Arriving by both cars and horse-drawn buggies, about 1,000 mourners gathered Saturday at a funeral for five Amish children who died in a house fire earlier in the week.

The crowd, made up mostly of Amish, gathered inside two farmhouses and a wood shop on a neighbor's farm where a funeral service lasted about an hour, said family friend Bob Glenn, who has become the family's spokesman.

"It was a very somber service, just like the whole thing has been," said Glenn, 57.

A wood- and coal-burning furnace started a fire that consumed the two-story home of Rudy and Lizzie Wengerd on Tuesday night. The Wengerds escaped into the bitter cold with four of their children, but five others failed to escape.

The coroner said Katie, 14, Levi, 12, Neil, 11, John, 4, and Jonathon, 2, all died of smoke inhalation.

Glenn said that during the escape, one of the boys leaped from the second floor and then caught his younger brother. Two other children climbed down a ladder put up by their father before the fire became too intense for a rescue.

Authorities ruled the fire resulted from an accident involving the furnace.

Though the wood-frame house was destroyed, volunteers were already planning to rebuild Monday morning, Glenn said. Donated lumber had been delivered to the site of the former house in Pulaski Township.

Saturday was reserved for remembering the children, who were known to help their parents with chores around the house.

Showing their support, the Amish came from across the state to attend the funeral and burial.

Following a procession led by the surviving family members, the children's bodies were to be laid to rest at a nearby cemetery. The day was to conclude with a meal at the farm, Glenn said.