The Midwestern Amish Defined

While many of the Amish communities in the Midwest are somewhat more conservative and have somewhat different practices, one cannot totally put every midwestern community in the same basket based solely on their geograghic location. For example, the community near Arthur or Arcola, Ill is very similar to many of the larger Eastern communities. The community near Cashton, Wi. was started primarily by a group of people from a large community in Ohio. Therefore it is fairly similar to the Ohio communities.

It is therefore necessary to speak in generalities. Generally the midwestern communities are much smaller than the large Eastern communities, such as Lancaster County, Pa., Holmes County, Oh., Dover, Del., and Shipshewanna/La Grange, In. There are also many small communities in many of the eastern states; New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennesee, Michigan, Etc.

The Amish I will focus on are communities that my wife and I, or our relatives grew up in, such as; Snyder County, Pa., Orange County, IN., Bowling Green, MO., Clark, MO., La Plata, MO., Augusta, Wi., Granger, Mn., etc.

Who's that guy?

For those that care...The gray haired guy on the left side of the above photo is my uncle Paul Eicher. This picture was taken at a funeral in the Kahoka, Mo area earlier this fall. I took it (the picture) as we were driving down the road towards them from the back seat of Dad's van.

The Purpose of this Blog.

My wife and I were raised in Old Order Amish communities in the Midwest. We have noticed that most books about the Amish do not accurately portray the Amish we grew up with. It seems that the main reason/s might be because the authors were never a part of the Amish culture and/or were writing about the Amish of the larger communities in Pa. and Ohio. I have decided to write a book about the Amish in the smaller communities of the Midwest. So...I am starting this blogspot as a means to start putting some topics and ideas for the book in print. Perhaps someone will actually find this blog and ask questions or submit comments that will give me ideas for chapters/topics in the book. Please help me to keep this a clean, God honoring blogspot. Thank You.