Former Amish in the News
Amish journey from homespun to hipster
Miriam Jones doesn't waste time analyzing how an Amish girl in long skirts and bonnets went on to become the owner of a salon in the heart of Echo Park's hipster enclave.
In her first 30 years, in addition to starting a business, she's butchered large farm animals, killed snapping turtles with a crossbow, sewn her own clothes, grown and canned her food, learned to fly a helicopter and raised a 12-year-old daughter.
Ex-Amish woman finding new life
HARLINGEN — Emma Gingerich reached the age of 15 without ever having used a computer or talking on a telephone.
She never studied history or geography; for her, the earth was still flat.
The life she faced, she said, would be simple: a minimal education, which stopped at eighth grade, and little contact with those outside her immediate community.
Her purpose in life, she said, would be to raise children and continue the static traditions that were passed down to her from previous generations in the Amish culture...
Columbia man opens up about his Amish past
Moses Gingerich doesn’t mind fielding the tough questions.
Do you go to church now? (“No.”)
Do you still believe in God? (“Yes.”)
Do you think you’re going to hell? (“Probably.”)
He gave the last answer on national television. He was feeling a little vulnerable when he said that, Gingerich admitted over a cup of coffee on a snowy January morning in Columbia...
A conversation with Saloma Furlong, author of 'Why I Left the Amish'
"Why I Left the Amish," shows a smiling second-grader with bright dark eyes. The story she tells, however, is anything but a simple tale of a happy childhood...
Death of ‘Little Boy Blue' remains a mystery
Danny Stutzman, a 9-year-old son of an Amish family from Dalton OH. No cause of death was determined, due to the condition of the body. Many believe his father killed him. Eli Stutzman Jr. never was convicted of killing his son, only of illegally dumping the body. He was in prison for 18 months....
Members of Amish church face life-altering decisions (Part 1 of 2)
Staring blankly into space, the 41-year-old man's eyes begin to look bloodshot as they fill with tears. Fighting back his emotions, he looks toward the floor. "Be good to go back home some time," he says as he nods his head in agreement with himself. "But you can't go back." Matthew knew the decision he made so many years ago would have its consequences. He knew that leaving the Amish faith behind would change his life forever...
Abandoning faith leads to shunning for Amish (Part 2 of 2)
The Amish are avid believers in the practice of shunning, which, in many cases, means expulsion from their Amish community for violating religious guidelines. It may sound harsh to non-Amish, but Dr. David Weaver-Zercher, professor of American religious history at Messiah College in Grantham, said shunning is seen by the Amish as a way to get someone's attention in hopes that the person will repent and return to the church...
Olson shares tales, trials from Amish upbringing
After years of living in an Amish community, Anna Dee Olson said she had to leave or commit suicide to stop her depression. Although Olson dreamed of attending college, the sect didn't allow it. At age 24, she left the community in Wisconsin knowing she'd have no support. Her mother's beliefs also shadowed her departure - the year was 1992, and based on her mother's Biblical calculations, the world would end by 2000.
Amish Bull - Rider Aspires To Big Leagues of Sport
Being an Amish bull-rider might appear a bit against the grain, but Yoder said it’s a natural fit for him. Yoder grew up around farm animals on his parents’ farm at Jamesport. When his parents weren’t looking, “my cousins and I would dare each other to try to ride calves and young steers....."
Man's Spiritual Journey The Focus Of Book
ABINGDON, Va. – For David King, a change seemed to be in order. This farmer had grown up in an Amish community at Lancaster County, Penn., then settled along the North Fork of the Holston River with his wife, Barbara, in 1995 and helped start an Amish community in rural Abingdon. King followed the traditional rules of the Amish, like shunning modern machinery....
Focus on Faith: The story of an Amish woman
Lucinda Streiker-Schmidt grew up on an Amish farm in Indiana and has nothing but fond, loving memories of her childhood. Yet, throughout her early life, Lucinda never stopped questioning the differences between her life and the "outside society." When she got a little older, Lucinda experienced the horrors of abuse, incest, neglect and emotional torment after being forced to marry into another Amish family.
Former Amish man honored for volunteer driving
In the first nine months of this year, Ken Hershberger volunteered 422 hours to drive more than 1,200 veterans a total of 15,733 miles to their doctor appointments.
Those peace-loving bearded folks from Witness? I called Torah, and after just a few minutes, I knew this post had to be written. For those of you who feel trapped because of a job or self-imposed obligations as an entrepreneur, this will put things in perspective. How do you escape your environment if you’re unable to control it? If almost no one on the outside realizes what’s happening?
Special Report: Leaving the Amish Life
It's the perfect May day in Elizabethtown, and the Schrock family is out enjoying the breeze. Today, the family's five strong, but seven years ago, Saloma and Isaac were a young dating couple in Senora, Tennessee as part of an Amish community.
The definition of Rumspringa is running around. This term refers to young Amish people, anywhere from the age of 16 until they get married. It is the time of dating and getting together with other Amish young people that have not married and it is a chance to get to know one another. This is also the time for the boys to take the girls on dates. In my experience (24 years living as an Amish person) it was not okay for the girls to ask boys on a date, the boys always asked the girls.
Anna Dee Olson, who lived the Amish lifestyle until age 24, describes her journey from growing up Amish to be shunned by her family for sinning and acting against the Amish faith.
Life with and without the Amish
I saw many of the people I grew up with, went to school with, and worshipped with do a lot of wild things on Rumspringa – the time when Amish teens get to live outside traditional Amish society without strict rules. I wasn’t nearly as adventurous as many of my friends, but ironically now live a life as a musician that perhaps many English (non-Amish) would consider wild even by their standards. Though, from what I have seen on television, still relatively tame compared to most musicians.
Part of his childhood was spent without electricity or running water, and his family traveled to town each week by horse and buggy. In fact, the first time Leroy Troyer rode in a car he got sick; he wasn't used to the speed. He grew up Amish in Wilmot, Ohio. There was no television, or time for sports.
Portrait of a young Amish man: a world apart from "Englishness"
Jacob Stoltzfus is in his final year of formal education, and it shows. His bright eyes and smile exude the confidence of a pupil who has mastered all that his school has to offer him, a young man who is about to put his childhood behind him and start the rest of his life.
How an Amish girl left her community but kept her family
Elizabeth Byler remembers a time when she would do anything to lead the life the average American is accustomed to. She felt like a slave to the black, blue or purple dress that made her so hot in the summer, and longed to cut her hair into a cute bob that was then the trend.
Born Amish Then Shunned: How I Reunited with My Amish Family
One of five children, I was born in 1979 to an Amish Family. My parents decided to leave the Old Order Community in Central Pennsylvania to make a new life. Upon leaving they took their children with them. When my parents left they were "shunned." Shunning practices vary within each Amish Community. Generally, Old Order Communities tend to shun severely (you don't exist to them), while more modern communities tend to do so with less harshness.
ONE week ago the tiny Amish community of Nickel Mines lived in peaceful isolation from the evils of the modern world. That innocent idyll was cruelly shattered by crazed gunman Charles Carl Roberts.
Dr Albert Miller Grew Up Amish
When Albert Miller finished college and applied to medical schools across the country, he got his very first rejection letter from the school he wanted to attend. Instead of accepting his fate, Miller called the University of Cincinnati with one simple request. I simply said, "I simply said, I know my application isn't the best you've had, but I have an unusual background. I asked for an interview, and if they felt after that, that I didn't belong there, I could accept that." Miller, now a doctor in Wooster, recalled. Miller was granted an interview and received another letter a short time later.
Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels
Founder of Auntie Anne’s Pretzels and Author of Twist of Faith was educated until the 8th grade in a small Amish school in PA. Her close-knit family celebrated a sincere Christian faith and also valued a marketable work ethic with a good eye for business opportunity....
Mary Byler: Abuse and Incest Among The Amish
When she wrote the letter that she hoped would protect her sister, Mary Byler was lying on a twin bed, surrounded by rainbow-colored walls and a sky-blue ceiling decorated with bright white clouds. A stereo sat on the floor beside her. There were no signs of the Amish upbringing she had left behind—no plain wood furniture or chamber pot. Nothing except a stuffed doll that had belonged to her 6-year-old sister. The little girl had put the doll's bonnet on backward.
The choice between living the rustic Amish lifestyle, or joining the fast-paced, convenient modern world, has always been an option for Amish teens. Many continue to embrace the security of their strict communities, where a horse and buggy is the mode of transportation, an 8th grade education is the norm, and a simple life is the road to salvation. But, as we hear from Kevin Niedermier, there are still young Amish who look for more in their lives, and choose the challenges of the outside world.
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