Amish Stud

    We went to the small town of Yoder, Kansas, an Amish town, and visited the Amish hardware store, the Amish furniture store … and so on.   

My friend said something that I found hard to believe and I told her that I was going to ask you about this and see what you said.

    My friend was told that a man claimed he is an “Amish stud,” i.e. he helps Amish women get pregnant because there is so much intermarrying (cousins and such) that there is a real problem with birth defects in the Amish community.

    Brenda, I found this so, so hard to believe — but I’ve been surprised by some of the things I’ve read in your blog. I still find it truly hard to believe that the Amish community would do this.

So, can you clear this up for me and my friend? Any truth to this statement?

Whoa! Glad she asked me in her search for truth. I emailed her my reply, then promised to take it a step further by asking some of my former Amish pals.

First, read my reply . . . 

As for the Amish 'stud' - I know of no such thing. Of course, there are truths to intermarriage & resulting birth defects. I posted about that topic in 2013. Our former-Amish "son," Mosie, has two cousins married to each other.

And you know there are many different Amish Orders—many of which are concerned about bringing in "fresh blood" but the way they handle that is to move the settlement to another state. Further, the Amish are so secretive about human sexuality, I doubt they'd ever consider or talk about such a "service" to women. (Tweet That)

I suppose there *could* be some little-known sect that might do this . . . still since I've not heard of them doing this as a way to help Amish women get pregnant, my conclusion is: he wishes he was. LOL

Second, in their own words, here are the replies of some of my former-Amish friends . . . 

·      it's really far fetched I think. there are enough amish not related that I would think they could move someplace else ..Otherwise I have never heard of such a goofy thing. I will bet some of the amish I know would get a very good laugh out of this. if they saw it.  Martha.

·       Ha ha. Yoder Kansas is named after my ancestors, not incestors.  Ed

·       Like the tourist in Lancaster County Pa stopped at a filling station and asked the attendant where he could find Amish. The attendant told him, you won't see any this time of the year. They are all inside as it's their breeding season and they won't come out.!!  John

·       oh for Pete's sakes...now I've heard it all! Some folks really DO believe anything! wonder if he charges for stud services or maybe the gals chust bake him a few pies.  Esther

·       lol i have been asked many times if this is true, who ever believes this, dos not no the Amish, talk about ppl believing trash, kinda like some believe those stupid shows that r on tv.  Ann

·       Brenda, I know of a lot of Amish who, after being tired of answering questions, throw out something crazy & untrue. Ppl tend to believe anything! There was something that was even published in a book when my Dat [dad] was young that was untrue due to the teens making it up. I had someone believe the Amish branded their firstborn. Yup, I have a small burn mark on my right forearm! Ok, so I ran into a hot cookie sheet as it was pulled from the oven. This lady, for a year, was always asking these outrageous questions about us Amish kids she worked with. One day after asking if Amish Women beat their stomachs to abort unwanted children, I turned to her & said "no they don't, they just brand their first born" SERIOUSLY!!  Edna

Edna's remark shows how frazzled some Amish are over fictional stories and rumors about them. (Tweet That)

Feel free to . . .

1.  forward this post to your friends & family,
2.  provide a link on your blog or website to www.BrendaNixonOnAmish.blogspot.com, 
3.  tell program planners of my availability to speak on the Amish.

Your Turn: What would be your response to this question?

(C)Copyright, 2014, Brenda Nixon.