Amish

The Amish Come to America

Amish Mennonites began migrating to the United States in the 1700s amid religious wars and persecution throughout Europe. The majority of early Amish settlers came to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, although others later settled in Alabama, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, and Maine, among other states.

It was not until the mid-19th century that the discussion of retaining Amish identity came into play. In the 1860s, conferences within the Amish communities were held to discuss how the followers should adjust to a modern, emerging society. As the meetings continued, more traditionally minded bishops, referred to as the Old Order Amish, began to boycott the meetings, as more progressive leaders continued to congregate and eventually merged with the Mennonite Church. The progressive members accounted for nearly two-thirds of Amish society in America. One of the most controversial issues dividing the two sects was shunning.

By the end of the 1800s, the conservative Old Order Amish only had an estimated 5,000 [Page 224]members. Despite their small numbers dispersed across the continent, the Old Order Amish remained a remarkably close-knit community and retained commonality. They remained in contact not only through visits but newspapers that printed stories about different Amish communities.

An Amish man using horses to haul farm equipment in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, around the late 1990s. While the farm equipment appears to be highly mechanized, it has steel wheels, which make it difficult to move. There are currently 27 Amish settlements in the United States and Canada; the community in Lancaster County is one of the largest.

The Old Order Amish is what dominates Amish society in the United States today. There are 27 communities in the United States and Ontario, Canada. The largest Amish populations are in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; Holmes County, Ohio; and Elkhart and LaGrange counties in Indiana. Other sizable settlements are found in Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota. There are, however, a number of Amish Mennonite groups that do not associate with the Old Order Amish, including the Western Ontario Mennonite Conference, which no longer exists. Because their history is so deeply rooted in the European Mennonite Church, the Amish people have a Swiss-German ancestry.

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