Chicago Tribune news : Nation/World
Chicago Tribune news : Nation/World: "Father seeks child between two worlds in an Amish home
By Paul Levy
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Published June 15, 2005
IRONTON, Wis. -- Just 15 months old and wearing an Amish bonnet and light-brown dress made by her mother, barefoot Rachel Schrock sat on a bare wooden floor and cooed, a picture of innocence.
The toddler lives on a farm tucked away in the hills of west-central Wisconsin, where paved roads are oddities and horse-drawn buggies are more common than cars. Church bell-like vibrations of 3-foot-long wind chimes gently interrupted the silence. At the wooden steps by the door were matching leather boots filled with soil and sprouting flowers.
'We choose to live the simple, quiet life,' said Samuel Schrock, who is married to Rachel's mother and listed himself as Rachel's father on her birth certificate.
But he is not Rachel's biological father, and her life has been anything but simple. A month ago, an Iowa judge predicted in court, 'This little girl is going to have, at best, a very complicated life.'
Rachel is the object of a custody battle pitting an Amish mother against an Iowa businessman more than twice her age, a clash of cultures that may be without precedent, an expert said.
Biological father
Rachel's undisputed biological father is Dieter Erdelt, 67, a first-generation German immigrant, a Roman Catholic, and the owner of an Oelwein, Iowa, greenhouse and landscaping company.
He said he has employed women from Amish communities just south of the Minnesota state line for years.
Although he was married, is the father of four grown children and is a grandfather, Erdelt became in"
By Paul Levy
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Published June 15, 2005
IRONTON, Wis. -- Just 15 months old and wearing an Amish bonnet and light-brown dress made by her mother, barefoot Rachel Schrock sat on a bare wooden floor and cooed, a picture of innocence.
The toddler lives on a farm tucked away in the hills of west-central Wisconsin, where paved roads are oddities and horse-drawn buggies are more common than cars. Church bell-like vibrations of 3-foot-long wind chimes gently interrupted the silence. At the wooden steps by the door were matching leather boots filled with soil and sprouting flowers.
'We choose to live the simple, quiet life,' said Samuel Schrock, who is married to Rachel's mother and listed himself as Rachel's father on her birth certificate.
But he is not Rachel's biological father, and her life has been anything but simple. A month ago, an Iowa judge predicted in court, 'This little girl is going to have, at best, a very complicated life.'
Rachel is the object of a custody battle pitting an Amish mother against an Iowa businessman more than twice her age, a clash of cultures that may be without precedent, an expert said.
Biological father
Rachel's undisputed biological father is Dieter Erdelt, 67, a first-generation German immigrant, a Roman Catholic, and the owner of an Oelwein, Iowa, greenhouse and landscaping company.
He said he has employed women from Amish communities just south of the Minnesota state line for years.
Although he was married, is the father of four grown children and is a grandfather, Erdelt became in"
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