Goodbye Mississippi

But the mail carrier didn't know which way father had gone.

We went down the road to another town. The first place we came to was a filling station. We stopped and asked if he'd seen an Amish man.

He said, "Yes, but not lately."

On the way back to father's house, the mail carrier said there were some Amish "down this road."

We went and there were several Amish families, all living close to each other and all related. We asked if they'd seen Adam Hostetler today.

The said "no."

I told them why we'd come and they said they were glad to hear that, because they didn't like to see him living all alone. If they could do anything to help, let them know. I was glad to hear that.

We went on back to father's house. He wasn't there yet. We were hungry and tired.

I took the mail carrier home.

I went to sleep as soon as I got back.

I was awakened by my father's voice. He said "I knew you was here."

I said "How did you know it was me?"

We told him what we had in mind.

He said he couldn't leave all the stuff here.

I suggested a sale.

He couldn't figure out how we could have a sale quickly enough.

I went and told the Amish we were having a sale. They came over and I auctioned off some of the stuff.

When we got back to Kansas, he stayed with me more than all the other children combined. He could have gone to live with one of his brothers in Indiana, but he was quite satisfied.

I give mama the credit for that; she was so congenial, she could get along with anyone.



In the Descendants of David J. and Magdalena Hochstetler, Third Edition 1995 listing for Adam D. ("Davey's" father) is an interview from July 1994:

Adam's granddaughter Lucille (#298) remembers attending with her family the Hochstetler Homecoming in Indiana in 1928, which Adam also attended. Adam also spent some time in Indiana during the final months of his father David's life, and was there when he died in 1929. some time after that Adam was living in southern Mississippi all alone on a peanut farm near Picayune. [There was a small Amish settlement in that county from 1929-1936 but it is not known if that was the attraction for Adam to move there. It is known that Adam's brother Samuel visited Hancock co. in Jan. 1930 and preached for that Amish group. See Luthy, p. 230ff.] Lucille remembers that between Christmas 1930 and New Years their family went to Picayune in their big Nash car to bring Adam to Hutchinson to live with them. On this trip they stopped in Popular (sic) Bluff, MO to visit her Aunt Lydia's family. Adam died of a stroke and was found dead along the canal in Hutchinson where he had gone walking near son David's home on Christmas Day 1931.