I received the following from my pal in Lancaster which I thought you
might find interesting (excuse his "agricultural" language!)
A few points:
1) Inbreeding IS a problem. Even allowing for their dispersal across
several states, their breeding/gene
pool is limited, so one sees more birth defects and inborn errors of
metabolism, recessive disorders that
are more likely to come to the fore when two related people hatch a
child.
2) Most of the young people, esp. women, wear tennis
shoes/trainers/runners. They also love to inline skate (Rollerblade),
but are not allowed to ride bicycles for some reason.
3) Most have reflectors and battery-powered blinking lights on their
buggies, since they often go out at
night. Some conservative bishops (the old farts who pass judgement on
such matters) in other areas think
the reflectors are frivolous or satanic decorations and don't allow
them!
4) The men shave until they get married, then grow a long beard but NO
mustache (do you spell it
moustache?)
5) The farmers aren't above cheating by using electricity in their
barns.
6) Although they're addicted to home remedies and homeopathic nostrums,
they happily embrace modern
medical advances and will accept surgery and medicines. One of their
young bucks had myeloma, and
about ten of them piled in a van (they don't drive motor vehicles, but
don't mind catching rides with
those who do, and will ride buses and trains) and came in to donate
blood for him. Since they don't bathe
very often, you could smell them from twenty feet away.
7) They don't vote.
8) We have battalions of Mennonites here too.
They're dumb and smug, but do indeed turn out to help others. They'll
go to any shitehole in the world if
someone needs help. They're inbred as well. A nice Mennonite guy in
the lab here has a cleft lip, and his
late sister had Down's syndrome, because his parents were second
cousins.
Janie Watkins
janie(a)paw-print.demon.co.uk
www.globalsnookercentre.co.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Gregory [mailto:nandjgregory@earthlink.net]
Sent: 30 December 2002 17:13
To: CARMARTHENSHIRE-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: [Cmn-L] Amish Cemeteries and Java
They fled from the Palatine in Germany for religious freedom, probably
from the state sponsored restrictions of the Lutheran Church, in the
1700s. They brought their language and religion with them and have found
no reason to alter their religious beliefs or their customs. It works
for them. I've never heard of an "inbreeding" problem since there are
tens of thousands of them in Pa, Ohio, Indiana, and farther west and
southm in Virginia. If they are at all interested in genealogy, all the
need do is consult their family Bibles. The strictly religious, don't
have motorized vehicles of any kind. The children learn only an old form
of German at home and don't they learn English until they attend school.
They attend school only because it is the law and quit when they turn
16. All the life skills they need are taught, and taught well, at home.
They have no professional clergy but attend services several Sundays
per month at someone's home.
They farm with horse and mule teams, they do not have electricity or
telephones in their homes and only have gas water heaters in their barns
to sterilize the milk containers if they are dairy farmers.
The women and girls wear a little lacy cap and long plain dresses held
together with straight pins because they consider buttons an
"adornment". Oddly enough, some of the girls at a farm producing jams
and jellies. were wearing sneakers/"trainers. The men wear black
trousers held up by suspenders/braces, blue shirts and a large-brimmed
black hats in winter and straw hats of the same design in summer. If the
man is married he always has a full beard. I think they make all their
own clothes including the hats (but not the "Trainers). They don't
steal, cheat or lie, will not sue anyone and are excused from paying
into "Social Security", the U.S. government's actuarially failing old
age pension plan/scheme because they woulnd not apply to collect it. I'm
not sure if they vote. The youngest son inherits the family farm and the
PARENTS and it is his obligation to care for them, not everybody
else's.All the older sons must buy or start a new farm somewhere else.
They are hard working, thrifty and possess manual skills, such as
carpentry and sewing (an Amish quilt is a prized, valuable and beautiful
heirloom) which in this "throw-away" world, cannot be found
elsewhere.They are perhaps the only people in the U.S. who can make and
repair wooden-hubbed, wooden-spoked, steel-rimmed wagon and coach wheels
and perform that service for folk all across the country. The beautiful
cabinetry on our new electronic church organ built in Macungie, Pa.
(where MACK trucks are also made) was done by a team of Amish.
Their construction projects, barns, outbuildings, homes are handled
cooperatively by their Amish neighbors. They ask nothing from anyone
except to be left alone. Isn't that an oddity these days. The only
"problem" they pose is that they drive these all-black, horse drawn
closed-in buggies and at night it is difficult to see them and they are
sometimes "backeneded" by careless drivers with serious consequences.,
even though the buggies must carry a large "day-glo" orange triangle on
the back. There was a push to force them to install battery powered
electric lights on the buggies but I don't think that succeeded because
using electricity from and source, violates their religious beliefs and
the commonwealth of Pa. has seen fit NOT to violate their religious
belirfs. They have some social problems, a mild case of juvenile crime,
droughts and crop failures etc. and they do get sick but I'm not sure
they make use of modern medicine or hospitals. Millions of tourists
visit Lancaster County just to see how they live and to be truthful to
gawk at them and to buy the farm and craft products they produce, adding
untold millions to the state and county economies.
But if you ever get the chance to visit their area, and I hope you do,
you should NOT take photographs of them since they consider that some
sort of a violation of the "Graven Image" commandment.. There is an
offshoot of the Amish called Mennonites who do drive motor vehicles and
use buttons. The Mennonites have a battalion of craftsfolk who respond
to natural disasters, floods, hurricanes, etc, by sending our all the
members of this battalion they can collect to repair damaged
communities. In 1972 a serious flood hit Wilkes-Barre and for weeks,
after the water had gone, Mennonites, men women and children, by the
busload, showed up every morning to help anyone in need with house
repairs of just cleaning mud from the inside of the flood damaged
houses. For this they WOULD NOT accept anything in compensation, not
even food. With more people like these we wouldn't need apply for
government help, wait several months and after the politicians had
helped their friends, and if you "quailfied" they might get around to
helping you.
Sorry to be so gabby but I think they are a society much like that to
which out 19th century ancestors belonged in Wales or here in America.
Visiting their area is a trip back in time 150 years. Rhodri, JAVA is
what COFFEE is called, probably because that is where some of the beans
originated. The term seems to have gone out of fashion and use here.
As to "sledge-hammering" gravestones to pieces for "Health and
Safety"
reasons? With whose "Health and Safety" are they concerned, those
interred? Hardly! Joe Gregory
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