Joseph Stuckey and the Central Illinois Amish division

Joseph Stuckey, born in Alsace in 1825, came to America as a child and later became an Amish minister and bishop in Illinois. In 1872 a ministers’ gathering asked him to exclude a congregant who had advocated universalism. Stuckey refused to do so, although the historical account states that he did not himself hold that view. Fellowship was then withdrawn from him and his congregation.

Many Central Illinois congregations remained with Stuckey, producing the line that the exhibit calls the Stuckey Amish Schism. Their formal Central Illinois Conference was not organized until 1899. The two dates distinguish the breach in fellowship from the later conference structure and show how a local question of discipline developed into an enduring regional church history.