Northkill Amish Settlement
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The Northkill Amish Settlement was established in 1740 in
Berks County, Pennsylvania Berks County ( Pennsylvania German: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading. The Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware Ri ...
. As the first identifiable
Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churches ...
community in the
new world The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...
,Nolt, p. 74. it was the foundation of Amish settlement in the
Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...
. By the 1780s it had become the largest Amish settlement, but declined as families moved elsewhere.


Settlement

The first Amish began migrating to the United States in the 18th century, largely to avoid religious persecution and compulsory military service. The Northkill Creek watershed, in eastern
Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...
, was opened for settlement in 1736 and that year Melchior Detweiler and Hans Seiber settled near Northkill. Shortly thereafter many Amish began to move to Northkill with large groups settling in 1742 and 1749. In 1742, the group was large enough to petition the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly of the
Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...
for
naturalization Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
rights, allowing them to purchase land. The group was strengthened in 1749 when
bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
Jacob Hertzler settled in Northkill and the settlement grew to nearly 200 families at its height.


Hochstetler massacre

The Northkill settlement was on the edge of the Blue Mountain, the legal boundary of European settlement according to agreements with Native Americans. During the
French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...
, local tribes under the command of three French scouts attacked the Northkill settlement on September 19, 1757. The Indians attacked the Jacob Hochstetler
homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses *Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept th ...
and set the house afire. The Indians stood guard around the house and torched the Hochstetler home, so the family could not escape without risking their lives. The Hochstetlers possessed firearms in their home (which they used for hunting), but due to the
Anabaptist Christian Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...
doctrine of
nonresistance Nonresistance (or non-resistance) is "the practice or principle of not resisting authority, even when it is unjustly exercised". At its core is discouragement of, even opposition to, physical resistance to an enemy. It is considered as a form of pri ...
, Jacob Hochstetler refused to allow the weapons to be used against the belligerent Indians. As the fire worsened, the family escaped out the cellar window, but the wounded Jacob Jr. (he had been shot during the initial attack) and Jacob Sr.'s wife, Anna (Lorentz) Hochstetler, slowed them down. She became stuck in the window during her escape, and was later stabbed in the back and scalped. Another daughter (name unknown) and Jacob Jr. were killed. Jacob Sr. and Joseph and Christian (ages app. 12–15 years) were taken captive. Jacob escaped after about 8 months, but the boys were held for several years, released after a peace treaty between the natives and the British colonial authorities was agreed upon; both sons of Jacob Hochstetler became members of Christian churches that taught the doctrine of nonresistance, with one of them becoming a minister. Altogether over 200 white people were killed in
Berks County Berks County ( Pennsylvania German: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading. The Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware River ...
during various raids. The number of Indians killed during this time is not known.


Decline

Northkill remained the largest Amish settlement into the 1780s and then declined as families moved on to areas of better farmland, mainly to Lancaster County and Somerset County in
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, where they formed the Lancaster Amish Settlement around 1760 and the
Somerset Amish Settlement The Somerset Amish Settlement, located in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, is the second oldest Amish settlement that still exists. It was founded in 1772 by Amish from the Northkill Amish Settlement in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Northkill Amish Set ...
in 1772.


Legacy

Although it existed for only a brief period, the Northkill settlement was fundamental in establishing the Amish in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
. The Northkill settlers included the progenitors of many widespread Amish families, such as the
Yoder ''Yoder'' is a surname of Swiss German origin of which the original spelling is Joder. It originated from the Canton of Bern in Switzerland. The name dates back to at least 1260, and is a shortened version of the name Theodore. Saint Yoder (d ...
s, Burkeys, Troyers, Hostetlers, and Hershbergers. Jacob Hochstetler is the subject of Harvey Hostetler's book ''The Descendants of Jacob Hochstetler''. In addition to listing the hundreds upon hundreds of Americans who share Jacob as a common ancestor, this book provides a detailed history of the Amish religious persecution in Europe, American immigration at the time, the massacre of Hochstetler's family members, and the kidnapping and subsequent escape of Jacob and his sons. The Hochstetler Massacre is also covered briefly in Paul Stutzman's account of his
Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tr ...
hike, which runs near the site. Stutzman claims to be a descendant of Jacob's daughter, Barbara Hochstetler Stutzman, already married and living nearby at the time of the attack, and continues with the following information about the site;
Beside old Rt. 22 and behind the tourist attraction housing Roadside America ... a historical marker tells of the Northkill Amish, the first Amish Mennonite settlement in America, and the Hochstetler massacre. The Northkill settlement dissolved after this attack."Stutzman, P. V. (2012). Hiking through: one man's journey to peace and freedom on the appalachian trail. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker. Chapter 16.


Notes


References

* * * Hostetler, Dan and Hochstetler, Daniel "The Hochstetler Massacre" http://www.jhfa.net/#!the-massacre/c1ygf


External links


The Historical Marker Database: Northkill Amish Marker


at
Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online The Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO) is an online encyclopedia of topics relating to Mennonites and Anabaptism. The mission of the project is to provide free, reliable, English-language information on Anabaptist-related top ...

Documentary video of the Hostetler massacre
{{coord, 40.51206, -76.11954, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-PA, display=title Amish in Pennsylvania History of Berks County, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania culture Massacres by Native Americans Massacres in the Thirteen Colonies 1740 establishments in Pennsylvania Christian nonviolence Massacres in 1757