Patrick E. Craig's Blog, page 3
April 18, 2014
Dear Jenny: What is an Amish Wedding Like?
Dear Jenny,
What is an Amish wedding like? Do you get married in a church or at home. Is there music and the traditional vows, or do you have a different way? I am very curious about this.
Debbie – Woodstock, New York
____________________________________________________________________________________
I received this letter from a reader a few weeks ago. When I gathered the information I referred to my notes about my mama’s wedding. Of course, that was in 1946, and a lot has changed since then, but I thought you might like to see what we did at an “old-time” Amish Wedding. As you might imagine, and Amish wedding is quite different from an Englisch one.
Most Amish weddings used to be planned for November, after the harvest cycle was finished. One way the community knows there is a wedding being planned is when the bride’s mother plants a large bed of celery, sometime in late summer. Celery is one of the symbolic foods served at Amish weddings. Celery is also placed in vases and used to decorate the house instead of flowers.[
By 8:30 on the morning of the wedding most of the community arrives. The guests pack the house and many more gather outside if there is no room. The Bride and Groom wear plain clothing and sit apart while the Armendiener (the Deacon) gives a sermon. She is often dressed in a light blue dress, instead of black. The people sing wedding hymns from the Ausbund, which is our hymnal, and then it is time for the vows. The couple comes forward. The minister asks whether they will remain together until death, and if they will be loyal and care for each other during adversity, affliction, sickness, and weakness. He then takes their hands in his and, while wishing them the blessing and mercy of God, tells them to “Go forth in the Lord’s name. You are now man and wife.” There are no rings or kisses exchanged.
Then the bride’s parents come to lead them in to the reception and the celebration goes on. The family moves the tables to seat the guests and the bride’s mother and her relatives bring out the feast. The newly married couple sits in the front corner of the room at the Eck table and are the first ones served. Ofter there are so many people in attendance that during the rest of the afternoon they might fill the reception room several times to feed all the guests. After the noon meal, there is singing. Then the Bride’s mother reminds her that it is time for “Going to The Table.” She appoints two married couples to oversee the tradition. They go to the unmarried women between sixteen and thirty and invite them to sit in one of the large upstairs bedrooms. The men go out to the barn where they stand around joking and visiting. The Bride and Groom go out to the barn and talk to the young men, trying to convince them to go into the house and upstairs where the girls were waiting.
One by one the young men go upstairs and ask their favorite girl to ‘go to the table.’ The couples hold hands as they come down the stairs and sit at the long table. Meanwhile the older folks are sitting on benches throughout the house. From time to time the group will break into a hymn. While they are singing the Bride’s parents pass around candies, fruits, cookies, and small pieces of cake. The singing might go on for hours until finally the young marrieds leave the table. Then the unmarried couples leave the table and go into the barn and talk. The Bride and Groom see to it that every unmarried person over the age of sixteen has a partner for the evening table. Tradition allows anyone who does not wish to take part to go home and then the Bride and Groom lead the couples in a procession into the house. Gaslights gave off their soft glow as the home resonates with the laughter and songs of the guests.
The Bride and Groom do not leave on a honeymoon, but often spend the night at her parents home. They do not take up housekeeping right away, but for the rest of the winter they make visits to their friends and neighbors where they receive gifts. With the help of their families, the Groom might spend the winter working on a house for them.
I hope that helps. My mama, Jerusha, had a very traditional wedding and when Jonathan and I were married we tried to follow the old ways as closely as possible, even though he had only recently converted to our faith. For an Amish girl, her wedding is one of the high points of her life, but what makes it most special is that her family and friends all pitch in to make it a wonderful day, especially her mama.
I hope this column is helpful,
Blessings
Jenny
*Jenny Hershberger is a fictional character from the Apple Creek Dreams series by Patrick E. Craig. To find out more about Jenny’s career as a writer, read Jenny’s Choice, the latest novel from Patrick E. Craig.
The post Dear Jenny: What is an Amish Wedding Like? appeared first on Patrick E. Craig.
April 17, 2014
Dear Jenny: What is an Amish Wedding Like?
March 21, 2014
My personal favorite from Jenny’s Choice
Then came a morning when Jenny awoke to a soft dawn that came creeping into her room like a mischievous child, softly kissing her awake with the delicate touch of a rose colored morning. Jenny opened her eyes, and saw the pale colors blushing in the fresh sky. She rose, wrapped a shawl around her shoulders and slipped outside. The day was fresh and clean and warm, and the grass felt cool and damp against her bare feet. Above her head the plum trees were just sending forth the tiny pink buds that would soon burst into brilliant color and paint the world with God’s palette. A single wren twittered its call and stillness lay on the land. Jenny’s heart stirred within her at the unexpected beauty of the morning. An old barn cat came around the side of the house, meowed loudly and bunted her head against Jenny’s leg. Jenny smiled and reached down to scratch the cat behind the ears.
“Hello, Perticket,”
The old cat stayed for a moment, enjoying the attention, and then wandered off. Jenny took a deep breath and the fresh air tasted sweet. The sun began to peek up over the hills to the east and bright rays of sun shining through the trees cast easy shadows across the fields. A little breeze sprang up and the air stirred around her, gently lifting the golden red curls from her face. Above her a vee of Canadian geese flew north, honking as they went. Jenny was touched by the wonder of the day and a thought rose in her heart like a small trout rising for a fly in a still mountain lake.
I’m still alive. This didn’t kill me, and I can still find joy and wonder in a day.
The screen door creaked behind her and she looked around to see her papa coming out on the porch. He was dressed for work and his handsome face broke into a smile. Reuben stepped down from the porch and came over to Jenny.
“You have a glow about you this morning, dochter. It is good for my heart to see life creeping back into you.”
Jenny stepped into the circle of Reuben’s arms.
Yes, I do feel life coming back into me. It’s as though I have been raised from the dead!
“Papa, thank you!”
“For what, Jenny?”
“For not giving up on me, for walking beside me, and for being my rock when the storm raged most fiercely about me.”
Reuben’s arms tightened around her. Then he spoke and she could tell the words were difficult by the way they seemed to be pulled from him, syllable by syllable.
“When Jenna died, I wanted to die. I felt so helpless and I believed that but for my wrong-headedness, Jenna would have lived. If das Vollkennen des Gottes had not sent someone to help me, I would have died by my own hand. And then Gott, in His infinite mercy and grace, sent you to us. I cannot explain to you how it happened, but when I saw you for the first time, I knew that you belonged to me and to your mama forever. I knew that I had been given a second chance and I loved you with every bit of the love that I had for Jenna. And so when I see you suffer, I suffer too.”
Jenny looked into her papa’s eyes; the deep sea-blue eyes with the smile behind them and saw home and safety in them.
“And so I would do anything to see you happy again. You make sonnenschein in meinem Herzen and now you have given us Rachel and the joy she brings with her is beyond our understanding. I cannot give Jonathan back to you. If I could, I would give my own life to do so. But that is beyond me, so I give you my love and this place and whatever you need to be happy again. That is my prayer.”
And as the bright spring sun warmed the earth, the winter of Jenny’s great sorrow began to melt away, and the icy stronghold that held her dreams and hopes locked in its frozen fastness crumbled under the warmth of her father’s love, and the river of life began to flow once more in her heart.
From Jenny’s Choice, by Patrick E. Craig
The post My personal favorite from Jenny’s Choice appeared first on Patrick E. Craig.
March 20, 2014
My personal favorite from Jenny’s Choice
March 10, 2014
Dear Jenny: Where did the Amish come from? – Part 3
For the last three weeks I have been writing about the history of the Amish – where we came from. This all came about when a reader sent me a letter. Here’s what she asked:
_____________________
Dear Jenny,
I have lived in Pennsylvania most of my life and have seen many Amish people. I always wondered where they came from and how they became Amish. Can you give me some background?
Cathy Bonnel
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
_____________________
Cathy, when I was a special intern at the Wooster library in 1965, I loved doing research about the Amish of Wayne County. My studies led me all the way back to Isabella of Hungary who was raised to a life of great wealth and leisure in the Polish Royal Court. She was destined to marry a king. But fate or divine providence intervened when she meets Johann Hershberger, the young Anabaptist stable-hand who works for her father. They ran away and were married. Together they had a son who along with his father became the first Mennonites in my family. That was in 1575. The story of what happened to Isabella is wonderful and yet very tragic. I have written about her in my book, The Mennonite Queen. At that time I was also working on a book about my family and my mama, Jerusha, shared many stories about sitting at her grossmudder’s knee and learning the story of our family.
One of the interesting things I learned was that the split between the Mennonites and the Amish came because of the practice of shunning – what we call the meidung. Here is what my mama’s mother told her about the Amish as I wrote in A Quilt For Jenna.
______________________
In the late 1600s a Hershberger was with the group led by Jacob Amman that broke away from the Mennonite church over Meidung, what the English call shunning. Jacob Amman insisted that anyone who broke the ordnung of the church must be excommunicated–not just from communion, but from the church and the people, as well,” said Hannah.
“I think it’s mean not to talk to someone who used to be your friend,” said Jerusha.
Hannah explained.
“It may seem harsh, but we see the need for it and that’s why the Amish, as they came to be called, left the Anabaptists and started their own church,” said Hannah. “You see, the Amish practice shunning as a means of enforcing a person’s commitment to God, which they make to the whole congregation when they join the church. Second Thessalonians 3:14 tells us, ‘And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.’ There are many other scriptures that support shunning, so we feel that the Bible is very clear. Because shunning is unique among the Amish, it also helps us to keep our church unique. Without Meidung our church would ultimately disintegrate and become like all the other churches. And if a person repents and changes his ways, they are welcomed back into fellowship.”
“We were so determined to live a pure biblical life that the Protestants and the Catholics, and even other Anabaptists, continued to persecute us. Finally in 1720, William Penn, the governor of Pennsylvania, offered sanctuary in America to any and all religious groups that were facing persecution in Europe. The Hershbergers were with the first group that came to America in 1736. They settled in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and tried to keep their communities closed and unnoticed, but they still faced severe trials. There were religious revivals sweeping through the colonies and many other religions tried to convert the Amish to their way of thinking.
__________________
And that, Cathy, is how the Amish came to America. We’ll talk more about their part in the history of our country next time.
Blessings
Jenny
*Jenny Hershberger is a fictional character from the Apple Creek Dreams series by Patrick E. Craig. To find out more about how the Hershberger family came to America, and specifically to Apple Creek, Ohio, read A Quilt For Jenna, the first book in the series
The post Dear Jenny: Where did the Amish come from? – Part 3 appeared first on Patrick E. Craig.
Dear Jenny: Where did the Amish come from? – Part 3
February 28, 2014
Dear Jenny: Where did the Amish come from – part 2
Last week I received this question from a reader in Pittsburgh. There was so much to the answer that I had to divide it into several parts. Here’s the question:
Dear Jenny,
I have lived in Pennsylvania most of my life and have seen many Amish people. I always wondered where they came from and how they became Amish. Can you give me some background?
Cathy Bonnel
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
_______________________
Here’s a short reprise of my introduction from last week. Then I’ll tell the rest of the story of Abel Hershberger.
The Amish have been an “official” offshoot of the Protestant religion since the 1600′s. But the roots of our movement went back to the early days of Protestantism around 1500. When Martin Luther first brought forth the radical idea that men were justified or freed from their sin by faith alone, the idea shook the world. But there were some people who felt that Christians also needed a set of rules to guide them in holy living. And so they moved away from Luther’s movement and became known as Anabaptists. They also rejected infant baptism because they felt that a person needed to be mature enough to make their own decision to follow Christ. Because they refused to baptize their children as infants, they came under great persecution from the secular authorities and the Catholic church, since their refusal kept the children off the tax rolls. Even the Lutherans joined in persecuting the Anabaptists. Now here’s the rest of my great-grandmother Hannah’s story…
_____________________
“When the persecution in Switzerland became too fierce, Abel Hershberger fled to Holland with his wife and five children. On the way, the soldiers caught them and killed Abel’s wife and four of his children. They were able to kill them because Abel Hershberger believed that to be a Christian, you must be non-violent, so he did not fight the soldiers, even as he watched them murder his family.”
“Why did he believe that?” asked Jerusha.
Hannah went on with the story.
“While he lived in Switzerland Abel read the writings of a man named Menno Simons, a man who preached peace and non-violence. Abel Hershberger became a disciple of Menno. He and other followers of Menno believed that Christians were to love their enemies and pray for those who treated them badly. When he was asked later why he did not defend his family, he said, ‘One either believes what Christ says and follows him, or he does not. There is no in-between. I will see my family in heaven, where our lives will be so much better than they could ever be in this wicked world.’ Abel took the commandment, ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ quite seriously. He and the others who followed Menno Simons were called Mennonites.”
“I’ve heard of the Mennonites,” said Jerusha. “They are a lot like us.”
“Yes, they are, Jerusha,” said her grandmother, “but in some basic doctrines we are far apart.”
“Go on and tell me about Abel,” said Jerusha. “What happened to him?”
“Abel went to Holland with his one remaining son. They became part of the group that Menno Simons led and followed him from city to city. There was a price on Menno’s head, but he managed to evade capture and organized the church in Holland. The Catholics especially hunted for Menno because he had been a Catholic priest who rejected the Pope, and they hated him for it. One night they broke into the house where Menno was preaching and all the Anabaptists ran out the back. It was winter and Abel ran with several men. They ran out on the frozen river and the soldiers that chased them fell through the ice. Instead of escaping, they went back and rescued the soldiers, who promptly arrested them. The soldiers tried Abel and burned him at the stake.”
“And that’s why he’s in the book?” asked Jerusha.
“Yes, child, and it’s a great lesson to all of us. Christ asks us to be like him in every way. Every trial we have in our life is a fire that burns away all the things of this world that we cling to and purifies our faith, so that when Jesus returns he will find a faithful people who have placed all their trust in Him and worship nothing above him. Sometime in your life you will face great trials, Jerusha.” said her grandmother. “We all do. How you face those trials and respond to the lesson that the Lord is teaching you will have a great influence on your eternal life and the remainder of your life on this earth. Even when it seems that we cannot go on, we must always know that God is working all things together for good, even the most horrible things.”
“What happened to Abel’s son, Grandmother?” asked Jerusha.
“Johann Hershberger was so impressed by the love that his father showed to his enemies that he gave his life fully to the service of the Lord. He became a great preacher and helped Menno establish the organization of the Mennonite church. He married and had seven children; three died in the first great influenza epidemic of 1580, and two were martyred by the Lutherans. Still Johann passed his faith down to his remaining sons and their sons. In the late 1600s a Hershberger was with the group led by Jacob Amman that broke away from the Mennonite church over Meidung, what the English call shunning. Jacob Amman insisted that anyone who broke the ordnung of the church must be excommunicated–not just from communion, but from the church and the people, as well.”
“I think it’s mean not to talk to someone who used to be your friend,” said Jerusha.
“It may seem harsh, but we see the need for it and that’s why the Amish, as they came to be called, left the Anabaptists and started their own church,” said Hannah. “You see, the Amish practice shunning as a means of enforcing a person’s commitment to God, which they make to the whole congregation when they join the church. Second Thessalonians 3:14 tells us, ‘And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.’ There are many other scriptures that support shunning, so we feel that the Bible is very clear. Because shunning is unique among the Amish, it also helps us to keep our church unique. Without Meidung our church would ultimately disintegrate and become like all the other churches. And if a person repents and changes his ways, they are welcomed back into fellowship.”
_______________
Well, that’s enough for today, gentle readers. I will tell more about the Amish and how they came to America in my next column.
Blessings,
Jenny
*Jenny Hershberger is a fictional character from the Apple Creek Dreams series by Patrick E. Craig. To find out more about Jenny read “The Road Home” and “Jenny’s Choice”, Patrick’s latest two books.
The post Dear Jenny: Where did the Amish come from – part 2 appeared first on Patrick E. Craig.
February 27, 2014
Dear Jenny: Where did the Amish come from – part 2
February 21, 2014
Dear Jenny: Where did the Amish come from? – Part 1
Dear Jenny,
I have lived in Pennsylvania most of my life and have seen many Amish people. I always wondered where they came from and how they became Amish. Can you give me some background?
Cathy Bonnel
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
_______________________
Cathy,
That’s a great question, and the truth is, you are not the first to ask it. So for a long time, I have been gathering information about the Amish and I’d like to use the next two or three columns to talk about the roots of my faith. So here we go…
The Amish have been an “official” offshoot of the Protestant religion since the 1600′s. But the roots of our movement went back to the early days of Protestantism around 1500. When Martin Luther first brought forth the radical idea that men were justified or freed from their sin by faith alone, the idea shook the world. But there were some people who stepped back from the “fever” that was sweeping through the church and wondered if the doctrine of grace alone left too much room for people to reject a moral law because they felt that under grace they could behave any way they wanted. This group felt that Christians also needed a set of rules to guide them in holy living. And so they moved away from Luther’s movement and became known as Anabaptists. When I was writing “A Quilf For Jenna” my mama, Jerusha, told me about the day her grandmother, Hannah Hershberger, told her the story of the Anabaptists. So I’ll share those notes with you.
_______________
One day when they were working on a new design together, Jerusha asked her grandmother a question.
“Grandmother, has our family always lived in Apple Creek?”
“We have been in Apple Creek almost one hundred years,” replied her grandmother.
“How did our family come to Apple Creek?” asked Jerusha.
Hannah paused and looked at Jerusha over her reading glasses, which she wore down on her nose, the better to see the stitching. Then she put down her work and, taking Jerusha by the hand, she led her to a small chest in the next room. Hannah opened the chest and took out two books. She held up the first. It was titled The Martyr’s Mirror.
“To understand how we came to Apple Creek, you must first ask, ‘Where did the Amish come from?’ This book was first printed in the year 1660 in Holland,” said Hannah. “It tells the story of the Anabaptists and their great desire for religious freedom.”
“What’s an Anabaptist, Grandmother?” asked Jerusha.
“Sit down, child,” said Hannah, “and I will tell you of our people.”
Hannah settled into a comfortable overstuffed chair. Jerusha curled up at her grandmother’s feet and laid her head on Hannah’s lap as her grandmother began to speak.
“From about the year 350 A.D., everyone who was a Christian belonged to the same church. It was called the Catholic Church and over the centuries it became very powerful and corrupt. In 1517, a Catholic priest named Martin Luther began to challenge the authority and doctrine of the Catholic Church. It was the beginning of what was called the Protestant Reformation. The foundational belief of the Protestants was that man is saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone, and not by any works that he does or money he pays to the Church. With the help of the printing press, Luther’s ideas spread throughout Europe. Many people followed Luther’s ideas about salvation by faith and called themselves Protestants, but still kept the Catholic rituals and practices. One of these practices was the act of baptizing infants to bring them into church membership, and at the same time, place them on the tax rolls. The government supported this practice because through it they had more control over the people and their money.”
“Our people don’t get baptized until they’re grown up,” said Jerusha.
“That’s right, child,” answered Hannah. “We believe that you cannot make a profession of faith in Christ until you understand what it means. We are the descendents of a group of people who challenged both the Catholics and the Protestants over this very idea. Because we were against infant baptism, they called us Anabaptists. In 1524 in Zurich, Switzerland, the city council, led by a Protestant priest named Ulrich Zwingli, demanded that the Anabaptists stop meeting secretly in homes, come back to the church and baptize their infants. The Anabaptists of Zurich held a meeting and re-baptized each other to signify their adult commitment to their faith.”
“Did that make Zingli mad, Grossmutter?” asked Jerusha.
“Zwingli, child. Yes, it made him very mad. He set the local soldiers on the Anabaptists. They were hunted down and told that if they didn’t baptize their infants, their children would be taken away. When they refused, terrible things happened. Some were just threatened, but others were exiled, tortured, sold into slavery, branded, even burned at the stake, drowned, or torn to pieces.”
Grandmother handed Jerusha the old book.
“This book was written to preserve the stories of hundreds of these Anabaptists who chose to suffer or flee rather than to resist by violence. You will find the story of Abel Hershberger included.”
“Who was Abel Hershberger?” asked Jerusha
“Abel Hershberger was the founder of our family and the first Hershberger of whom we have any written history,” answered Hannah. “He goes back twelve generations to the persecutions of Geneva and the roots of the Amish faith.”
“Did he fight the Catholics?” asked Jerusha.
“No,” said Hannah, “as a matter of fact he did just the opposite. He did what many of the Anabaptists did—he ran away.”
_______________________
Cathy, that’s probably enough for today, and besides my editor only gives me so many column inches. So I will continue with this topic next time. Have a blessed day.
Jenny
*Jenny Hershberger is a fictional character from the Apple Creek Dream series by Patrick E. Craig. You can find out more about Jenny by reading her story in Jenny’s Choice, Patrick’s latest novel.
The post Dear Jenny: Where did the Amish come from? – Part 1 appeared first on Patrick E. Craig.
Dear Jenny: Where did the Amish come from?
Dear Jenny,
I have lived in Pennsylvania most of my life and have seen many Amish people. I always wondered where they came from and how they became Amish. Can you give me some background?
Cathy Bonnel
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
_______________________
Cathy,
That’s a great question, and the truth is, you are not the first to ask it. So for a long time, I have been gathering information about the Amish and I’d like to use the next two or three columns to talk about the roots of my faith. So here we go…
The Amish have been an “official” offshoot of the Protestant religion since the 1600′s. But the roots of our movement went back to the early days of Protestantism around 1500. When Martin Luther first brought forth the radical idea that men were justified or freed from their sin by faith alone, the idea shook the world. But there were some people who stepped back from the “fever” that was sweeping through the church and wondered if the doctrine of grace alone left too much room for people to reject a moral law because they felt that under grace they could behave any way they wanted. This group felt that Christians also needed a set of rules to guide them in holy living. And so they moved away from Luther’s movement and became known as Anabaptists. When I was writing “A Quilf For Jenna” my mama, Jerusha, told me about the day her grandmother, Hannah Hershberger, told her the story of the Anabaptists. So I’ll share those notes with you.
_______________
One day when they were working on a new design together, Jerusha asked her grandmother a question.
“Grandmother, has our family always lived in Apple Creek?”
“We have been in Apple Creek almost one hundred years,” replied her grandmother.
“How did our family come to Apple Creek?” asked Jerusha.
Hannah paused and looked at Jerusha over her reading glasses, which she wore down on her nose, the better to see the stitching. Then she put down her work and, taking Jerusha by the hand, she led her to a small chest in the next room. Hannah opened the chest and took out two books. She held up the first. It was titled The Martyr’s Mirror.
“To understand how we came to Apple Creek, you must first ask, ‘Where did the Amish come from?’ This book was first printed in the year 1660 in Holland,” said Hannah. “It tells the story of the Anabaptists and their fight for religious freedom.”
“What’s an Anabaptist, Grandmother?” asked Jerusha.
“Sit down, child,” said Hannah, “and I will tell you of our people.”
Hannah settled into a comfortable overstuffed chair. Jerusha curled up at her grandmother’s feet and laid her head on Hannah’s lap as her grandmother began to speak.
“From about the year 350 A.D., everyone who was a Christian belonged to the same church. It was called the Catholic Church and over the centuries it became very powerful and corrupt. In 1517, a Catholic priest named Martin Luther began to challenge the authority and doctrine of the Catholic Church. It was the beginning of what was called the Protestant Reformation. The foundational belief of the Protestants was that man is saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone, and not by any works that he does or money he pays to the Church. With the help of the printing press, Luther’s ideas spread throughout Europe. Many people followed Luther’s ideas about salvation by faith and called themselves Protestants, but still kept the Catholic rituals and practices. One of these practices was the act of baptizing infants to bring them into church membership, and at the same time, place them on the tax rolls. The government supported this practice because through it they had more control over the people and their money.”
“Our people don’t get baptized until they’re grown up,” said Jerusha.
“That’s right, child,” answered Hannah. “We believe that you cannot make a profession of faith in Christ until you understand what it means. We are the descendents of a group of people who challenged both the Catholics and the Protestants over this very idea. Because we were against infant baptism, they called us Anabaptists. In 1524 in Zurich, Switzerland, the city council, led by a Protestant priest named Ulrich Zwingli, demanded that the Anabaptists stop meeting secretly in homes, come back to the church and baptize their infants. The Anabaptists of Zurich held a meeting and re-baptized each other to signify their adult commitment to their faith.”
“Did that make Zingli mad, Grossmutter?” asked Jerusha.
“Zwingli, child. Yes, it made him very mad. He set the local soldiers on the Anabaptists. They were hunted down and told that if they didn’t baptize their infants, their children would be taken away. When they refused, terrible things happened. Some were just threatened, but others were exiled, tortured, sold into slavery, branded, even burned at the stake, drowned, or torn to pieces.”
Grandmother handed Jerusha the old book.
“This book was written to preserve the stories of hundreds of these Anabaptists who chose to suffer or flee rather than to resist by violence. You will find the story of Abel Hershberger included.”
“Who was Abel Hershberger?” asked Jerusha
“Abel Hershberger was the founder of our family and the first Hershberger of whom we have any written history,” answered Hannah. “He goes back twelve generations to the persecutions of Geneva and the roots of the Amish faith.”
“Did he fight the Catholics?” asked Jerusha.
“No,” said Hannah, “as a matter of fact he did just the opposite. He did what many of the Anabaptists did—he ran away.”
_______________________
Cathy, that’s probably enough for today, and besides my editor only gives me so many column inches. So I will continue with this topic next time. Have a blessed day.
Jenny
*Jenny Hershberger is a fictional character from the Apple Creek Dream series by Patrick E. Craig. You can find out more about Jenny by reading her story in Jenny’s Choice, Patrick’s latest novel.
The post Dear Jenny: Where did the Amish come from? appeared first on Patrick E. Craig.
