Notes:
Data source and researcher is Douglas Mumma, 2123 Farmington Place, Livermore, CA 94550
Much confusion has existed regarding the daughter of George Anthony Mumma named Barbara. In Richard Huffman's 1971 book, he assigned George Anthony Mumma's daughter, Barbara Mumma, as the wife of Henry Strickler. No evidence for this attachment can be found. Many researchers have also listed this Barbara Mumma as the wife of Henry Strickler.. The more likely candidate for Henry Strickler's wife, is Barbara Mumma, the daughter of Frederick and Frena Mumma. There is no positive proof, but this Barbara Mumma was born about the right time in the correct location, i.e. Rapho & Donegal twps of Lancaster County.
Barbara Mumma Sherrick's tombstone is in the Mumma Graveyard located in Sharpsburg, Maryland. From the tombstone, we estimate her birth year to be about 1765. It is in Sharpsburg where Barbara's brothers, Jacob and Henry Mumma, migrated between 1796 and 1798. It is believed by the author that she was the next youngest child of George Anthony Mumma and his wife, Barbara Weber. When her father died in 1786 and mother in 1788, Barbara had been living with her younger brother, Jacob who inherited the house in which they were living. I believe that Barbara continued to live with her brother on the family farm in Hempfield Township and moved with Jacob to Leacock Township in 1792 where he purchased land. Later he sold this land and moved to Sharpsburg, Maryland in 1796. A few days before his land purchase in Sharpsburg, Joseph Sherrick also purchased a large tract of land from the Orndorff family and I believe that they all moved there together from Lancaster, PA to Sharpsburg, Maryland.
After Joseph Sherrick's wife, Barbara Newcomer Hertzler, died in 1804, Joseph married Barbara Mumma to raise his young children who were only 14, 10, 6 and 3 years old. Barbara was well know to Joseph and she was still unmarried at age 40. No records of this marriage have been found. They lived together for another 35 years until Barbara's death in 1840.
One interesting and perplexing fact is the inscriptions on the tombstones for both of his wives. In most cases, wives are listed using their married surnames, but in the case of Jacob, both wives are listed with their maiden names which is very useful in sorting out the relationships. Apparently there were no children from the union of Joseph Sherrick and Barbara Mumma.
Barbara's birth year of 1765 is calculated from her tombstone. This calculated birth date fits appropriately in the listing of George Anthony Mumma's children and just before the youngest son, Jacob. The inscription on her tombstone says:
"Barbara Mumma
w/o Joseph Sherrick Sr.
age 75 yrs., d. 14 Nov 1840"
From Barbara's Mother's Will, we know that she was single when her mother wrote her will in 1788 and that she had remained with her parents for 3 years over her age. If we assume that her mother meant that she lived with both George and Barbara for 3 years over her age, then she would have been age 21 when her father died in 1786. This calculates to a birth year of 1765, the same that is calculated from the tombstone data.
The children of Joseph Sherrick were very friendly with the Mumma family (and rightfully since they were raised as young children by their step-mother, Barbara Mumma) and the Sherrick children allowed the Samuel Mumma family to live in their house while the Mumma house was being rebuilt after it was burned to the ground during the Battle of Antietam in the Civil War.