A Demographic Profile of the Greater Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Amish

Abstract

This article provides a demographic profile of the Amish in the Greater Lancaster County settlement, the oldest extant community and the largest in the world today. A dataset, based on a sample of about one in five households (N = 1,494), was developed from the 2015 directory for the Greater Lancaster settlement. The data is summarized along 10 major topics, including widows and widowers, ordained men, occupations of men, age at first marriage, most popular months for weddings, most popular days for weddings, number of children, birth intervals, stillbirths and infant deaths, and age and sex distribution of the population. The results are compared with the findings from a study of the Lancaster County Amish by Elmer Lewis Smith, published in 1960, that includes selected population statistics from the first half of the twentieth century and information that goes back to the final decade of the nineteenth century. The findings show a great deal of demographic stability; that is, trends in such demographic features as family size show only small, incremental changes. Only infant mortality and the occupations of men have shifted significantly. The article concludes by discussing the need for additional demographic research utilizing directories from other communities, large and small, old and new, and of different Amish groups based on the relative conservatism vs. progressivism of their church disciplines.

A Population Profile of the Amish in Michigan

“…Across all three types of settlements, Thursday was the preferred day for marriage. This corresponds with the analysis of wedding days by Troyer (2021) and Donnermeyer (2023). However, the month of marriage varies considerably between the Greater Lancaster County settlement (Donnermeyer, 2023) and the Greater Holmes County settlement (Troyer, 2021).…”

“…This corresponds with the analysis of wedding days by Troyer (2021) and Donnermeyer (2023). However, the month of marriage varies considerably between the Greater Lancaster County settlement (Donnermeyer, 2023) and the Greater Holmes County settlement (Troyer, 2021). Troyer, noting that weddings are perhaps the most important social event among the Amish and a great opportunity to visit other settlements and see old friends and extended family, found that over time marriages in the Greater Holmes County settlement shifted from a post-harvest pattern to a preference for spring weddings or weddings earlier in autumn.…”

“…Likewise, there is little variation in the preferred day of marriage (Table 5). Some difference does exist in month of marriage, but it is clear that none of the settlements in Michigan follow the post-harvest pattern that is such a prominent contemporary feature of the Greater Lancaster County settlement (Donnermeyer, 2023).…”

“…In other words, by illustrating the percentage of males and females in fixed age groups, much can be learned about the past, present, and future of any human group. Age-sex pyramids constructed from other demographic studies of the Amish (Cross & McKusick, 1970;Hostetler, 1993;Donnermeyer, 2023) are structures that Hostetler (1993, p. 104) describes as "strikingly different" from those of the general population of the U.S. Even though there are slight differences in the age-sex pyramids of the populations living in Old Order, Swiss, and other conservative settlements in Michigan, all three are very similar.…”

“…(See Appendix A for a list of all existing and extinct settlements.) In the twenty-first century, the communities of Bronson (1971-circa 2021), Coral (1991-2011, and 2011, Elsie/Ovid (1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004), Hale (1978Hale ( -2004, Hersey (2003-2023), Ludington (1981-2011), Millington (2018-2023), Rosebush (1981-2014), and Vestaburg (1993-2006 have failed. In the Millington settlement, the church discipline now allows the ownership of motor vehicles, a technological dividing line between buggy-driving Amish groups and more progressive Amish-Mennonite and Mennonite groups.…”