The Bontrager Family Is Basically the Duggars If the Duggars Were Also a Travelling Band
The Bontrager family is about to be your new kooky family obsession. This supersized extra-religious fam was introduced to the world on an episode of 19 Kids and Counting alongside the Duggars (and yes, they're also all attractive), but they also sing and play instruments in a band together! If you can't get enough of the Duggars and Bateses, it's time to get to know the Bontragers.
Get to know the family.
The Bontrager family is from Iowa, and is lead by parents Marlin and Becky. The couple shares ten children, ranging in age from nine to 26. Rebecca is the youngest at age nine, then there's Elizabeth, Carson, Mitchell, Allison, Rebecca, Denver, Joshua, Taylor, and Chelsey. Many of the older children are also married. Joshua is married to Cassidy, Mitchell is marreid to Bryn, Chelsy has a husband named John, and Carson is married to Carolina. Carson and Joshua actually decided to have a double-wedding! That's the kind of drama we live for.
On New Years Day, Carson and Carolina revealed that they're expecting their first child, which means that Marlin and Becky will soon be grandparents for the first time! If you love babies, it's time to keep up with this growing family.
They live "two lives."
"We live on a farm in the Midwest, and we love working and singing together! We say that we have two lives, and really we do," explains the family's band website. "Life No. 1 is touring North America in our 45-foot bus and doing concerts. In Life No. 2, we work hard on a livestock and crop farm where we milk cows, garden, plant and harvest crops, and pack and unpack while we try to transition to or from Life No. 1." The older children are given a salary by the parents for their work with the band and on the farm, they explained to The Gazette in 2014.
They might be even closer than the Duggars.
Not only does the family travel on a bus in close quarters most of the year, but they also all live in the same home! "We love living all together in one (not huge) house and we are each other’s best friends," they explained on their site. “I think we all love being together and love doing what we do,” said Chelsy, the oldest child, in their 2014 interview. “We’re not forced to stay, but we’ve all chosen to stay.”
There are other differences between the families, too.
While the Bontragers are all about God and Jesus, and homeschool their kids much like the Duggars, they're also a little different. First of all, they didn't give their kids matching names. Also, while the Duggars were raised normal and then became very religious, Marlin and Becky were raised in Amish communities. They live and work on a farm, and own and run the Dutch Country Inn hotel in Kalona. However, they do seem to follow similar modesty rules as the Duggars, and the girls only wear skirts. We can't wait to see what this family does next!
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