Hello Mumma researchers, cousins, family and friends - 1 November 2002 GENERAL INFO [If you don't care to receive future Bulletins, please send me a message and I will remove you from this distribution list. These messages are sent out on a random basis when I feel there is something useful to communicate to everyone. Circulation of about 650 copies.] PREVIOUS BULLETINS & NEWSLETTERS ARE AVAILABLE If you or someone else has interest in reading some of the previous Bulletins or Newsletters, they can download them from the MUMMA archives. The archive whose index is located at http://www.mumma.org/archives/archives.htm ADDRESS CHANGE After living for many years in the same condominium, Robert "Bob" Moomaw, the author of the "Moomaw-Mumma-Mumaw-Mumaugh" book has moved to a new residence in Houston. His e-mail address remains the same, but his mailing address is: Bob Moomaw 7400 Clarewood #600 Houston, TX 77036 713-778-2193. DATABASE CHANGES & ADDITIONS A new database was uploaded to the web site on November 1, 2002 and it now includes 55,133 individuals/descendants. Some of the additions, changes and corrections are quite significant and I would like to thank all of you who supplied corrections and additions: o Mumaw's of Luzerne County, PA Through some luck and one key document, I have now been able to attach the Luzerne County Mumaw family to one of the main Mumma branches. It turns out the top person of this line was John Mumaw, who we now identify as the youngest son of John Leonard Mumma, the youngest son of the immigrant, Leonard Mumma. Previously a wife and daughter had been attached to this son, but no proof existed that the woman and child were his. It is possible she was a first wife, but without proof, they were detached. The key document to unlock the connection was a deed filed in Lancaster County 18 years after his father had died. In the intervening time, the executors had died before all of the money was distributed and this was essentially a confirmation that the succeeding executors had completed the distribution and the heirs fully paid. This document identifies the son by name as from Sugar Loaf, Luzerne County (this branch was the only Mumma/Mumaw family to live in Luzerne County), his brother-in-law served as his attorney, and his father, John Leonard, is identified. It isn't often that you obtain conclusive identification and proof all in one document. In addition, these documents and John Leonard Mumma's will clearly the birth order for the children. Some birth/baptismal dates were available for a few of the children allowing better estimates of all their birth years. The birth order has been rearranged (the reference numbers were not changed) to reflect this additional information. o Solomon Mumma (1793-1870) of Lancaster and Schuylkill Counties. Through an inquiry, a Solomon Mumma was identified as having lived in Cocalico Township of Lancaster County as well as Schuylkill Counties. The baptism of several of his children are listed in the Muddy Creek Lutheran and Reformed Church of Cocalico Township during the 1830s. By the 1840's he and the family migrated to Pine Grove Twp of Schuylkill Co., PA and they are listed in the 1840 to 1870 census. After that time, I have not found the Mumma name listed in that county. While we don't know who Solomon's parents were, I feel certain it was on of Leonard Mumma's descendants because they followed the Reformed/Lutheran religions. o Jacob H. Mumma (1812-1866) With the help of Joe and Barbara Murphy, their ancestor, Jacob H. Mumma, was connected as a son of Jonas Mumma of East Donegal Township, of Lancaster County. o John Wesley Mumma (b. 1867) John Wesley Mumma was attached as a son of Abram Mumma who lived in the Hempfield township area of Lancaster and are descendants of the immigrant, Peter Mumma. o Canadian Mumas Additional descendants of Jacob Muma, the progenitor of the Canadian Muma families, have been gathered from the MUMA web site, located at: http://www.mumafamily.de/ Since DNA testing has confirmed that this Muma branch shares a recent common ancestor with the MOMMA/MUMMA family, I am interested in confirming some of the data for the early generations. I have examined the first 2 generations and feel that it is quite likely that errors were introduced regarding places and dates birth. From my analysis, all evidence suggest that the family primarily lived in New York state prior to their final migration to Canada. I have made some changes to the data accordingly and the notes contain the basis for the changes. o Sarah Elizabeth Mumaugh (1846-1925) Additional descendants of Sarah Elizabeth Mumaugh were added. o Mumma families of Springfield, Ohio I have been working with several researchers on the origins of the Mumma families of Springfield, Ohio. These consist of Christian Mumma b. 1891 who migrated to Springfield in 1837 from Lancaster Co., PA. This family is identified with reference numbers beginning with U45. A Jacob Mumma b. 1816 and his family (Reference numbers U56) also migrated to the same township about 1846. In 1856, a Frederick Gram Mumma b. 1823 and his family migrated to the same area. Frederick is a know descendant of Peter Mumma. Also in 1856, and possibly along with Frederick Mumma, Elias Bertram Mumah b. 1830, arrived in Springfield where one child was born before they migrated to Darke County, Ohio. There is strong evidence that all of these families descend from the immigrant, Peter Mumma, but conclusive proof is lacking. o Moomey descendants A second Moomey descendant participated in the DNA surname testing program and his DNA "fingerprint" confirmed that he matched the other Moomey fellow perfectly. This provided proof that the Moomey family does not share a common ancestor with the MUMMA family. As a result, the small group of Moomey descendants that had been included in the database were removed. o Birth date of George Muma, son of George Anthony Mumma George Muma's birth date has been calculated from his tombstone information which have been transcribed as "GEORG MUMA IST GESTORBEN DEN 9 MAY INT JAHR 1835 SEID ALTER DAR 72 YAHR 4 MONATE UND 18 TAGE". A translation of this is "Georg Muma died on May 9, 1835 at the age of 72 years, 4 months and 18 days". Using this data and a "tombstone calculator" yields a calculated birth of 22 Dec 1762 which has been used in all records for George. I have recently been reviewing the tax records of Hempfield township of Lancaster County, PA during the 1700's. The outcome of this study revealed some interesting dates for George Muma Jr. He first appears on the Hempfield tax records as owning land in 1775. If he was born in 1762, this would mean he owned land at the age of 13. Typically, a man in Pennsylvania only owned land when he reached his age of majority so this would suggest that the 1762 birth year for George is in error. In addition, George and sever of his brothers appear on the "non-associators" tax list of 1777. Men on this list were Mennonites or of other faiths who refused to take up arms in the Revolutionary war and were assessed £3.10. This is further proof that a birth year of 1762 for George would be incorrect, especially since his younger brother, Henry also appears on this list. One other piece of evidence is is the 1800 census for Westmoreland County, South Huntington Township for August 1, 1800. Both George and his son, Jacob are listed under the surname spelling of MOMMEY. In this census listing, George is listed as being older than 45 years which would mean he was born before 1755. As we all know, the census listings are not always that accurate, but it is another piece of data suggesting a birth date for George much earlier than 1762. So, what does one believe? I personally believe that the tax records are more correct because they were created much closer to the time of his birth and by people not emotionally involved with a death. Information on a tombstone is typically not provided by the person themselves and is recorded many years after the birth. We know most of the children had moved from the area at this time and whoever provided the birth/death information may have simply made an error in the birth year or the stone cutter made a calculational error. Tombstone weathering could possibly have changed the age of "82" years to look like "72" years. No matter what the case, I suggest that a birth year exactly 10 years earlier is probably correct. If he was really born in 1752, then he would have entered the tax rolls in 1775 at about the age of 22-23, which is much more believable. In addition, such a birth year allows his younger brothers and sisters to be more typically spaced about 2 years apart instead of 1 year or less that is necessary if his birth year was 1762. Therefore, against the evidence transcribed from his tombstone, I believe the information on the Hempfield tax rolls is more reliable and accurate and have adjusted George Mumma/Muma's birth date from 22 Dec 1762 to 22 Dec 1752. o Christian Muma of Rapho Twp - son of George Anthony Mumma? Again Jane Moomau Doughty provided me with more genealogical gems in her quest to discover the parents of Christian Mummer of Augusta County, VA. Again she was looking at every Christian Mumma she could find and mentioned to me about Christian Mumma of Rapho Township. I thought this was Christian Mumma, a descendant of immigrant Jacob Mumma. This Christian is known to have died in Rapho Twp. of Lancaster County about 1797. However, when I reviewed the details she had uncovered, sure enough this was a different Christian. From deed records, he sells his personal property in 1784, then buys 264 acres of land on the Cacapon River in Hampshire Co., VA, not far from where Conrad Mumma lived in the late 1700's. From Hampshire County land sales, it appears he had two wives. One by the name of Nancy and later, a wife by the name of Ann. In 1794, he sells all of his land holdings in Hampshire County and disappears. I am leaning strongly that this Christian Mumma is George Anthony Mumma's eldest son, who was born between 1745-1750, but no clear proof exists at this time. If any of you can add anything to the facts found on his web page, please contact me. Again, many thanks to Jane for her sharing the data she uncovered. A job well done! ARCHIVE ADDITIONS Information about all of the MUMMAs listed on the tax rolls of Hempfield Township, Lancaster County, PA from 1752 to 1798 are available for viewing and downloading from the MUMMA ARCHIVES at: http://www.mumma.org/archives/TaxesHempfieldTwp.html This is the information used for the analysis of George Muma's birth year. Dougald MacArthur has been working on the identification of Henry Mumma, b. 17 Mar 1787, who raised his family in Cocalico Twp. of Lancaster County. He sent me the information he extracted from the Cocalico Tax records from 1800-1844. Those records can be viewed at: http://www.mumma.org/archives/TaxesCocalicoTwp.html DATABASE TREE INFORMATION Indiv's Desc's REF# Top Person in a particular tree + notes ------- ------ ---- --------------------------------------- 43839 24284 2 Leonard /Mumma/ b. bet 1690-1700 (1732 immigrant) * * 1 Jacob /Mumma/ b. 1685-1690 (1731 immigrant) * * 4 Peter /Mumma/ b. ~1721 (1748 immigrant) Lancaster, PA * * U8 Christian /Mumma/ b. 1791 PA (moved to Clark Co., OH) * * U56 Jacob /Mumma/ b. 1816 PA, (moved to Clark Co., OH 4142 2669 U21 Jacob /Muma/ b. ABT. 1750 (Canadian Mumas) 1904 1186 U53 Jacob Mumaw b. 1755-1760 Bullskin Twp, Fayette Co, PA 1440 807 U46 David /Mumma/ b. 1788-1792 (Fulton/Franklin Co, PA) 997 672 U7 David /Muma/ b. ABT. 1760 (Mewmaw spelling) VA, IL, MO 865 528 U45 Christian /Mummer/ b.~1770 (Moma, Moomau & Moomaugh) 535 363 U28 John /Mumma/ b. 1790 W. Hanover Twp., Dauphin Co., PA 466 292 U30 John /Mumma/ b. BEF 1750 resided Cumberland Co. 282 181 E1-K1 Wilhelm /Momma/ (European Mommas & Kettenis families) 124 76 U43 Henry /Muma/ b 17 Mar 1787 Cocalico Twp, Lancaster Co. 122 85 E2 Leonhard /Momma/ b. 1580 (European Mommas) 82 41 U25 James B. /Mumma/ b. 1841 (Burnt Cabins, Fulton Co., PA) 65 25 U50 Samuel /Mumma/ b. ~1835 resided Womelsdorf, Berks Co, PA 65 38 U51 George /Mummaugh/ b. 1809 resided Carroll Co., MD 50 33 U54 Susan /Mumma/ b. 1808 m. Hassler - Dauphin Co., PA 44 22 U36 Barbara /Mumma/ b. Sep 27, 1768 (m. Henry Strickler) 26 22 U59 Solomon /Mumma/ b. 1793 Cocalico Twp. & Schuylkill Co PA 24 15 U60 Harry Martin /Mumma/ b. abt 1886 - Dauphin Co., PA 21 13 U37 B.F. /Mumma/ b. ~ 1857 OH, resided in Missouri 13 11 U52 Solomon /Mumma b. 1838 PA, resided Granville, IL 10 5 U31 Christian /Mumma/ (1848 in Baltimore, MD) 9 7 U57 Lester L. /Mumma/ b. ABT 1889 Philadelphia area 3 1 U55 James /Mumma/ b. ABT. 1837 Fulton Co., PA 1 0 U48 Samuel /Mumma/, b. ~1799 d. Old Soldier's Home-Dayton OH 1 0 3 Johan Lorentz /Momma/, d. 1752 (1747 immigrant) 2 0 - A /.Hog/ b. 1 Jan 1900 (my test individual) * because of cousin marriages between branches, all of the descendants of Jacob Mumma, Peter Mumma and Christian Mumma are included with the totals for Leonard Mumma. MUMMA SURNAME FREQUENCY IN THE DATABASE Mumma[3188], Moomaw[1920], Mumaw[1169], Muma[899], Mumau[319], Momma[231], Moomau[202], Mumaugh[195], Mummau[165], Mummah[112], Mewmaw[76], Mumah[60], Moma[56], Mummaugh[37], Moomaugh[29], Mummaw[26], Mooma[6], Mummer [1], Mommal[1] READABILITY To make sure this Bulletin is readable by the maximum number of different computer & E-mail systems, it is transmitted in plain text, without embedded formatting. This message was composed in 10 point monospaced Courier font. Any necessary indenting, centering and columns was done with spaces, not tabs. It is currently being sent as "blind carbon copies". This is why your name does not appear on the address line. If you have difficulty viewing or printing this message, please let me know. Douglas M. Mumma 2123 Farmington Place Livermore, CA 94550 Phone (925) 447-5164 e-mail: doug@mumma.org Web Site http://www.mumma.org ************************** END ***********************