bbaker

I Would like to travel to Switzerland in Jume and research and retrace Amish origins. Any
suggestions?

Jean

Are you tracing origins of the religion or origins of your family? You might visit one of the genealogy web sites and post an inquiry.

www.ancestry.com
www.rootsweb.com

... just to mention two sites.

Cicerone

I think the Amish in the US are of Dutch ancestry.

Intrepid

The "historically correct" name for the Amish as "Amish Mennonites" although many of them have forsaken that so as not to be confused, I suppose, with those folks who are more accepting of some meachanical and "modern" conveniences.
The ultimate origin of all Amish (Mennonites) lies in Switzerland with the followers of Jacob Amman who broke away from the mennonite church.

Riffic

My grandparents grew up Amish and I still have many living Amish relatives. I can tell you for certain that this part of the family hails from Switzerland. Just two years ago, my parents visited the city from where my father's ancestors came. It is called Stefesberg (or something very close).

You might not find too much about the Amish in Europe, since one of the reasons for immigrating to the U.S. was religious freedom. If you do find anything, it would be great if you post your findings on this forum.

Good luck.
Steve

Cicerone

ok I learned my thing for the day. . .kind of ironic becuase I live in Switzerland and none of my Swiss friends have ever heard of the Mennonite movement, nor does the Fodor's book have any details!

To complicate matters further I went to college in Gettysburg and we used to consider Mennonites to be of German descent and not the same as the Amish.