Chapter Index

Go to RESOURCE section!

You can click on the Zero if you need assistance. If you are an Amish Victim you can also call me on my cell # 1-740-359-1030

CHAPTER 8

We lived with sister Amanda and her family for the next couple weeks. They seemed happy to take us in and try to help us out. Word of our return traveled quickly among the Amish. My parents even got the word in New York. It hadn't even been a week since we arrived at sister Amanda's place, when my parents showed up. They didn't have much to say, though it was like they were in shock.

I didn't know for sure whether they were happy to see us. I do know we didn't feel too welcome around them. Meanwhile, I helped Jake on the farm, and Fran helped Amanda in the house. A few Amish showed up while we were staying there. I felt like it was just to see what we looked like, or how we acted, since we'd been gone from the Amish for so long.

I had one more sister living in this area, and Fran had four sisters. However, those two weeks we stayed at Amanda's and Jake's place, none of the rest of the family showed up to pay us any kind of respect, or even just to say "Hello, welcome back."

The second week we were told we had to go to Guernsey County, Ohio, where we had left the church. It was time to go and see the Bishop, and he didn't take very kindly to me having taken his daughter out of the Amish. At this time, he had three boys out of the Amish. Fran and I had nothing to do with that, the boys had left on their own.

Amanda and Jake hitched two horses to a two-seated buggy, and we started our long trip to Guernsey County, which was between sixty to seventy miles from Wayne County. We took along some oats and hay for the horse since it was such a long trip. We drove thirty fives miles, stopped, fed the horses and gave them an hour to rest. We arrived in Guernsey County about twelve hours later, and went directly to my father-in-law's place.

Dan came out of the house as we were getting off the buggy, but there was no smile on his face. We unhitched the horses, put them in the barn and fed them. Meanwhile, my brother-in-law, Jake talked to my father-in-law. Sister Amanda took Fran in the house.

Fran's Mom cooked up a nice supper for us. After supper, Dan told us we could stay in the old empty house, which was vacant at the time.

Fran's parents were retired from farming. Only Fran's sister Sarah was at home now. Dan had rented all his farmland out to another Amish farmer who lived five to six miles up the road. This wasn't their custom. Usually when parents retire one of their children moved home and took over the farming. However, Dan didn't get along with any of his married children, and none of them wanted to move home. We couldn't take over farming, since we were condemned in the eyes of the Amish.

"But," Dan told us, "You can stay here for a month or two. You'll have to look somewhere else for work. I can't give you any work, and wouldn't even if I could. I couldn't stand to benefit from anyone who's excommunicated."

"Thanks," was all I said.

Jake and Amanda stayed the night at Dan's house before heading for home the next morning. Before they left Jake said, "We'll truck one of our horses down for you to use for the time being." Although they weren't well off financially, Jake and Amanda did everything they could to help us. Later on, the church punished them for this.

None of the rest of the Amish in that little settlement was willing to help us or give us a chance. A few of them tried at first for a week or two, but soon stopped. During the next couple weeks of I went out looking for work. I built fences, did some carpentry for English people.

If I didn't have any work, I grabbed an ax and started cleaning up my father-in-law's place, which was starting to grow up quite badly. This was my way of thanking him for letting us stay there. I was also hoping he'd forgive us, and give us a second chance. I cleaned up brush for roughly a month in my spare time. One day Dan broke my heart. "David, this has to stop now!" he said. "What you've done is wonderful, but that doesn't matter. In the eyes of the Amish I'm a leader. I helped excommunicate you. Now I'm getting work out of a condemned man. It's got to stop immediately. It would be best if you, your wife and daughter found some place else to live."

At this time, some of the Amish still think I'm the one who stole Joe George's car and I'm guilty of that crime, even though I was teasing my sister that evening while she was dating her boyfriend. Tony and Dennis are now both married and have two or three children. In the eyes of the Amish community they are outstanding church members and can't do anything wrong. They still haven't confessed to the crime of stealing Joe George's car.

Meanwhile, Fran, her mother and her sister Sarah were enjoying being together again. Barbara was a sweet lady, and always had a friendly smile on her face. I loved Fran's mother, like my own. The next day we hitched the horse to the buggy and drove around the Amish country looking for an empty house.

We finally found one, but it was really run down. There were weeds in the front and back yard, up to four feet tall. There was a small stream of water that ran about a hundred feet in front of the house. There had been an old wooden bridge in the driveway, to get to the house, but it was in such disrepair it was un-usable. There also was a big hill behind and in front of the house, and was located on a small gravel road.

Eventually we found out that the guy who owned the place, was from Cleveland, Ohio, more than a hundred miles away. The only way for us to get a hold of the gentleman was through Leroy Smith, a modern dairyman.

Leroy milked more than a hundred heads of cows, and had a young Amish couple living there, doing his milking for him. The young couple lived in a small skid house on Leroy's farm. A few days later we learned where Leroy was located, and decided to pay him a visit. We arrived at his place around nine o'clock that morning. Leroy came out on the porch and invited us in the house.

We went in and introduced ourselves and Leroy offered us a cup of coffee, and we started talking. His wife Janet was making breakfast, and Leroy insisted that we eat with them. We couldn't refuse. Leroy said, "I know the guy who owns the place you're looking to rent. I'll call him and talk to him personally. I'll set up an appointment with the owner of the property, so you can talk to him." In less than a week we had an appointment to meet Eddie who was the owner of the property at Leroy's place. We were at Leroy's place early in the morning of our appointment.
Eddie arrived about an hour later. Leroy, Eddie and I talked for a couple hours. Then Leroy and Eddie went off by themselves for a while longer. When they came back, Eddie said, "You can rent the place if you put in a new bridge and fix up the house. This wasn't much of a deal the place was a real dump.

Leroy said, "I'll give you a days' work here and there, but I don't need much help because he had one Amish working for him already. I understand the Amish are very limited to what they can or cannot do."

The next week we were busy, trying to clean up the place. The house was a mess inside and out. Big piles of trash were laying everywhere on the floors. By the end of the week, the house on the inside was halfway ready to move into. One of Leroy Smith's sons helped me replace the bridge. Once this was done, we moved in, but the grass hadn't been cut yet.

A couple days after we moved in the house, I went to our closest Amish neighbor Sam, who lived two miles up the road from us, and asked, "Can I borrow a team of his horses and a mower to at least mow around the buildings?"

"I can't, but I'll send my oldest son Henry down to mow grass for you, who isn't a member of the church yet," Sam answered.

The next morning Henry showed up around nine o'clock. After mowing about fifty feet, the tongue broke out of his mower. Henry unhitched the horse from the mower, and said, "I'll be back after dinner." But he didn't show up after dinner.

He did come back the next day, however, with a team of horses and a wagon to get the mower. I knew right away there was something wrong when I saw the look on Henry's face.

"What is it, Henry?" I said.

"The elders of the church talked with my Dad, and told him that he shouldn't have anything to do with you and Fran,” said Henry.

The elders said, "Look you broke your tongue in your mower, when you were trying to help them. Isn't that enough of a sign. Doesn't that tell you that David and Fran are no good? Don't help them anymore."

If Sam had helped us anymore, he would probably get punished in church for it. So, that was the end of that. We knew now for sure that we had made a terrible mistake by trying to go back to the Amish. Still, we decided to keep on trying, hoping things would get better.

I saw Leroy Smith a couple days later. "What happened that the Amish men didn't mow around the buildings?" he asked. When we told him, he became very upset. "Enough is enough," he said. Then he went and got his tractor and mowed around the buildings for us.

By then, the Amish, our own people, were putting out so many rumors about us that it was almost impossible to work for our English neighbors, who was our only source of income at that point. A month went by like this. One day Leroy Smith showed up again, and he noticed the color of our skin wasn't too healthy.
Leroy looked through the house, and saw that we had hardly any food. Leroy told me to come to his place the next day and he'd find me some work. "I can't pay much," he added, "but I'll see to it that you, your wife and your daughter don't go hungry."

Fran and I tried to do with less food so our daughter could have more. I worked on Leroy's farm for a couple weeks. A lot of times when I went to work on the farm, Fran and our daughter Debra came along and spent the day in the house with Leroy's wife, Janet. The Amish couple that was living at Leroy's doing the milking got fired. Leroy said it was because they weren't doing their job anymore, but I believed that Leroy saw the whole Amish community turning their backs on us, and he and Janet couldn't take it any longer.

With the Amish couple gone, I worked steady for Leroy on the farm. The Amish just got colder and colder toward us. There was no forgiveness in their hearts for us. We felt we had no choice but to leave.