I have been doing some research lately that includes looking at the relationship between the Amish and Dunkard churches. This made me think of a book that I bought years ago and I located it on one of my shelves.

The Mystery of Jacob Amman by William R. McGrath investigates some of the unanswered questions about the life of Amman. Jacob or Jakob Amman is where the name Amish comes from.

Amman was born in 1644 in Erlenbach, Switzerland near to Lake Thun. The area is outlined in the map above. You can see it is near Steffisburg where many Amish families came from.

In the 1660’s Amman moved to Bowil which is in the Emmental region. On the previous map it is near the 10 in the upper center. I decided not to add a map here as I wanted to use the picture from the back cover of the book. This is the house he lived in near Bowil.

Amman had to flee to Alsace in the late 1600’s and settled at Markirch – Today known as Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines.

In 1712 the Anabaptists were expelled from Alsace and there are some stories and hints that Jacob Amman may have joined those who immigrated to Pennsylvania. The first Amish in Berks County were know to have immigrated at about that time.

In the 1720’s a group of Amish headed south to North Carolina and McGrath makes an argument that Jacob Amman may have been part of this group. This group settled along the Ewharrie river in what is today Randolph County. In 1742 a group of Dunkards moved to the area from Pennsylvania and it is believed that the remaining members of the Amish settlement joined them. In 1770 the minister of the Dunkard church there was Jacob Stutzman who had an Amish connection. There were several Dunkard settlements in the area and many of these settlers later moved west to Kentucky and Indiana.

My Sears and Kern families were among the Dunkard settlers.

Some things to think about and a road map for additional research.

Steven