Hessian Amish (Waldeck and Hesse)
A small Amish community of tenant farmers that lived on noble and state estates in Waldeck, Wittgenstein, Berleburg and Hesse (central Germany) for about a century, roughly 1740–1860, and emigrated almost entirely to America in 1819–1860. Christopher’s Slabaugh ancestors came from this group (see John Slabaugh (1806–1861), Catherine Yoder (wife of John Schlabach)).
Where they lived
- Waldeck, a small principality west of Kassel (capital Arolsen); places named: Hüninghausen, an estate near Helsen, rented by Christian Gingerich as a dairy farm in 1743; Mengeringhausen, where Christian Schwartzentruber (b. 1765) ran the Galgenmühle; Reinhardshausen (1818).
- Wittgenstein and Berleburg, to the west (about 18 miles from Marburg); Upper and Lower Hesse (Niederhessen), around Marburg and Kassel. The ministers met on a farm called Mittelhof in Niederhessen in 1796.
- They were invited as skilled tenants: German rulers of the 18th century used Swiss-origin Anabaptists as model farmers, teaching clover, stall-feeding and better livestock (Mennonite Encyclopedia, “Hesse-Nassau”).
The congregation
| Year | What |
|---|---|
| 1743 | Christian Gingerich rents the Hüninghausen dairy farm in Waldeck |
| 1766–1810 | The Dutch Mennonite Naamlijst lists Waldeck, Wittgenstein and Berleburg as three congregations of “Zwitzers” (Swiss); ministers include Michael and Christian Gingerich, Hans König, Bantz (Benz) Schwartzentruber, David Ekker |
| 1779 | Represented at the great Essingen Amish Conference in the Palatinate by Christian Güngerich and Hans Schwartzentruber |
| 1796–97 | Meeting at Mittelhof; “the elders and ministers of the Mennonite Church who live in Hesse and Waldeck” republish the **[[Elbing |
| 1819 | Brothers John and Christian Schlabach arrive in Somerset County, Pa.; their parents and family follow in 1820; about 1825 the whole family moves to Holmes County, Ohio |
| 1830–1860 | Most families emigrate: to Somerset Co., Pa. (Springs) and Grantsville, Md.; west of Kitchener, Ontario; later Kalona, Iowa |
| 1832 | A group of Hessian Amish founds a congregation in Butler County, Ohio (Trenton) |
| 1859 | Christian Gingerich of the Fiddemühle complains the services “cause merriment”; by 1867 the European congregation has died out, its last members joining the state church |
Family names: Gingerich (Güngerich), Schwartzentruber, Schönbeck, Otto, Brenneman, Bender, Roth, Schlabach, Yoder. Their earlier origin was probably Alsace, and before that Switzerland: a Christian Güngerich of the Fleckenstein Hof in northern Alsace willed the Rödern estate to Christian Gingerich in 1738.
In America, descendants include much of the Springs–Grantsville and Johnson County, Iowa, Amish and Mennonite membership, and leaders such as S. C. Yoder and the Bender family (Harold S. Bender, editor of the Mennonite Encyclopedia). In Illinois and Ohio the Hessian Amish were known for voting Democrat while other Amish leaned Whig.
The Schlabachs
- The name is Swiss: Peter Schlapbach of Signau, Canton Bern, was an Anabaptist in 1538. Signau is also the parish where Hans Ramseyer (bapt. 1594) was baptized. A Jakob Schlabach of Oberdiessbach was jailed in Bern in 1660 and deported to the Netherlands.
- Schlabachs were among the Swiss refugees in the Palatinate after 1664, and later in Hesse.
- Peter Schlabach (1834–1906), elder of the Amish congregation in Upper Hesse, sat in the Prussian parliament in the 1880s and took his seat with an affirmation instead of an oath.
- Christopher’s line: John Schlabach (died in Germany?) × Catherine Yoder → John Slabaugh, b. 25 Apr 1806 in Germany, who came to Somerset Co. about 1824 with his widowed mother and a sister, and married Susanna Nisly (1816–1885) at Johnstown in 1834. The Encyclopedia notes “another John Slabaugh who settled near Johnstown, Pa., has descendants in Howard County, Ind.”: this is probably Christopher’s family, separate from the 1819 Holmes County brothers.
Still to find
- The exact Hessian village or estate of John Schlabach and Catherine Yoder: Byler (1993), pp. 62 and 134 (borrow-only online) task/human
- Whether the 1819 brothers John and Christian Schlabach were relatives task/ai
Sources
- Mennonite Encyclopedia IV (1959), “Waldeck” (H. S. Bender), “Schlabach” (M. Gingerich), “Schlabach, Peter”; II (1956), “Hesse-Nassau”. Free online: vol. 4, vol. 2.
- Byler, Amish Immigrants of Waldeck and Hesse (1993); Nolt, A History of the Amish (1992).
Record compiled 31 October 2026.
About this research
Supporting documentation is linked throughout. This project is an exercise in AI-assisted research and development, and I haven’t manually verified every link or conclusion. All transcriptions and translations of Swiss parish records were made with AI, and their accuracy should be treated accordingly.