The Amish are an offspring from the Mennonites on the practice of shunning. They came to America later. The names of Amish families are found among the early settlers of Lancaster County as early as 1725. About 1740 an Amish congregation was established near the headwaters of the Conestoga and Pequea creeks in Lancaster County. This settlement has continued to be a prosperous Amish community, and today this region constitutes one of the largest Amish settlements in America. The early Amish settlers worshipped in private houses. They believed that to erect houses of worship was a tendency toward worldliness. They all continued this practice of worship until more recently. Today there are “House-Amish” and “Church-Amish.” The branch which is known among them as the “Old Order” still continues to worship in private homesteads. The Church Amish acquired a ‘church house’ for use in public worship. Their plain meeting houses are to be found in northeastern Lancaster County. Religion, whether in homestead or church, has first place in Amish life. The Church of the Brethren, sometimes called Dunkers, is another group of the plain People of Europe who accepted William Penn’s invitation in 1719 and to find its way to the Conestoga Valley. They follow closely the practice of the Apostolic Church. Since 1776 they have had higher institutions of learning, among them Elizabethtown College located within the boundary of Lancaster County. They have established homes for the aged, the infirm and the orphans in our area, and are well organized for missionary endeavor. Their substantial church buildings are scattered throughout the county. While the Plain People were among the earliest and most unique settlers in Lancaster County, they were soon followed in large numbers by the so-called church people of Europe: the Lutherans, the Reformed, the Moravians, the members of the Church of England and the Church of Scotland, whose descendants today constitute a large majority of the inhabitants of this county. The Lutherans who probably outnumber the members of any other religious denomination in Lancaster County, were among the earliest settlers having been associated with New Sweden as early as 1643. Many of their churches were founded in the county in the second quarter of the 18th century. The New Holland Trinity Church dates from 1730. The old Warwick Church at Brickerville records baptisms from 1731. St. Michael’s in Strasburg has a similar entry on May 1, 1730. Then there is the story of Old Trinity in Lancaster, with its beginning in 1729, the year in which Lancaster County was established. Its church building and school house were commenced in 1734.