It was an ordinary day. Reading about "Plain people" (primarily Amish) who are Christian groups characterized by separation from the world and by simple living, including plain dressing in modest clothing which includes a headcovering for women. Many Plain people have an Anabaptist background. These denominations are largely of German, Swiss and Dutch ancestry, though people of diverse backgrounds have been incorporated into them. Conservative Friends are traditional Quakers who are also considered plain people; they come from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds. Well...Lancaster newspaper's well-known columnist Jack Brubaker, aka "The Scribbler", reported in the Lancaster Sunday News that Holmes County, Ohio claimed that they are home to the world's largest Amish and Mennonite population. NO WAY! That just can't be true, said Jack. And, why does he say that? Well, Mr. Edsel Burdge Jr., an Elizabethtown College statistician for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies provided population estimates on the Young Center's "Amish Studies Website" that state that the Amish population in Lancaster County (which includes parts of Chester and York counties) numbers just over 43,000 residents. Well, Holmes County and three contiguous counties claim to have 38,635 Old Order Amish. But, do Mennonites in Holmes County enlarge the total Plain population beyond Lancaster's population? Nah...not a chance! Holmes County has about 4,000 car-driving Plain people, mostly Mennonites, living in greater Holmes County. About 19,000 Old Order and other Plain people live in Lancaster County! So, no matter which way you look at it, Lancaster County, not Holmes County, has the largest Plain population in the world! And...Thank You Jack for supplying me with all those numbers. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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