Editing Nappanee, Indiana (section)

===Amish migration to Nappanee===
The [[Amish]] religious group that broke off from the Mennonites was formed in 1525 in [[Switzerland]] as part of the [[Radical Reformation]] and quickly spread to [[Germany]] and the [[Netherlands]]. As a more radical branch of the wider [[Protestant Reformation]] against Catholic practices, the Mennonites were vigorously persecuted by religious and worldly authorities. During the last decade of the 17th century a group from the Mennonites led by [[Jakob Ammann]] separated to form the [[Amish]] group which was named after its leader.

During the 18th century, the Amish were attracted to the promise of religious freedom in [[William Penn]]'s colony and thus settled in [[Pennsylvania]]. Amish then migrated to [[Middlebury, Indiana|Middlebury]] in 1841 coming from [[Holmes County, Ohio]], where they had migrated to from Pennsylvania, starting in 1809.<ref>[https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Holmes_County_(Ohio,_USA) Holmes County (Ohio, USA)] at [[GAMEO]].</ref> Nappanee's Amish originate from the early Amish immigrants from southwest Germany, notably the [[Electoral Palatinate|Palatinate]], to Pennsylvania in the middle of the 18th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amishcountry.org/explore-the-area/area-history/amish-culture|title=The Amish in Elkhart County, Northern Indiana - Amish Country|website=Amishcountry.org|access-date=27 August 2017}}</ref>

Amish families who became Old Order Amish in the second half of the 19th century first arrived in southwest Elkhart County in the early 1840s, and various other religious conservative denominations followed them. The First Mennonite Church in the area was founded in 1854, but members worshiped in homes, then built a schoolhouse in 1867 and also used it for services for several years (as did other denominations with their permission).

The first permanent building was erected in 1878, two years after the United Brethren Church moved from the schoolhouse into its own building (only to sell it and build a new building in 1888 and remodel it in 1928).<ref>Nappanee History p. 51</ref> Nappanee is still surrounded by family farms of conservative [[Anabaptist]]s, including the Amish, [[Mennonite]]s, and the [[Schwarzenau Brethren]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nappaneechamber.com|title=Nappanee Chamber of Commerce – Doing Business In Elkhart and Kosciusko County Nappanee|website=Nappaneechamber.com|access-date=27 August 2017}}</ref>