Former Amish in the News

Growing Up Amish is a moving memoir of a life and lifestyle that is foreign to most of us: the Amish. Ira was born and raised in the Amish tradition, leaving and coming back several times before leaving for good when he was twenty-six. Years later, Wagler writes this heartwarming memoir that gives us a vivid picture of Amish life.

Dear Readers, Last week, I received this message from a young woman who read The Outcast . She had grown up in the Amish church but left under the protection of her family when she was nineteen years old. This is what she had to say:

Eau Claire — Here in western Wisconsin many of us wouldn't be too shocked to see a horse drawn buggy roll through our town, we know there are Amish communities mixed into our rural communities. One Eau Claire woman is breaking from tradition, as she pursues a life outside of her Amish family. When she's not busy studying or working her job at Menards, 26-year-old Sarah Borntreger volunteers her time at the Trinity Equestrian Center in Eau Claire. "I'm definitely a country girl. Growing up on a farm, we had horses, we had cows, no electricity, no TV, none of that," says Sarah.

For many Amish teens, Rumspringa means hard partying, dating, cars — and Facebook. So much for “What happens in Rumspringa stays in Rumspringa.” Since kids on Rumspringa are determinedly social (they are looking for spouses, after all), they don’t spend hours alone online. They use tech and social networking with purpose bordering on urgency. When I asked Noah what’s different about how the Amish use Facebook, he suggested that they use it more so than non-Amish do. It’s critical for a Rumspringa social life.

Sarah Borntreger didn't have a traditional education. Growing up as one of more than 20 children in an Amish home, Borntreger said she attended first through eighth grade in a one-room schoolhouse. At age 18, Borntreger left the Amish community. Over the years she learned that she needed more education to get where she wanted in life.

AUGUSTA, IL. — In a family that was Amish for generations, Mattie Mullet did the unthinkable. She left the community with its rigid rules after the age of 50 -- and then wrote a book about her experiences.

MILLERSBURG, OH — Lena Schlabach of the Millersburg area had a dream to own her own company, and in July 2012, the dream became reality when she launched Lena’s Amish Granola. “I was raised Amish, and my parents are Amish,” said Lena, who recently celebrated her 40th birthday. “I wanted a quality product to offer to the community and collaborated with an Amish family to make the granola for me, which I market it.”

MESA, Ariz. — Growing up Amish on a farm in rural Ohio, Elsie Keim was told from an early age that all she could expect to do in life was bear 10 or more children and live a simple, traditional lifestyle that rejects most modern conveniences. A self-professed "adrenaline junkie," Keim knew she wouldn't be happy. So with only an eighth-grade education and little knowledge of the modern world, she went looking for the ultimate challenge and the best job to fit her personality.

Pinecraft resident Katie Troyer teeters between the English world, the media and the Amish. It's a delicate balance, but she manages it between taking photos for the Pinecraft Pauper, blogging and following her own relationship with God without attending church.

I can still see his face. Lean. Determined. Framed by his lengthy beard. I can see him running up the hill toward our house. He was carrying his bag of doctor implements. Mom was having chest spasms, and any real doctor was miles away—across four hours of the broken, rutted, dusty Honduran road we took only as a last resort. The running man was my Uncle Joe. The smart one of the family. The older brother. The intellectual genius. When Uncle Joe walked by, we stopped talking and listened intently when he spoke. On this day, he rushed by, not paying any attention to us children.

The closest Marlin Yoder came to having a set of wheels as a youth in an Amish family was hitching the horses to the family’s buggy. He left that world behind to pursue his dream of NASCAR glory. Now 22, Yoder has been gone from his family’s home since age 17½. He’d long entertained thoughts about living as one of the “English,” as the Amish refer to outsiders, and he moved in with a friend who’d left the same Amish community a couple of years earlier.

Formerly Old Order Amish, Sam Burkholder now works on lawn mowers to make a living while leading Fairview Baptist Church in Pollock, Mo., as a bivocational pastor and serving the Rays of Hope ministry to the Amish that he and his wife founded.

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Sam Mullet, the renegade Amish bishop convicted on federal hate crime charges for his role in a series of beard-cutting attacks last year, has earned an unlikely nickname in prison. Among his fellow inmates at Northern Ohio Correctional Center, the towering 67-year-old with wire-rimmed glasses, pudding-bowl haircut and retro facial hair is known simply as “O.G.”

PARKE COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - There's a part of our Wabash Valley community that leaves many answers unsolved. That community; the Amish. Hundreds live among us, with several families in Parke County, Indiana. However, for most people, how the Amish live is a mystery. What you're about to see is a rare glimpse of Amish life from a family now excommunicated from the Amish order.

James Schwartz was raised in an Amish community in Michigan. In a segment on HuffPost Live, he shared his struggle to fit into this group when he realized he was gay. "If an Amish youth comes out to his parents and says 'I'm gay', then they really don't have any choice," he said. "They're going to have to leave. Unless they choose, of course, to stay in the closet."

Content with life, practice nearly 30 years after trial --- Solomon Wickey doesn’t remember much about his trial. At least, that’s what he says. Wickey puts his fingers to his lips and gazes down. His hair, in a traditional bowl cut, is a deep white now and his beard gray. He sits in a small chair in his office wearing a blue shirt and black pants that note his Amish heritage.

Esther Miller is a mother of six from Sugarcreek in the US state of Ohio. She is also a cowgirl and professional rodeo rider. Raised in a traditional Amish family where young girls did not join in such athletic pursuits, Esther always dreamed of barrel racing on horseback.

MIDDLEFIELD -- Some Amish leave the faith to pursue further education. William Troyer grew up in Middlefield and left the Amish community at age 18. "There's nothing wrong with being Amish, it just wasn't for me," says Troyer. He is now a student at the University of Akron who plans to become a teacher.

On May 10th, 2012 we buried our two year old nephew, the son of my brother William (former Amish) and his wife Jenica. When we first heard that Dalton passed away, it made little sense and was almost unbearable to accept. Dalton (front right), two years old, was mischievous and had no fear. His mother was cooking a wild turkey on the stove, which had been boiling in water for four to five hours and as the family eagerly waited for the turkey to get done, little Dalton was behind his mother at the oven and tried to pull himself up by the oven door handle. When he did that, the whole oven tipped forward and all the hot water poured down over his body. William and Jenica just moved into this fully applianced house less than two months ago and had no idea that the oven was not anchored down and the oven could tip. We would like to encourage you to leave a message for William and Jenica. Your message will instantly be send to both of their email accounts.

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I am a formerly Amish atheist. Life can get a little lonely when there’s no other person that you know of that shares your background and your skepticism. This post is a shout-out to ex-Amish atheists everywhere. We need to get together, socialize, and support each other. If you’re an ex-Amish atheist or agnostic, please comment on this page so we can get to know each other. I have also started a group on Atheist Nexus for people like us. Please come and join me;

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Esther Miller found a calling in her strong hands. They are bringing relief to the aching muscles of her clients at Hutchinson's Anointed Massage. The 24-year-old Miller can't believe how her life is coming together. Not only does she have her own business; she recently became engaged and is planning her wedding to Devin Schoonover, a man she met at church. She hasn't always felt so grounded or certain about life. Miller briefly lost her mooring when she chose to leave behind the traditions of her Old Order Amish roots. Though she has remained close to her family, through soul searching she has been led to a church that feeds her hungry spirit.

CLINTON - At age 20, Saloma Furlong stepped onto the night train out of Cleveland in a desperate attempt to escape her life among the Amish. In that moment, "It was both very exhilarating and a terrifyingly open feeling," she said in an interview Wednesday, Feb. 1. Thirty years later, out of a "stifling" childhood overshadowed by a mentally ill father, an abusive older brother and a mother who failed to protect her, Furlong's life has taken a very different direction; a college graduate and a wife and mother, as of January 2011 she can now add "published author" to her list of accomplishments.

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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.

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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...

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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...

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"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...

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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....

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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...

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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...

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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.

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