From Lancaster County to Lowville

This chapter traces the arrival of four Old Order Amish families from the Path Valley in Pennsylvania to Lowville in Lewis County. More progressive than Swartzentruber and less progressive than Clymer-area Amish, the Amish in Lowville brought to New York's North Country traditions that have their origins in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the oldest Amish settlement in North America. Descendants of the first Amish to make their homes in the New World, the Lowville settlers left Lancaster County to escape conflict with state and local authorities over their children's education. For the first half of the twentieth century, the Amish struggled with local school boards in several states, and these conflicts have historically been one of the major forces driving the Amish to establish new settlements.