 John Andrew Hostetler was born to an Old Order Amish family in the Kishacoquillas Valley (known locally as the Big Valley) region of Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, the fifth of seven children of Joseph and Nancy Hostetler.At the age of eleven, his parents moved to Iowa.As a youth he supervised his father's turkey operation, took courses on poultry raising, and received a poultry-judging license from the American Poultry Association.