We began creating a new community for the Amish as soon as we found a suitable area to begin development. We were overjoyed at the fact that soon new Amish would be coming in the next wave of immigration. We began creating a school house , a few houses, and a mill to grind our wheat. A few other Amish families that we sailed over with joined us a few weeks later. I am really glad we as a family decided to take the huge step of moving over to the colonies. Even though it was a risk and challenge, we do not regret coming here at all.
Hello all! I thought I would share my experience of immigrating to the colonies today.
The moment I stepped off the boat, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride to be one of the first Amish people to be in the colonies controlled by Britain. I felt oddly free here as I traveled through the colony of Delaware. Yet, I felt uneasy as people were pointing and staring at me and my family. When we stopped for the night at an inn, the owner would not let us stay as we were not Christian. What does he have against our religion? Our family came here for a reason: to escape religious persecution. How will we survive here if everyone is against religious freedom? Did we make a mistake coming to the colonies? We continued in our carriage until we could not go anymore. At last, around the time we crossed the border between Delaware and Pennsylvania, we stopped at the first inn we came across. We knocked on the door and begged them to take us in. Surprisingly, they let us in without questioning our religion. In the morning, we properly took note of our surroundings and were confused as to why people were not questioning our religion. I asked the head of the town why, and he replied with a simple, “We tolerate all religions here in Pennsylvania.” That made me sigh in relief. At last we found a place to settle peacefully. I learned from these experiences that Pennsylvania is a colony of religious tolerance. It is the only one around like this. Also, many other religious groups found Pennsylvania like we did and settled here as well. I am grateful that we found this colony and mildly scared when i think about how our lives would have been had we settled in Delaware or some other colony. |