Welcome to
our home page.We will be giving you some of our information on the History
of the Amish Settlers and when they came to Augusta Wis. in the 1970's.
|
|
Amish workers picking corn at the end of the season in late October. |
The Amish are a very religious group,who settled in 22 states and Canada.The old order of Amish live in Pennsylvania.The Amish stress humility,family and community,and seperation from the world.They are of a Dutch and German background.
The Amish,known as Anabaptist,origanally came from France and Germany.They live thier lives of simplicity.They shun all worldly affairs and gives more importance to the family and home.Thier farming is their livelyhood.
They use no Electrical things for their power at all.Its all Kerosene lamps for lights,they use horses for power of movement to and from places.And their farm work is all done by horses.The children are to walk to and from school. The Amish have not adjusted to our society,rather than the Americans have to adjust to thier way of life.Amish families are large and stable with age bestowing social status.
The first Amish settlers came to our community in the spring of 1978.There are now in Dec. 1999, 105 families. They live and farm in our town.The Amish dairy farms through out America provide 1/5 of our milk. All done by hand , starting at 5 am, approximately 2 hrs. at a time.They mainly grow corn and wheat, and raise chickens, pigs,goats(for milk and butter)and dairy cows.
There are 7 Amish schools in the Augusta area for
the surrounding region.The children begin when they are 6yrs. of age and
finish when they are 14yrs.old.The school aged children finish in the 8th.grade.All
the classes are in a 1 room school house.They are taught like;May your
life be like Arithematic, friends added, enemies subtracted, sorrows divided,
and joys multiplied. They also learned reading, writing, and English.
Learning through doing, a life of goodness, rather then a life of intellect
wisdom. But no religion is taught in school. They all go to 1 familys home
for thier church teachings, a different home every week and starts at 9am
to 12noon. Then a large meal is prepared for thier community.The marriage
takes place in the Amish community by boys and girls search for a spouse
when they turn 16. By the time she is 20 and he is in his early 20's. In
July or Aug., the young woman tells her family. After the 1st day on Oct.11,
fall communion takes place. After the service, the Deacon announces the
wedding. The farthers set the date and time. The man gives her a clock
or china instead of a diamond.The womans wedding attire will be her church
dress there after and she will also be buried in it when that time comes.They
are a simple and prosperous people and live by their own laws and teachings
of their Bible.
 |
An Amish buggy on our road in Augusta, Wisconsin. |
References:
Created by Maryann and Kathy D., part of the Cluster family, on December 4, 1999.