My mom was #10 of 12 children her family, our extended family, cousins and such is close to 40, however none of us have had larger families ourselves. My ex-husband was #13 of 14 surviving children, he was from a small French Canadian community across the border from Northern Maine, his best friend was #18 of 18 surviving children. There was a lot of farming in that area so lots of family manual labor. My dad on the other hand came from the midwest and he was 1 of 3 boys, they were not farmers so the need for the extra hands was not so great. I think many people nowadays are trending towards the homesteading movement, larger families for them are a bit more necessary once again. I truly enjoy the information you bring with these video's, having not ever thought about the fact that the Amish would not use birth control. Thanks for keeping us educated.
In my area of central Pa. families tend to run between 8 and 11 . One family has 14. Interesting it’s 7 boys and 7 girls. Years ago one family had 16 . They tend to populate a community rather quickly. Lol!
Such interesting information. I am currently expecting our 8th. My grandma was in a family with 9 children and she had no running water in their Boone County West Virginia home. I was always amazed by that and thought if she can do it with no running water in the mountains I can do it in our modern world.
Hi from Melbourne Victoria Australia 🇦🇺 I'm one of 15 children, I'm one of 75 grandchildren. There was 6 foster kids and always there will be blow in's.. Large family is something I understand 😂🤣 As my mother always said, "There's always room at the table.
I like these videos! I grew up in Wisconsin where Amish folks aren't uncommon, and I was always curious when I saw them, but my parents told me not to stare and didn't allow me to approach them to ask questions.
That's a drag. We were always chatting with the amish kids that lived around us up in the Appalachian mountains. We didn't see much difference between ourselves, we all rarely wore our shoes, our moms all made our clothes, and most importantly, they also liked to play baseball.
My Grandmother was not Amish. She was German, Polish, lived in Chicago, and had 13 children, with 12 surviving. Not only Amish have large families. At one time, it was the norm.
Yesmy mom 10 kids dad 11 babies his family. In laws husbands mom had 10 dad had 12 siblings. These bug families 2 generations ago normal. The y took care of each other helping each other got older
If you follow the maths, the Amish community doubles every 20 years, and should have a population close to 5 billion by 2300. The rest of the human population is expected to start shrinking after 2100. The power of high birth rates! I, for one, welcome our Amish overlords.
If we could leave religion out of it then I'm up for it too. The Amish lifestyle (as far as sustainability and community taking care of its own) is to be admired IMO.
You did not mention this, but in many Indiana communities vasectomy is very popular. Families (that I observed or heard about) usually make that decision when they reached 5-7 children.
I'm not far from Seymour Missouri and we have 2 separate Amish Communities here. From what I've seen they mostly drive open buggies. Of course we have tons of others close by as well. Have you visited and Amish in Missouri? We are in South Central Missouri
We got furniture (chairs) made to order from an Amish furniture maker in Iowa. They are great chairs. And they did deliver the chairs using a non-Amish truck driver
We had many friends in the Amish communities of west-central Indiana (Putnam, Parke, Fountain counties). One neighbor had 20 children the last time we saw them. (we've moved several years ago.) They named the baby the same name as their firstborn. Exactly the same name. My husband joked, "Will that make it easier to remember names?" (their oldest 3 were adults and out of their house by then). They had a good laugh over it. Also, though the husband was looking old by then, long gray beard, less hair, etc his one and only wife didn't look a day over 30 and still had her figure. You could easily confuse her with her oldest daughter.
Had a Shenandoah Valley Mennonite woodworker customer who had 12 kids by age 40. And no intention of stopping. He & his wife had birthed babies every other year since their late teens. Bless her heart. And a few other parts of her too, lol... 😇
Mid seventies Lancaster Co. Pa. Widower marries widow. Twelve children each ranging from age two to twenty all under the same roof. An infant arrived after the first year. When you drove past at dinner time there was a line of boots on the porch about twenty feet long. Wash days the place looked like a three masted sailing ship under full sail.
In 1995, when my second son was a baby, I was in a second hand store looking for baby clothes. There was a Mexican woman in her 70s. If she were American, we would say she was a hillbilly from the deep hills. We got to talking (she spoke only Spanish) and she told me she had given birth to 22 children, several were twin births. The sad part of the story is that 8 of her babies had died within a week of being born. From her description, I am guessing they died of peritonitis from infection in the umbilical cord and because of her poverty and the remoteness of where she was living, she was unable to take them to a doctor.
Wow. Different times and circumstances. Hard to imagine what that must be like. Reminds me of something I came across recently in the Blue Ridge mountains in NC/VA. There is a historical marker for a VA woman who served as a midwife well into her 90s in the region, named Orlean or Orleana Puckett, helping safely deliver over 1,000 babies. The tragic "twist" in her story, for lack of a better word, is that she had 24 of her own pregnancies, 23 of which died within several days, probably due to a blood disorder. Pretty amazing story. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orleana_Hawks_Puckett
I've heard of John Troyer and his children with multiple wives. My maternal grandmother birthed 22 children from one husband. One year she had 3!! Of course, there was a set of twins. My fraternal grandmother birthed half as many, so it's easy to keep up with numbers for me. In my recent family lineage books, it does seem like my Amish cousins are having smaller families.
It's sad that the Amish are beginning to limit family size, because of the prophecy Jesus made when He spoke to the weeping women of Jerusalem as He bore His Cross on the way to Calvary: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days shall come, wherein they will say: Blessed are the wombs that have not borne and the paps that have not given suck. Then they shall begin to say to the mountains: Fall upon us. And to the hills: Cover us." {Luke 23 :28-30}
God video, Eric. Now let me tell you about Amish fertility. It depends on how progressive or conservative the group is. Here are the fertilities of the five largest Amish groups in Holmes County, Ohio, listed from progressive to conservative. New Order Amish, 5.8; Old Order mainline, 6.1; Dan (Andy Weaver) Amish, 7.8; Hostetler Amish, 8.7; Swartzentruber Amish, 10.5. That is live births per married Amish woman who is at least 45 years old. The Swartzentruber Amish figure is based on several calculations during recent years. The largest Amish family I ever came across (one father and mother) was 19 children, a Swartzentruber Amish family. The fertility of Western Europe is in serious decline, well below replacement level, but not to worry, the Amish will repopulate the earth!
ive been pregnant 12 times in 15 years. i have three living children kyle jr 4 Margret 3 and Karlton 1 my mothers family was FLDs and my grandmother had 22 brothers and sisters each of them had 2 to 10 children each and each of there children had 1 to 7 children each expect my cousin Ruth has 15 children
That's interesting about John Troyer and his huge family. What struck me was there is the brand of cold-cut meats I've purchased in a Mennonite grocery store in Central Missouri. Any connection or is this just a really common name among the Amish and Mennonites? Also, is there much inbreeding in these communities over the years?
Living near an Amish community I think it is a very common name and Troyer meats and cheese are sold all over the country. I worked at a large teaching hospital and Amish with rare genetic diseases were seen quite a bit as the inbreeding in communities perpetuates this as it does in other religious communities.
@@poodlegirl55 Thanks for your response. With so many communities where they share the same last name it shows why we non-Amish are not allowed to marry "close to home".
I can’t laugh, my catholic great-grandparents had a lot of kids spanning decades leading to my 2nd-cousins being as old as my mom and niece and nephews’ 3rd-cousin also being a 2nd-cousin by blood even if his parents aren’t related in any way!
I am from Melbourne Australia. My parents had 6 children. When I was about 8 I had a babysitter who was one of 18 children… so I guess it’s not only a Amish thing.
One factor that should be discussed is the fact that the Amish are working w/a relatively small genetic pool. I believe there is a study currently being done about this problem. In several Amish communities there are genetic abnormalities (physical & mental) showing up w/newborns because of the doubling up of genetic traits. Same thing is happening in the FLDS polygynist marriages/births. These problems are also starting to show themselves within the stricter, closed Jewish communities.
Yes some very rare genetic disorders do appear among Amish and Mennonites. There are a number of clinics which try to help these communities (and also non-Amish afflicted by them). The best known is the Clinic for Special Children in Strasburg, PA.
Maybe it’s something related to the food we eat since 1980s… the rates of type 2 diabetes in reproductive age people… or something in the processed food we eat… or that less children are abandoned into state care as they were in the 1800-1900s… before 1950 perhaps there was a higher childhood mortality rate.
Not aware of any data showing that the overall rate of genetic abnormalities is greater in the Amish communities than in the mainstream/English culture. Data shows that the Amish tend to better health, less chronic disease, and enjoy long life spans.
How long do Amish women breastfeed their infants? Exclusive breastfeeding can space children through lactational amenorrhea. From what I've read, Amish women don't breastfeed long, which explains why they might have babies close together.
For some women it might help space out pregnancies but for others it doesn't work. They might not be able to nurse long because they get pregnant again so quickly (I usually have to switch to bottles within a few months of getting pregnant for my own health) I exclusively have breastfed my babies and my cycle always returns about 3 months postpartum. Children are 19 months, 14 months and 16 months apart in age. My mom exclusively nursed and never got pregnant while nursing.🤷♀️ Every woman is different.
my mom was a 6 of 7 living, 13 total, catholic. she had 2, Baptistish. i had 4 plus bonus (step, adopted, foster) for a total of 8. my first set of sons i had at 19 and 20, with late ex husband. second set of sons at 37 and 41, with my husband. my #1 son and #3 son are so similar in looks, attitude and temperament that i am always calling them by the others name. having similar names doesn't help either.
Sounds like the old fashioned rural family unit makeup in the US, pre maybe 1940s and 1950s. I heard when i was a child, the saying, more children, more hands to help out. Also, do they pay regular taxes ,and so can they get child refunds? I'm surprised that some of them grow tobacco
yes - they pay taxes just like everyone else. Is there a reason you thought they didn't ? or was it just the rumor that is spread around that they don't. What is a child refund? Never heard of that !
@@CentralVirginian1 They may but since the Amish do not take 'handouts' from the government, would be interesting to know if they take that tax credit...
the land usually goes to the youngest because the others have already moved out and living on their own. The parents would stay on the land until they pass away.
one side LARGE Irish Catholic family...11 childrenl, 4 miscarriages., other side Scottish Protestants... 10 children ..not just the "Amish",my friend..happens across the globe with more diverse genetics
I lived next door to an Amish family in NY state. Not all Amish follow the rules. One Amish lady I knew was taking birth control. They just don't let anyone know about it.
came here to see if you r accruate and u r!im an old order amish woman w 4 kids an 27 yr old and am taking the pill bc of health reasons but not all amish would be agreed w it. but the church is not into my biz like that anyways.my parents come from 12 kid fams my husband and i come from a 8 kid fam and now will likely only have 4 kids so its a generational thing id say.
Could you make a video about the Amish communities outside the USA? I believe I read something about South America and even Japan before. Could you also make a video on how, when and why they branch out? After how many people, how do they decide where to buy new land? Who decides who will stay behind and who moves to the new colony? Also, as Amish keep growing and grow fast, do you think they will eventually branch out to more new countries? Perhaps also back to Europe one day? Thanks for your great videos.
I can say most don't but my Mother-in-law got her tubes tied after having her fourth son. Yes they were Amish. My Husband was the second of four boys. My sister in law took birth control and yes she was Amish.
I don't remember the family's name but I watched a video last year about one of the founding new order families from Lancaster' county. Supposedly they had 24 children when the schism happened in 66 and they had 40 or 39 when he died I thinking like the eighties. But I haven't been able to find the reference.
Well, I haven't ever seen evidence that there would be issues beyond whatever the "norm" might be, as far as infertility. Of course you sometimes come across the Amish family that has no children, or say just one. But that's pretty rare (it always stood out to me when I was selling books in Amish communities and visiting lots of families). So you might be able to tell something from that. Amish do adopt, however, for instance I had some friends who adopted several non-Amish children. A more significant issue would be certain genetic diseases which are very rare elsewhere but appear in Amish and Mennonite communities. There are several clinics whose purpose is to help diagnose and treat those diseases in Amish communities. The best-known is in Lancaster County, called the Clinic for Special Children.
@@AmishAmerica do you think you could talk about adoption? I have heard that the Amish do do transracial adoption. I am honestly interested if these children stay when they grow up? Or do they leave?
There is an ex Amish woman on YT that comes from a family of I believe 20 siblings or so. I cannot remember. Same mom and dad. Mom had several sets of twins.
You quote a lot of studies in this video but I wonder from your own personal experience, how many children do you usually see in Amish families? Have you ever seen an Amish family that had 2-3 children and said that's enough? What's the minimum that they usually go for?
Most Amish want to have big families, or expect to have them as that is the "norm". When I was selling books to the Amish I was visiting around 30 families a day, so I saw a ton of them, and was using Amish church directories so knew the family sizes. Families which were "completed" but were in the 1-4 range usually stood out to me. Most were 6-10, or if less that was a family still having children. As for the smaller families of course I never asked "why" but maybe there were health issues and some I'm sure just wanted a smaller family. Not especially common though.
@@AmishAmerica Thank you for the reply, Eric! A follow up question - Would you say that the Amish in the more urbanized communities were land is more expensive would have smaller families than the Amish in depopulating counties with low population density and cheap land? Of course controlling for how conservative the Amish settlement is.
The reason for this question is that according to the census data in Lancaster county 7% of people in the 18+ age group speak P. German and also 10% of the 5-17 age group do. In St. Lawrence county, NY only 4% of the 18+ speak P. German but 19% of the 5-17 age group do! It seems like the Amish fertility rate in the NY county is much higher.
Good eye to notice that. So I believe the difference in proportions reflects the fact that the SE PA region has a long history and contingent of non-Amish, non-Plain Mennonite PA German speakers, and they would tend to primarily be in the older age bracket (b/c the younger non-Plain generation in SE PA are generally not learning PA German). In St. Lawrence Co NY there is not the same non-Amish population that is speaking PA German, it is basically just the Amish, and that 4% vs. 19% difference more closely reflects the 4 or 5 to 1 proportion that is typical in an Amish family with 8-10 children and 2 parents.
So troyer is a usual last name? Because I'm wondering if that's Verne troyer's family line? Because I know he was raised Amish before he became an actor, because he and I share something in common , we were both born on January 1st 1969, but he died what a few years ago .
Another form of birth control that's common among conservative Christians and some Plain people is the rhythm method. Maybe this explains some of the smaller families in some Amish communities.
@@AmishAmerica Sorry, I missed that in the video. I rewatched it and caught where you said that. Now I feel dumb. Anyway, great video! I'm one of eight and one of my cousin's has twelve children. Can't imagine 31!
Women who are breastfeeding are also significantly less likely to become pregnant than they would be otherwise. Not sure if that necessarily applies to the Amish, but it is such a low tech method that it can happen without anyone noticing.
@@donkeysaurusrex7881 not really true .. my mom got pregnant with my brother while nursing me .. I got pregnant nursing my son … same with 2 of my friends … nursing doesn’t lower your fertility…as a nurse we make sure nursing moms don’t get that in their heads .. lots of nursing moms end up pregnant 🤰🏼..just FYI
My great great grandmother, who immigrated from Ukraine to the Russian Far East, had 13 children and was definitely not Amish 😅 so I'd guess it was normal back in the day.
Some Amish people have adopted black children - though I am not sure if and how may of them went on to join the church (since Amish choose baptism when adults and some choose not to join). Am curious where you saw the photo - do you maybe have a link?
@@AmishAmerica I saw a black lady wearing an Amish-like dress and speaking to other Mennonite ladies who were members of a local buggy-riding Mennonite community in Versailles, Mo. a few years ago. I do not know any details about her.
@@bman4737 My husband is Korean-American. His sister is African-American. They were both adopted out of foster care as toddlers by Old Order Mennonite parents. They have eight brothers who were baptised into the church and are deeply committed to their faith. Four of their brothers are adoptees, three are African-American, one is of El Salvadoran heritage. It's not incredibly common but it happens.
Imagine having 14 kids and getting your stimulus check every month for $3600 for every kid under 12yrs old, and $3000 for the 13-17yr. olds. And then giving that money away because you believe that if you didn't work for it, you don't deserve it.
That's true. I met a family once in Ohio who'd adopted a little boy from Central America. And sometimes they adopt when tragedy strikes within the community and both parents are killed. That's happened at least twice that I know of with quite large families. Very sad stories but those children probably got the best outcome possible in their situation.
I'm heartened to know Amish are having more children than English people. The world needs more good people. They are largely as God intended His children to be.
My parents came from very large families and I've known a few other people from similar large families. The older children become part time nannies in order to manage the household, the mother might basically supervise the home and not do any chores at some point, other than instructing and teaching.
i live in Amish country ,and one thing nobody never talks about it how the Amish are deeply rooted in puppy mills ,as of the year 2021 Lancaster Pa has 700 hundred Amish puppy mills with each having over 100 breeder dogs
My mom was #10 of 12 children her family, our extended family, cousins and such is close to 40, however none of us have had larger families ourselves. My ex-husband was #13 of 14 surviving children, he was from a small French Canadian community across the border from Northern Maine, his best friend was #18 of 18 surviving children. There was a lot of farming in that area so lots of family manual labor. My dad on the other hand came from the midwest and he was 1 of 3 boys, they were not farmers so the need for the extra hands was not so great. I think many people nowadays are trending towards the homesteading movement, larger families for them are a bit more necessary once again. I truly enjoy the information you bring with these video's, having not ever thought about the fact that the Amish would not use birth control. Thanks for keeping us educated.
In my area of central Pa. families tend to run between 8 and 11 . One family has 14. Interesting it’s 7 boys and 7 girls. Years ago one family had 16 . They tend to populate a community rather quickly. Lol!
Such interesting information. I am currently expecting our 8th. My grandma was in a family with 9 children and she had no running water in their Boone County West Virginia home. I was always amazed by that and thought if she can do it with no running water in the mountains I can do it in our modern world.
Wow that's awesome... Good luck may God bless you and your family
I came from 18 siblings and mom came down to DANG IT YOU when yelling at wrong kid lol ... I THOUGHT FUNNY
Hi from Melbourne Victoria Australia 🇦🇺
I'm one of 15 children,
I'm one of 75 grandchildren.
There was 6 foster kids and always there will be blow in's..
Large family is something I understand 😂🤣
As my mother always said,
"There's always room at the table.
My mom has 15 brothers and sisters..French Canadian catholic family..
My wife came from a family of 22 siblings. She is the youngest, her oldest sister is 83. Mom passed away in 2016 and was 98.
My Grandfather came to the US in 1901 . Had four kids with his first wife and 17 by my Grandmother. Looking at the family tree I have 61 1st cousins !
I like these videos! I grew up in Wisconsin where Amish folks aren't uncommon, and I was always curious when I saw them, but my parents told me not to stare and didn't allow me to approach them to ask questions.
That's a drag. We were always chatting with the amish kids that lived around us up in the Appalachian mountains. We didn't see much difference between ourselves, we all rarely wore our shoes, our moms all made our clothes, and most importantly, they also liked to play baseball.
My Grandmother was not Amish. She was German, Polish, lived in Chicago, and had 13 children, with 12 surviving. Not only Amish have large families. At one time, it was the norm.
My husband was number 7 out of 12. 7 boys, 5 girls. My husband's family is Catholic.
Yesmy mom 10 kids dad 11 babies his family. In laws husbands mom had 10 dad had 12 siblings. These bug families 2 generations ago normal. The y took care of each other helping each other got older
LARGE Irish Catholic family...11 childrenl, 4 miscarriages...not just the "Amish"
He never said or implied that ONLY Amish had big families
My Italian grandmother had 12 in the early 1920s through the 1930s.
If you follow the maths, the Amish community doubles every 20 years, and should have a population close to 5 billion by 2300. The rest of the human population is expected to start shrinking after 2100. The power of high birth rates!
I, for one, welcome our Amish overlords.
Lol
If we could leave religion out of it then I'm up for it too. The Amish lifestyle (as far as sustainability and community taking care of its own) is to be admired IMO.
@@jayemes1552 The Amish lifestyle is inseparable from their faith.
Hasidic Jewish families are also having high birth rate per woman.
@@kassrripples3659So are indeodnet baptist like the duggars and conservative catholics .
You did not mention this, but in many Indiana communities vasectomy is very popular. Families (that I observed or heard about) usually make that decision when they reached 5-7 children.
My dad was Amish. They don't have hate in their heart, less guns, more happiness.
Most all amish have guns, they are just smart enough to know when and how to use them.
I'm not far from Seymour Missouri and we have 2 separate Amish Communities here. From what I've seen they mostly drive open buggies. Of course we have tons of others close by as well. Have you visited and Amish in Missouri? We are in South Central Missouri
We got furniture (chairs) made to order from an Amish furniture maker in Iowa. They are great chairs. And they did deliver the chairs using a non-Amish truck driver
We had many friends in the Amish communities of west-central Indiana (Putnam, Parke, Fountain counties). One neighbor had 20 children the last time we saw them. (we've moved several years ago.) They named the baby the same name as their firstborn. Exactly the same name. My husband joked, "Will that make it easier to remember names?" (their oldest 3 were adults and out of their house by then). They had a good laugh over it. Also, though the husband was looking old by then, long gray beard, less hair, etc his one and only wife didn't look a day over 30 and still had her figure. You could easily confuse her with her oldest daughter.
George Forman named all his boys "George" :-)
Had a Shenandoah Valley Mennonite woodworker customer who had 12 kids by age 40. And no intention of stopping. He & his wife had birthed babies every other year since their late teens. Bless her heart. And a few other parts of her too, lol... 😇
Mid seventies Lancaster Co. Pa. Widower marries widow. Twelve children each ranging from age two to twenty all under the same roof. An infant arrived after the first year. When you drove past at dinner time there was a line of boots on the porch about twenty feet long. Wash days the place looked like a three masted sailing ship under full sail.
Great description and especially the ship :)
My grandfather was a Lancaster PA Amish. He was the oldest out of 14
I am not Amish. My parents had 18 children. I am number 17. 😬
In 1995, when my second son was a baby, I was in a second hand store looking for baby clothes. There was a Mexican woman in her 70s. If she were American, we would say she was a hillbilly from the deep hills. We got to talking (she spoke only Spanish) and she told me she had given birth to 22 children, several were twin births. The sad part of the story is that 8 of her babies had died within a week of being born. From her description, I am guessing they died of peritonitis from infection in the umbilical cord and because of her poverty and the remoteness of where she was living, she was unable to take them to a doctor.
Wow. Different times and circumstances. Hard to imagine what that must be like. Reminds me of something I came across recently in the Blue Ridge mountains in NC/VA. There is a historical marker for a VA woman who served as a midwife well into her 90s in the region, named Orlean or Orleana Puckett, helping safely deliver over 1,000 babies. The tragic "twist" in her story, for lack of a better word, is that she had 24 of her own pregnancies, 23 of which died within several days, probably due to a blood disorder. Pretty amazing story. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orleana_Hawks_Puckett
@@AmishAmerica crazy
Interesting.. you my man just earned a New sub.
Cool, glad to hear it Johnny!
I've heard of John Troyer and his children with multiple wives.
My maternal grandmother birthed 22 children from one husband. One year she had 3!! Of course, there was a set of twins.
My fraternal grandmother birthed half as many, so it's easy to keep up with numbers for me.
In my recent family lineage books, it does seem like my Amish cousins are having smaller families.
Wow, that's amazing. Those were different times, weren't they. Interesting that you've also observed a smaller family trend.
That is nice to know the Duggar family got an award for largest family.
It's sad that the Amish are beginning to limit family size, because of the prophecy Jesus made when He spoke to the weeping women of Jerusalem as He bore His Cross on the way to Calvary: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days shall come, wherein they will say: Blessed are the wombs that have not borne and the paps that have not given suck. Then they shall begin to say to the mountains: Fall upon us. And to the hills: Cover us." {Luke 23 :28-30}
Great video, very informative 👍❤️
God video, Eric. Now let me tell you about Amish fertility. It depends on how progressive or conservative the group is. Here are the fertilities of the five largest Amish groups in Holmes County, Ohio, listed from progressive to conservative. New Order Amish, 5.8; Old Order mainline, 6.1; Dan (Andy Weaver) Amish, 7.8; Hostetler Amish, 8.7; Swartzentruber Amish, 10.5. That is live births per married Amish woman who is at least 45 years old. The Swartzentruber Amish figure is based on several calculations during recent years. The largest Amish family I ever came across (one father and mother) was 19 children, a Swartzentruber Amish family. The fertility of Western Europe is in serious decline, well below replacement level, but not to worry, the Amish will repopulate the earth!
Very accurate video about the amish 👍
Wayne Miller from Centreville Michigan amish community had 20 children. Same husband and wife. That is the largest amish family I know.
Wow!
My grandmother was born in Germany (not Amish) and had 8 siblings. My grandfather was born on a farm in southern IL (not Amish) and had 11 siblings.
ive been pregnant 12 times in 15 years. i have three living children kyle jr 4 Margret 3 and Karlton 1 my mothers family was FLDs and my grandmother had 22 brothers and sisters each of them had 2 to 10 children each and each of there children had 1 to 7 children each expect my cousin Ruth has 15 children
!!!!!
That's interesting about John Troyer and his huge family. What struck me was there is the brand of cold-cut meats I've purchased in a Mennonite grocery store in Central Missouri. Any connection or is this just a really common name among the Amish and Mennonites? Also, is there much inbreeding in these communities over the years?
Living near an Amish community I think it is a very common name and Troyer meats and cheese are sold all over the country. I worked at a large teaching hospital and Amish with rare genetic diseases were seen quite a bit as the inbreeding in communities perpetuates this as it does in other religious communities.
@@poodlegirl55 Thanks for your response. With so many communities where they share the same last name it shows why we non-Amish are not allowed to marry "close to home".
I know of a gentleman who's Last name is Mast. Very good friends in fact! 130 + grand children! Very respectable family!
Were they from New York state???
@@billienuhfer447 Yes they are here in Upstate NY
I can’t laugh, my catholic great-grandparents had a lot of kids spanning decades leading to my 2nd-cousins being as old as my mom and niece and nephews’ 3rd-cousin also being a 2nd-cousin by blood even if his parents aren’t related in any way!
my youngest son is 70 DAYS older than one of my grandkids. so child and uncle are the same age.
Rhythm is practiced by Catholics too but most use birth control.
I am from Melbourne Australia. My parents had 6 children. When I was about 8 I had a babysitter who was one of 18 children… so I guess it’s not only a Amish thing.
One factor that should be discussed is the fact that the Amish are working w/a relatively small genetic pool. I believe there is a study currently being done about this problem. In several Amish communities there are genetic abnormalities (physical & mental) showing up w/newborns because of the doubling up of genetic traits. Same thing is happening in the FLDS polygynist marriages/births. These problems are also starting to show themselves within the stricter, closed Jewish communities.
Yes some very rare genetic disorders do appear among Amish and Mennonites. There are a number of clinics which try to help these communities (and also non-Amish afflicted by them). The best known is the Clinic for Special Children in Strasburg, PA.
This is happening a lot in the black communities too here in Africa... It's not just a Amish problem...
Maybe it’s something related to the food we eat since 1980s… the rates of type 2 diabetes in reproductive age people… or something in the processed food we eat… or that less children are abandoned into state care as they were in the 1800-1900s… before 1950 perhaps there was a higher childhood mortality rate.
Not aware of any data showing that the overall rate of genetic abnormalities is greater in the Amish communities than in the mainstream/English culture. Data shows that the Amish tend to better health, less chronic disease, and enjoy long life spans.
How long do Amish women breastfeed their infants? Exclusive breastfeeding can space children through lactational amenorrhea. From what I've read, Amish women don't breastfeed long, which explains why they might have babies close together.
For some women it might help space out pregnancies but for others it doesn't work. They might not be able to nurse long because they get pregnant again so quickly (I usually have to switch to bottles within a few months of getting pregnant for my own health) I exclusively have breastfed my babies and my cycle always returns about 3 months postpartum. Children are 19 months, 14 months and 16 months apart in age. My mom exclusively nursed and never got pregnant while nursing.🤷♀️ Every woman is different.
my mom was a 6 of 7 living, 13 total, catholic. she had 2, Baptistish. i had 4 plus bonus (step, adopted, foster) for a total of 8.
my first set of sons i had at 19 and 20, with late ex husband. second set of sons at 37 and 41, with my husband. my #1 son and #3 son are so similar in looks, attitude and temperament that i am always calling them by the others name. having similar names doesn't help either.
More kids, they do the chores.
Sounds like the old fashioned rural family unit makeup in the US, pre maybe 1940s and 1950s. I heard when i was a child, the saying, more children, more hands to help out. Also, do they pay regular taxes ,and so can they get child refunds? I'm surprised that some of them grow tobacco
yes - they pay taxes just like everyone else. Is there a reason you thought they didn't ? or was it just the rumor that is spread around that they don't. What is a child refund? Never heard of that !
@@emmib1388 They may be referring to the Child Tax Credit.
@@CentralVirginian1 They may but since the Amish do not take 'handouts' from the government, would be interesting to know if they take that tax credit...
If there is a large farm family who inherits the land? The oldest Son?
the land usually goes to the youngest because the others have already moved out and living on their own. The parents would stay on the land until they pass away.
Never thought anyone could surpass the Duggars!
one side LARGE Irish Catholic family...11 childrenl, 4 miscarriages., other side Scottish Protestants... 10 children ..not just the "Amish",my friend..happens across the globe with more diverse genetics
I lived next door to an Amish family in NY state. Not all Amish follow the rules. One Amish lady I knew was taking birth control. They just don't let anyone know about it.
Good for her.
came here to see if you r accruate and u r!im an old order amish woman w 4 kids an 27 yr old and am taking the pill bc of health reasons but not all amish would be agreed w it. but the church is not into my biz like that anyways.my parents come from 12 kid fams my husband and i come from a 8 kid fam and now will likely only have 4 kids so its a generational thing id say.
Could you make a video about the Amish communities outside the USA? I believe I read something about South America and even Japan before.
Could you also make a video on how, when and why they branch out? After how many people, how do they decide where to buy new land? Who decides who will stay behind and who moves to the new colony?
Also, as Amish keep growing and grow fast, do you think they will eventually branch out to more new countries? Perhaps also back to Europe one day?
Thanks for your great videos.
Could you make a video about the Amish communities outside the USA?
They are mennonites
my grandmother had 22 children
I can say most don't but my Mother-in-law got her tubes tied after having her fourth son. Yes they were Amish. My Husband was the second of four boys. My sister in law took birth control and yes she was Amish.
I don't remember the family's name but I watched a video last year about one of the founding new order families from Lancaster' county. Supposedly they had 24 children when the schism happened in 66 and they had 40 or 39 when he died I thinking like the eighties. But I haven't been able to find the reference.
I might factor in that some of these births are twins.
Do you happen to know if there are infertility issues in the Amish communities? My guess is probably not too many.
Well, I haven't ever seen evidence that there would be issues beyond whatever the "norm" might be, as far as infertility. Of course you sometimes come across the Amish family that has no children, or say just one. But that's pretty rare (it always stood out to me when I was selling books in Amish communities and visiting lots of families). So you might be able to tell something from that. Amish do adopt, however, for instance I had some friends who adopted several non-Amish children. A more significant issue would be certain genetic diseases which are very rare elsewhere but appear in Amish and Mennonite communities. There are several clinics whose purpose is to help diagnose and treat those diseases in Amish communities. The best-known is in Lancaster County, called the Clinic for Special Children.
@@AmishAmerica Thanks for the response. I didn’t know about the genetic diseases that exist amongst the Amish populations. Keep up the great videos.
@@AmishAmerica do you think you could talk about adoption? I have heard that the Amish do do transracial adoption. I am honestly interested if these children stay when they grow up? Or do they leave?
The largest Amish family that I met had 19 children. And the smallest was one by choice.
Where on earth do all these kids go after maturity/marriage? There's only so much patriarchal land to subdivide before it runs out.
john and elizabeth hershburger had 16 ,15 living children and her mother had 16 and her grandmother had 21
I knew a family in Michigan that had 19 children no remarriages
There is an ex Amish woman on YT that comes from a family of I believe 20 siblings or so. I cannot remember. Same mom and dad. Mom had several sets of twins.
I have alot of Amish friends , and they never seem to keep there pants up . They average 8 to 12 plus in each family .
It sounded like her fist husbands last name that she had to kids with
You quote a lot of studies in this video but I wonder from your own personal experience, how many children do you usually see in Amish families? Have you ever seen an Amish family that had 2-3 children and said that's enough? What's the minimum that they usually go for?
Most Amish want to have big families, or expect to have them as that is the "norm". When I was selling books to the Amish I was visiting around 30 families a day, so I saw a ton of them, and was using Amish church directories so knew the family sizes. Families which were "completed" but were in the 1-4 range usually stood out to me. Most were 6-10, or if less that was a family still having children. As for the smaller families of course I never asked "why" but maybe there were health issues and some I'm sure just wanted a smaller family. Not especially common though.
@@AmishAmerica Thank you for the reply, Eric! A follow up question - Would you say that the Amish in the more urbanized communities were land is more expensive would have smaller families than the Amish in depopulating counties with low population density and cheap land? Of course controlling for how conservative the Amish settlement is.
The reason for this question is that according to the census data in Lancaster county 7% of people in the 18+ age group speak P. German and also 10% of the 5-17 age group do. In St. Lawrence county, NY only 4% of the 18+ speak P. German but 19% of the 5-17 age group do! It seems like the Amish fertility rate in the NY county is much higher.
Good eye to notice that. So I believe the difference in proportions reflects the fact that the SE PA region has a long history and contingent of non-Amish, non-Plain Mennonite PA German speakers, and they would tend to primarily be in the older age bracket (b/c the younger non-Plain generation in SE PA are generally not learning PA German). In St. Lawrence Co NY there is not the same non-Amish population that is speaking PA German, it is basically just the Amish, and that 4% vs. 19% difference more closely reflects the 4 or 5 to 1 proportion that is typical in an Amish family with 8-10 children and 2 parents.
So troyer is a usual last name? Because I'm wondering if that's Verne troyer's family line? Because I know he was raised Amish before he became an actor, because he and I share something in common , we were both born on January 1st 1969, but he died what a few years ago .
yes, troyer would be a common family name
Another form of birth control that's common among conservative Christians and some Plain people is the rhythm method. Maybe this explains some of the smaller families in some Amish communities.
It could be. I think I make mention of that in this vid. Understandable how that would be more acceptable than conventional contraception.
@@AmishAmerica Sorry, I missed that in the video. I rewatched it and caught where you said that. Now I feel dumb. Anyway, great video! I'm one of eight and one of my cousin's has twelve children. Can't imagine 31!
No worries! Thanks a bunch and I'm a little bit envious of you for having so many siblings. I do really like the one brother I have though
Women who are breastfeeding are also significantly less likely to become pregnant than they would be otherwise. Not sure if that necessarily applies to the Amish, but it is such a low tech method that it can happen without anyone noticing.
@@donkeysaurusrex7881 not really true .. my mom got pregnant with my brother while nursing me .. I got pregnant nursing my son … same with 2 of my friends … nursing doesn’t lower your fertility…as a nurse we make sure nursing moms don’t get that in their heads .. lots of nursing moms end up pregnant 🤰🏼..just FYI
My great great grandmother, who immigrated from Ukraine to the Russian Far East, had 13 children and was definitely not Amish 😅 so I'd guess it was normal back in the day.
I seen a picture of a black Amish female. Are their black Amish?
Some Amish people have adopted black children - though I am not sure if and how may of them went on to join the church (since Amish choose baptism when adults and some choose not to join). Am curious where you saw the photo - do you maybe have a link?
@@AmishAmerica I saw a black lady wearing an Amish-like dress and speaking to other Mennonite ladies who were members of a local buggy-riding Mennonite community in Versailles, Mo. a few years ago. I do not know any details about her.
@@bman4737 My husband is Korean-American. His sister is African-American. They were both adopted out of foster care as toddlers by Old Order Mennonite parents. They have eight brothers who were baptised into the church and are deeply committed to their faith. Four of their brothers are adoptees, three are African-American, one is of El Salvadoran heritage. It's not incredibly common but it happens.
Imagine having 14 kids and getting your stimulus check every month for $3600 for every kid under 12yrs old, and $3000 for the 13-17yr. olds. And then giving that money away because you believe that if you didn't work for it, you don't deserve it.
The Amish community was likely not shut down as long and as extensively as other industries.
Like s with all of us, some Amish have fertility problems. And, some adopt babies and children.
That's true. I met a family once in Ohio who'd adopted a little boy from Central America. And sometimes they adopt when tragedy strikes within the community and both parents are killed. That's happened at least twice that I know of with quite large families. Very sad stories but those children probably got the best outcome possible in their situation.
They are human.
Do some states have a minimum age requirement for young Amish to use a horse & buggy on the road?
Do they have midwives? How do they train their doctors if theyre only allowed to reach 8th grades
Yes there are some Amish midwives and they also use non-Amish ones. There are no medical doctors in the Amish community, they go to non-Amish ones
Can Amish adopt a child? Or does an orphaned Amish child go to live with a relative like an aunt and uncle or grandparents?
yes -- Amish often will adopt..... And orphaned child would most likely live with another family member, just like most non-Amish :-)
I'm heartened to know Amish are having more children than English people. The world needs more good people. They are largely as God intended His children to be.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
My parents came from very large families and I've known a few other people from similar large families. The older children become part time nannies in order to manage the household, the mother might basically supervise the home and not do any chores at some point, other than instructing and teaching.
What books did you sell?
Family Bible Library set and Layman's Bible Encyclopedia
@@AmishAmerica thank you. We homeschool and are always looking for good things to read.
Do they have kids at home
Do Amish people vote ? Have any ever held office ?
just like non Amish -- some vote, others don't.....
My great great grandfather was Amish
Our Western World should have these values....too much selfish reasons. The high costs in cities don't help either.
You forgot Mechanicsville maryland
Not sure what you mean there. That community is not the subject of this video
Lancaster County is only 6% Amish
6 | 94
Holmes County, Ohio: 48%
i live in Amish country ,and one thing nobody never talks about it how the Amish are deeply rooted in puppy mills ,as of the year 2021 Lancaster Pa has 700 hundred Amish puppy mills with each having over 100 breeder dogs
Thank Gd I'm not an amish woman.
31 good god.
6-8 children? Not so much, where grew up they had a lot more children than that.
Is it any of our business?NO!
Speak up please!
they sound sex mad to me