How do you tell the Amish from the Mennonites or the Old Order Amish from the New Order Amish? How do you tell Horse and Buggy Mennonites from Holerman Mennonites? How do you tell Hutterites from everybody else? It’s not that easy, but there are a few clues to go by.
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Old Order Amish
Old Order Amish have two distinct characteristics: They drive horse and buggy and they use Pennsylvania German in church services and everyday language.
Old Order Amish children attend school only to the eighth grade. They take turns meeting in member’s homes for church. The Amish follow simple customs and refuse to take oaths, vote, or perform military service. They shun modern technology and conveniences and reject radio, television, computers and electricity. Their clothing is plain. The men usually wear beards. The women usually wear solid white or black head coverings and plain dresses, usually without buttons—they use straight pins to fasten the clothing.
Horse and Buggy Mennonites
It’s easy to get mixed up when it comes to the Mennonites.
Across the country there are many different customs and cultures among the Mennonites.
There are two types of Mennonites in our general vicinity. The Mennonites that live on Highway M in the southeast corner of Daviess County are called Horse and Buggy Mennonites.
Horse and Buggy Mennonites are as conservative as the Old Order Amish in Jamesport. The two groups are very much alike. Both, obviously, drive horse and buggy. They also both dress plainly and don’t have electricity, radio or TV or computers.
However, there are key differences: the Mennonites speak English and hold church in meeting houses.
Unlike the Amish, the Mennonite men do not wear beards. Mennonite women typically wear dresses with patterns and designs, in contrast to the plain fabrics of Amish women.
The Highway M Mennonites also ride bicycles, while the Amish sometimes drive small carts pulled by ponies.
The Mennonite family on Highway M raises and sells produce in the summer and has cattle. They do carpentry and construction work and are establishing small businesses in the future, including metal, cabinet making, and a saw mill.
Holderman Mennonites.
The Mennonites who live in Jamesport are called Holderman Mennonites and are more progressive. They drive cars, dress modern, use electricity and computers. However, they also don’t have radios or televisions.
Swartzentruby Amish
The Swartzentruby Amish live near Spickard. They are ultra-conservative Amish. They don’t even like riding in a car. They still use outhouses and have no indoor plumbing.
New Order Amish
The New Order Amish split from the Old Order after there were church differences. With that the old order Amish have ex-communicated the new order Amish, which means the old order members are not to have business dealings with them of any kind or eat at the same table. The new order church uses mostly the English language instead of the German. Also the new order group uses more modern conveniences such as cell phones, tractors to farm, and most of them use electricity. They still try to maintain a plain Christian based lifestyle.
Hutterites
Daviess County is home to the first Hutterite colony in Missouri. Three families, six adults and five children, moved onto 190 acres of the Boyd farm, located six miles northeast of Gallatin on Highway K, in 2014. The population has now grown to 61 and the colony has built two new houses.
The Hutterites branched off from the Anabaptist movement in 1528 in Europe. The Hutterites believe in economic communalism and rejection of private property based on practices of the early Christian church in the Bible. Though the Hutterite life style preserves a philosophy that dates back to 1530, their housing and vehicles and equipment are all modern day and progressive.
Though they share common roots with Amish and Mennonites, Hutterites differ from these two other Anabaptist church communities on their “take on the common life and community of goods.”
The Daviess County Hutterites are Schmiedeleut.
The Colony farms a little and does cabinet working, stainless steel work and well drilling.