Doug Mumma wrote :) > Hello Charles, > > Perhaps you can help me. I am trying to find the burial records and the > location for the "Middletown Reformed Church" in Dauphin County. I have > reference in Richard Davis' book, Emigrants, Refugees and Prisoners" > that a Barbara [Mumma] Rife (15 Jun 1778-25 Dec 1802) was buried in that > cemetery. She was the wife of Abraham Rife, b. abt. 1774. I find nothing > on your site or elsewhere about this church when I do a Google search. > > Are you aware of it and has it possibly changed names? > > Thank you......... > > Doug Mumma :) Please review my Forgotten Churches web page at :) <http://home.att.net/~charliefies/Forgotten.html> The German Reformed Church of Middletown was proposed in 1743 by the Reformed Synods of Holland and the Presbyterian Synod of Philadelphia, to become a merger of the Presbyterians, Dutch Reformed and German Reformed Churches in America. On May 22nd, 1770, George Frey and his wife Catherine, sold Lot Number 143 as a site for the German Calvinist or Presbyterian church and burying ground. Lot 143 sits on the corner of Pine and High streets, in Middletown. "In this graveyard the dead of the denomination were buried for a number of years." My "Forgotten.html" page contains all that I know about this 'church burying ground', citing my sources of information thereon. I haven't dug around looking for church records, and don't know if any exist. But you can keep digging, and good luck :) -- Regards, CHARLES EARL FIES -- Fies Family Fotos <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/> BABB - HARTMAN <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/Babbs.html> DAUPHIN CO. CEMETERIES <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/DauphinCo.html> ERNST-GRUBER <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/Ernsts.html> Forgotten Cemeteries <http://home.att.net/~charliefies/Forgotten.html> FRASCELLA -- <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/Frascella.html> HARTMAN <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/Hartman.html> SCHLEGEL-PETERS <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/EarlPete.html> SNYDER-JONES <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/ermafies.html> SWARTZ / SCHWARTZ <http://home.att.net/~charliefies/Swartz.html> WIELAND-YOUNG-STONER<http://home.att.net/~chasfies/Wealands.html> ZIMMERMAN - Berks Co PA<http://home.att.net/~chasfies/Zimmerman.html>

Dear Doug and Charles: I checked back in my extensive newspaper archives on Dauphin County, and found an article in 1897 which indicates that the remains of quite a number of the Mumma family were removed from the old cemetery on the Mumma farm, near Highspire, to the cemetery at Shoop's Church. The article gives the names and tombstone dates for all those reinterred. It indicates all the Mummas reinterred were from John Mumma, who died Aug. 13, 1857 aged 83 years. At the end of the article it indicates "In this cemetery repose the remains of the first Mummas who settled in Pennsylvania," which I take is a reference to the cemetery at Shoop's Church. Maybe someone else can comment on the location of this cemetery today, as I don't even reside in Pennsylvania. Anyone wanting a copy of this send an SASE to me within a month from this date to: Richard A. Bisbee 135 Covell Rd. N.W. Grand Rapids, MI 49504-5932 After a month I'm refiling this in my Archives, so please let me know within a month if you want a copy. Do any of you have anything further on the descendants of Abraham and Barbara (Mumma) Rife? Some of my family married into the Rife family, but I haven't found a very complete listing of Rifes of Dauphin Co., despite the fact they seem to have been at once very well regarded people in the county. Weren't the Mummas originally Mennonite? I have found them quite often in old legal papers of my own family's records back in Dauphin and Lebanon Counties. ---Richard ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles E. Fies, Retired" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 3:56 PM Subject: Middletown Reformed Church > Doug Mumma wrote :) > > > Hello Charles, > > > > Perhaps you can help me. I am trying to find the burial records and the > > location for the "Middletown Reformed Church" in Dauphin County. I have > > reference in Richard Davis' book, Emigrants, Refugees and Prisoners" > > that a Barbara [Mumma] Rife (15 Jun 1778-25 Dec 1802) was buried in that > > cemetery. She was the wife of Abraham Rife, b. abt. 1774. I find nothing > > on your site or elsewhere about this church when I do a Google search. > > > > Are you aware of it and has it possibly changed names? > > > > Thank you......... > > > > Doug Mumma :) > > Please review my Forgotten Churches web page at :) > > <http://home.att.net/~charliefies/Forgotten.html> > > The German Reformed Church of Middletown was proposed in 1743 by > the Reformed Synods of Holland and the Presbyterian Synod of > Philadelphia, to become a merger of the Presbyterians, Dutch > Reformed and German Reformed Churches in America. > > On May 22nd, 1770, George Frey and his wife Catherine, sold Lot > Number 143 as a site for the German Calvinist or Presbyterian church > and burying ground. Lot 143 sits on the corner of Pine and High > streets, in Middletown. "In this graveyard the dead of the > denomination were buried for a number of years." My "Forgotten.html" > page contains all that I know about this 'church burying ground', > citing my sources of information thereon. I haven't dug around > looking for church records, and don't know if any exist. But you > can keep digging, and good luck :) > -- > Regards, > > CHARLES EARL FIES -- Fies Family Fotos <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/> > BABB - HARTMAN <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/Babbs.html> > DAUPHIN CO. CEMETERIES <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/DauphinCo.html> > ERNST-GRUBER <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/Ernsts.html> > Forgotten Cemeteries <http://home.att.net/~charliefies/Forgotten.html> > FRASCELLA -- <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/Frascella.html> > HARTMAN <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/Hartman.html> > SCHLEGEL-PETERS <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/EarlPete.html> > SNYDER-JONES <http://home.att.net/~chasfies/ermafies.html> > SWARTZ / SCHWARTZ <http://home.att.net/~charliefies/Swartz.html> > WIELAND-YOUNG-STONER<http://home.att.net/~chasfies/Wealands.html> > ZIMMERMAN - Berks Co PA<http://home.att.net/~chasfies/Zimmerman.html> > > ______________________________