JBarnhart@aol.com wrote: > Dear Charles, > Thank you for putting the pictures on the web site for the > Nissley-Swartz cemetery. I believe the cemetery you are referring to > is on > the farm now owned by Lloyd & Dawn Byers. If that is the cemetery, > you > mean-- I grew up on that farm. Even when I was a child, that cemetery > was in > very poor shape. There used to be an African-American family who > tended the > graves. I can remember my grandma saying they were left money in the > will to > always tend the graves (that may be just guessing on her part, > though). The > " Mansion" reference intrigued me. If you stand in the cemetery & > look > straight ahead over the field--the red brick farmhouse (now owned by > Lloyd > Byers) is the Whitmer farm where I grew up. To the right of it is the > old > Fisher farm, formerly a Nissley farm. That was quite a house at one > time--maybe that is the mansion referred to. ! The Fishers were > related to us. > We were all direct descendents of the Parthemores of > Middletown-Daniel > Fishers wife was a Parthemore. There was a cemetery at one time on > the hill > above the Whitmer farm house ---at the border of the 2 farms. When my > father > was a young man (he is now 75) he remembers the cemetery being there. > However, the stones were removed for farming--by whom, I don't know. I > do > know that some of our relatives who had originally been buried there, > have > tombstones in the Churchville Cemetery, in Oberlin.I suppose their > bodies > were removed and reburied, although I can not say that for certain. > In the magazine PENNSYLVANIA FOLKLIFE Spring1993, Vol. 42, No. > 3 on > page 98 there is an article titled: (take a deep breath for this > long title) > Assimilation and Acculturation in a Pennsylvania-German Landscape: The > Nisley > Family and its Architecture in the Lower Swatara Creek Basin by > Margaret > Clark Reynolds. There are pictures of the Nisley houses and very good > > descriptions of them as well as the near by farms. Mention is also > made of > the Swartz family. I saw the letter written to you by Nancy Sweitzer > who was > related to the Swartz family that had lived in Perry county. There is > much > info on that family at THE PERRY HISTORIANS, on Route 34 near New > Bloomfield, > Perry county. That is also where I found the PENNSYLVANIA FOLKLIFE > article. > I attended school in Middletown & my parents still live nearby, so I > frequently am in the Middletown area. Thanks for all the information > you > have online--it is very valuable & informative. > Joyce Whitmer Barnhart Wow! So much background in a couple of paragraphs! You're right on, Joyce, it is indeed as you described. The Martin Nissley Swartz and Solomon L. Swartz farms share the same lane off of present Longview Drive that is shared by the A. WITMER farms. Now if you could just pin-point that Nissley Mansion cemetery a wee bit more, and confirm that the interments recorded by Audrey L. Retherford also show up in the Churchville Cemetery, we could put it back on the map! Noticed you picked up a "h" in your last name. My wife Katie's sister DONNA WEALAND married a HARVEY WITMER from that general area, but I lost track of him. Not really sure where they lived in Lower Swatara Township during their relatively brief marriage. I'm passing your information on to the SWARTZ relative to see if she's interested in following up on your various leads. Thanks a bunch. 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> FIES/FEES Family History Research Site <http://www.fies-fees.org> 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> WIELAND-YOUNG-STONER<http://home.att.net/~chasfies/Wealands.html> ZIMMERMAN - Berks Co PA<http://home.att.net/~chasfies/Zimmerman.html>