76 / Pioneer Amish Communities

church barefooted, roaming the woods in search of racoons and opossums, rolling logs, picking brush, and relishing many meals of corn bread and milk." He married in 1853 and began farming in Monroe Township and by 1876 owned a 140-acre farm, "among the best in the township." He served the community in minor township offices, assisted in the building of a "fine church" for the Amish with whom he had his membership for thirty-five years. In politics his sympathies were with the Whigs for whom he cast his first vote and with the formation of the Republican party he became an active member in the local scene.''

D. D. Yoder was born in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, in 1830 and came to Ohio with his parents in 1845. He became owner of a "fine farm of 160 acres" and in 1875 donated an acre of land for the building of a church at $1,753, donating $140 to the building fund. The history states that

he has always been identified with the Republican party since its organization. Mr. Yoder is the architect of his own fortune, and in everything he has undertaken he has been successful-in the ten years during which he dealt in farm implements, as well as in other vocations. He possesses 251 acres of fine land, and connected with every industrial enterprise you will find the

name of D. D. Yoder."

Jonathan Yoder is sketched in much the same fashion. Born in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, in 1829 he came to Ohio in 1845, settling in Champaign County and then in Logan County. He attended school for only five years and for the rest of his life he was a farmer. In 1852 he married Anna Sharp and they became the parents of eight children. Jonathan Yoder, it is noted, was no office-seeker "but has always taken deep interest in the selection of upright men to fill the various positions, and has always been identified with the Republican party since its organization.""

The above persons may not be "average" or "typical" since there is reason to believe that the biographies were selective on the basis of land ownership and prosperity, roles in church and community leadership, and-one somehow suspects-membership in the Republican party. The sketches suggest, however, that as the Amish moved to the frontier and settled on its broad fertile acres they took with them their centuries-old tradition of faith, family, and farm-all closely knit into a covenanted community that, hopefully, would assure the future of a cherished way of life.