In 1744, a German immigrant couple sailed to Pennsylvania and joined a small Amish farming community; today, their descendants share the world’s highest rate of a rare condition that causes children to be born with six fingers and a heart defect

A rare genetic disorder, Ellis-van Creveld syndrome, is unusually prevalent among the Old Order Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Researchers traced its origins to a single immigrant couple from Germany who settled in 1744. This ‘founder effect,’ combined with the community’s close-knit nature and intermarriage, amplified the gene’s frequency, offering vital insights into inherited diseases and medical genetics.