way).

There are a large number of wood shops in the Arthur area.  Other Amish work for the large garage door plant in town, while dairy farming continues as a favored occupation as well.  The article states that Amish run over 225 small businesses in the area.  A tourist industry exists in Arthur, but not to the same degree as in larger Amish settlements further east.

The memory is a bit fuzzy but I believe I met the gentleman interviewed for the article in 2004, as well as some of his relatives.  'Graber' is not a common name in the Arthur community, and is much more frequently seen in the similarly-sized Daviess County, Indiana community a few hours' drive to the southeast.

Interestingly, for a period before the founding of the Arthur community in 1865, there was another sizeable Illinois Amish settlement located in Woodford and Tazewell counties near Peoria.  With its five congregations, it was larger at the time than Lancaster County.  However,due to progressive change, there is no longer an 'Amish' presence there today. 

(Tazewell/Woodford info from David Luthy, The Amish in America:  Settlements that Failed 1840-1960)

Image: harrygamboajr.com

A 'pivotal time' for Northern Indiana Amish

The 'RV Amish' of Northern Indiana could be considered among the 'fastest' of all Amish.  There are a few reasons why. 

With a majority of household heads traditionally working in non-Amish RV factories, Amish in Elkhart/Lagrange Counties and around the town of Nappanee have been more exposed to the 'world' than in settlements with most Amish working the fields or holed up in Amish-owned shops.   Many have gotten used to taking home paychecks in the range of $1000-$1200/week or more.  Coupled with a low-overhead traditional lifestyle this means a large disposable income.  Northern Indiana is also among the most notorious when it comes to youth Rumspringa activity, perhaps a result of being tied more closely with the world through the RV industry. 

An article in the Indianapolis Star, which does a nice job reviewing a local economic slowdown that has existed for most of the past year and arguably a good bit longer, describes Amish struggles with being laid off and searching for new forms of employment. 

The article outlines the lifestyle impact on the Amish, describing one Amishman as previously 'living large', with weekly restaurant trips as well as out-of-state vacations.  Though I'd take issue with the assertion in the piece that "travel to the Grand Canyon and California by airplane and in rented vans with professional drivers was common"--with the airplane bit of it, especially--a lifestyle like the one ascribed to this Amishman is/was not uncommon.  Getting laid off has meant a change of habits and has also forced many to be creative in developing new streams of income. 

This has meant a move into business for some.  In a previous post on the Northern Indiana Amish I speculated on the possible shift into business in this settlement, a phenomenon which has occurred on a large scale in similar-sized settlements such as Holmes County and Lancaster but which has largely passed the northern Indiana Amish by, mainly due to the ready availability of employment in factories.  Anecdotal information seems to indicate that entrepreneurship has begun to blossom, though a bounceback in the RV industry may smother that in time. 

As Goshen College professor Steven Nolt notes in the article, “nowhere in U.S. Amish history has a down economy affected the Amish so much," calling the current period "a pivotal time."  The impact of the RV downturn on these Amish will be interesting to follow.   

Indiana Amish vindicated: 'Daylight savings' actually sucking savings out of Hoosier pockets

A couple of years back I wrote on the Amish aversion to daylight savings time.

I cited an informal survey I'd done among northern Indiana Amish unhappy with the state's forced change to DST in 2006.  Previously only a few counties had followed it. 

Among their reasons for being anti-DST, Amish have pointed to tradition and the extra hour of summer sunlight (translated:  an extra hour to be outside working and for children to be running around) as tiring. 

Turns out there are economic negatives as well. 

The Wall Street Journal ran an article a while back titled 'Daylight Saving Wastes Energy, Study Says' on research showing that the Indiana change has cost households $8.6 million in increased electric bills.

One big reason is the greater use of air-conditioning, less common when DST studies were performed three decades ago. 

Coming home earlier from work means cooling the house for an extra hour.  It may also mean heating it during the cooler morning period.

Though the study seems to prove the case pretty solidly, some caution against applying it to all states and regions, as local factors such as climate may vary. 

Interestingly, it seems this isn't the only time issue for Indiana.  The article closes by noting that 'a separate debate over whether the state should be on Central or Eastern Time rages on.'

(Oh yeah--and if you haven't changed your clock yet today...)

Plus: Donald Kraybill on DST and four Ohio Amish affiliations

Indiana Amish lecture by Professor Steven Nolt

Goshen College has kindly passed along a link to a recent lecture on the northern Indiana Amish given by Professor Steven Nolt. 

Professor Nolt is one of the preeminent scholars on the Amish.  He has written numerous books, including A History of the Amish and Plain Diversity (w/Thomas Meyers) on Amish communities in Indiana.

Nolt explains that northern Indiana is unusual in that it allows much diversity among districts. 

He contrasts this with other communities where uniform standards are required or where differences would more likely result in new affiliations being formed. 

He also discusses the impact of recent economic decline on the region and the unusual situation of local Amish men accepting government unemployment assistance.

Interesting bits from the lecture:

• Indiana is the only state where you'll find license plates on buggies, though not every county requires them.  Thus in the community at Nappanee, some have plates while others do not. 
• Amish population growth has resulted both from having large families as well as an increased retention rate.  Nolt estimates that of children born in the 1930s, less than 80% joined the Amish church.  Today that figure stands at around 95%.
• A few northern Indiana Old Order districts hold biweekly Sunday School, but most do not.
• During the Great Depression, church leaders temporarily allowed young unemployed men to acquire drivers' licenses for delivery jobs, with the stipulation that they be used only on the job and only while working for a non-Amish employer.
• The rates of children joining the Amish church are no lower among factory families than the settlement average.
• The average age of ordained ministers has fallen from 40 a couple of decades ago to 32 today. Professor Nolt has an interesting explanation why.

The northern Indiana Amish and the RV blues

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 in the first half of the year certainly did not help RV sales, though one would think that to be less of a factor now that they've subsided to sub-$2 levels.  Of course, what happens once, can happen again...

The Amish in northern Indiana are in a bit different situation occupationally than those in the other two large settlements, Holmes County, OH and Lancaster, PA.  While those two communities are highly entrepreneurial, northern Indiana is less so. 

Entrepreneurial pursuits here are less developed, often comprising 'sideline' work rather than a full-time occupation.  This is easy to see when traveling through the settlement.  You don't find nearly as many shops here as you do in the community's Ohio and PA counterparts. 

Statistically, the local Amish are much more heavily dependent on factory work.  'Farmettes', plots of just a few acres with a small horse barn and not much else, are popular, yet farming itself has dwindled to low levels. 

Selling books in the Elkhart/Lagrange community in the summer of 2006, I had a firsthand look at this community as I visited each of the 120+ church districts. 

Even in that period, temporary layoffs were occurring among the Amish.  Some factory hands were on a four-day a week schedule.  Speaking with Amish breadwinners at the time, it was definitely a concern, but not nearly as serious as it seems to be today.

Thanks to high wages, there is, or at least there has been up til now, a lot of disposable cash in this community.  At this point some, if not many, must be rethinking not only purchasing decisions but also their occupational choices.

 

A shift to small business?

The article cites estimates that 50 to 75 percent of Amish factory workers have filed for unemployment.  To be honest, this seems awfully high, but apparently reflects a change in this community on the acceptability of receiving government financial help.  Government assistance is typically avoided by the Amish, who were first granted federally-sanctioned exemption from the Social Security program in the 1960s.

Small businesses are also affected when the economy tightens, but their owners have the advantage of a degree of flexibility that a factory worker dependent upon a single industry simply does not have.

For example, some Amish home builders have shifted to remodeling work, a sector that tends to prove more resilient when new home building declines.  Other entrepreneurs are able to specialize or to focus on goods and services whose demand is less affected by economic downturns. 

In my opinon, the two most interesting issues here are the unemployment benefits situation and the implications it will have for Amish in this and other communities, and also the question of whether small business among the Amish in northern Indiana will be boosted in the long-term as a result of this recession. 

According to the article, it seems that there has been some new interest among local Amish for small business, but whether it indicates a significant, long-lasting shift remains to be seen.

My gut says that if that many Amish have shown interest in unemployment benefits, there will be a marked change in the perception of factory work vis-a-vis the sustainability of the Amish way of living in this community. 

For a long time, the factory has been seen as a simple way to support a family on a very comfortable income.  But it seems that local Amish are really getting bitten this time due to overdependence on a single industry.  Economic hard times will pass and RVs will likely return, but not without the community having drawn a lesson from the experience.  

So if I were a betting man, I'd bet there will be a significant, long-lasting upward change in the percentage of northern Indiana Amish operating their own (full-time) firms. 

An Amish school photo dilemma

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 it is supposed to be wrong for Amish to pose, but when will we teach our children it is wrong if we let them do it all their growing-up years?  So far we haven't let ours take theirs, but since they are the only ones in their classroom who don't, naturally they feel left out.  Also, sometimes the class does projects during the year with their pictures.  Then our children come home crying because they have to do something different.  I do not want to be a stumbling block to my children, nor do I want to have a holier-than-thou attitude.  Please, I would like some thoughts and opinions from others on this subject..."

The majority of Amish parents probably do not have to deal with this specific issue.  However, though most Amish children attend Amish-run parochial schools, in some larger settlements such as Holmes County, Ohio, and Lagrange/Elkhart Counties in Indiana, a significant chunk attend local public schools. 

This concerned mother received a number of answers, including one from an Indiana parent:

"...It is lamentable indeed that we have this golden opportunity to have our own schools and only half of the Amish in northern Indiana exercise that privilege.  We could avoid a host of other problems, too.  With due respect to everybody, let me ask, "How do we explain that so many pictures, plus activities featuring Amish children, including boys in sports uniform, appear in our local newspaper?  Or if the county spelling champion happens to be one of ours, they display it on the school billboard for the better part of a week beside a main road?

Let's try to keep in mind that the public schools stress pride of achievement and competition and that we have as our goals humility and cooperation..."

A few observations:  this was an interesting read as there seems to be at least three issues at work here.  The children-in-pictures issue is at the forefront, and is one which Amish hold varying opinions on. 

Some Amish simply do not mind if their children are photographed.  Others do not mind if they themselves are photographed--some, and perhaps this is just a handful, even do not object to posing.  And many, if asked, would refuse both. 

Secondly, there is the issue of sending children to public school itself.  Clearly the responder is urging his fellow church members to reconsider the idea of public schools and is strongly implying that parochial schools would be a better solution. 

Indeed, in some settlements, such as Lancaster County, all or the vast majority of Amish children attend Amish-run schools.  I don't know where the 'half of the Amish' statistic comes from, but it is true that there are high levels of Amish attendance in certain public schools in this parent's settlement. 

Finally, the mother expresses her concern about not wanting to have a 'holier-than-thou attitude'.  I think there is real concern among many Amish about having a holier-than-thou attitude. 

One main reason, I believe, is because a haughty approach taken by certain Amish towards other members has been faulted in exacerbating church disagreements and even as a factor in some church splits throughout Amish history.  And of course 'holier-than-thou' suggest the opposite of humility.

So I believe that Amish are particularly sensitive to it.  You also sense this immediately when discussing issues of morality or faith.  Amish people tend to show a respect for differences of faith when speaking with outsiders, and typically will couch questions and responses in respectful, indirect language so as not to offend. 

Dusk, somewhere in Wayne County, Ohio

Visibility at night is a big issue among the Amish. 

There are a variety of technologies employed by various Amish groups to make themselves more easily seen.  Swartzentruber Amish often use just a single lamp hung on the side of the carriage and minimal reflective tape.  SMV triangles are typically not found among the Swartzentruber-related communities. 

Probably the most elaborate lighting systems I've noticed are those among some Amish in the Elkhart/Lagrange Counties settlement in northern Indiana.  Some employ fairly bright turn signals and highly visible blinkers. 

This photo, from Wayne County, Ohio, is of a fairly basic lighting setup.  The buggy, you may notice, lacks side-view mirrors, usually indicating a lower-order group.  The center light at the top is a flashing blinker and not found on all carriages.

Bike riders, in the communities where that form of transport is allowed, usually use reflective tape and lighting as well.  Frequently on summer evenings Amish bicyclists will trail along behind a buggy, benefiting from its relatively higher visibility.