by
Larry Pearce
12/4/24
19th century map of
Enon Valley, PA
I subscribe to Amish America, which is regularly posted online and covers America’s Anabaptist believers with photographs, interviews, and lots of information. As you may know, my wife’s Antibaptist grandmother, Annie Lee Krause (1885-1971), was of Somerset County descent with ancestors going back to eastern Pennsylvania and Switzerland before that. Our state has the largest Amish population in the world, and when author Erik Wesner recently did a piece on Enon Valley in Lawrence County, western PA, that hugs the Ohio border, I remembered that my 4XGreat-grandfather John Marshall (1765-1853) also farmed that rich area not long before the Amish got there. 
In this article, I’ll take you there and introduce you to part of my family, some original settlers to what was then the American frontier. I’ll show you around through the images captured and posted by Mr. Wesner and the Facebook account of the Enon Valley Historical Center prepared by president Judy Foster. While the descendants of my Marshall family are probably long gone from the Valley, the modern day plain folk, as the Amish are called, surprisingly make up the majority of today’s population. Ironically, my dad’s younger brother, Dale Pearce, served as the Superintendent of one of the county’s school districts, Mohawk, after his retirement from Grove City Schools, next door in Mercer County. If you didn’t know, this part of PA was considered “Indian Territory” before the end of the French and Indian War (1754-1763). Another school district serving the county is named the Blackhawk.
Lawrence Co., PA
Enon Valley is just south of another Lawrence County Amish population in New Wilmington. My cousin, Dr. David Gray, a retiree from Westminster College there, taught Psychology and still resides in the small rural town. A former pastor, he is a Presbyterian, as were our Marshalls. One might say that what attracted all these families was the richness of the farmland and the young minds waiting to learn.
Lawrence & Beaver Co’s, PA, and Ohio
Unfortunately, this area made international news just recently for a terrible train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, just a few miles from the Enon Valley.
Like my cousin Dr. Gray, my Marshall ancestors were Scots-Irish and probably spoke with a brogue when they first arrived, sounding like broken English. The modern day Amish there, while speaking English, often communicate with each other in “Pennsylvania Dutch,” a form of Deutsch, or German, the same as found in Lancaster, Eastern PA.
Enon Valley Presbyterian
Please take the time to read about my Marshall ancestors who came from Northern Ireland and settled in the Enon Valley. A terrific source of area history may be found at Durants’ 1877 treatise “History of Lawrence County, PA.”
Enon Valley Amish
However, little has been written on the Amish of Enon Valley aside from the online publications of Erik Wesner. Subscriptions there are free and worthwhile. Wikipedia contains nothing and Google simple shows dozens of photos, mostly from Wesner. The homes are beautiful and the food looks scrumptious. Find-a-Grave lists the burials at the Gilmore Road Cemetery. I hope you’ll join me and explore the heavenly Enon Valley of Western Pennsylvania’s Lawrence County, either virtually or by driving the short distance northwest from Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, according to Wesner, the closest Amish store and bake shop is a 30-minute drive to New Wilmington. Gutten Tag!
Last revised 2/10/25