Notes:
The data source is from the "Moomaw Newsletters" published by Margaret Dierenger, the "Moomaw, Mumma, Mumaw, Mumaugh Genealogy" by Robert Moomaw in 1990, the "Genealogy of the George Muma Family" by Richard Glenn Huffman, and my own personal investigations and those of previous researchers.
Data source and researcher is Douglas Mumma, 2123 Farmington Place, Livermore, CA 94550
Leonard arrived in America 18 September 1732 from Rotterdam on the ship "Johnson" with a wife and five children were born Europe. His four remaining children were born in America. Leonard has been assigned the Henry Reference number of "2". The Henry Reference numbers of all of his descendants begin with the number 2 with a successive generation number added to the #2.
Leonard's name is spelled in a variety of way on the various official documents throughout his life. It is written as Mumma, Muma, Mumah, Mummah, Muhman, Mummer, Mummy, and Momma as examples. It is the usual problem of an English court clerk attempting to write a German name and Anglicizing it. Likewise, his first name was spelled as Leonard, Lenhardt, and Leonardt. Hence it is not surprising that many of his children ended up with a wide variety of spellings of their surnames.
The official lists of the German Immigrants who landed at Philadelphia, PA prior to the Revolutionary War were translated by the Pennsylvania German Society and published under title, "The German Pioneer" by Strassberger and Hinkle. After 1728, all ships captains were required to submit the names of all German immigrants aboard their ships. In addition, the immigrants themselves were required to go to the courthouse and sign two oaths.
List # 21A is the captain's list of the Palentines who arrived in Philadelphia on September 18 (old style) 1732 on board the ship "Johnson" of London, commanded by David Crocket. Recorded by age groups were the following: men over 16 years, Leonard Momma; women over 14 years, Juliana Momma; boys under 16 years, Anthony Momma, David Momma, and Christian Momma; girls under 14 years, Juliana Momma, and Katharina Momma.
The List #21C contains the signatures (or their Marks if they could not write) of the male immigrants over the age of 16 making an "oath of abjuration", in which they renounced any and all previous oaths to other Kings. Next, they then pledged alliegence to the King of England and to the colonial government. Their signatures for this oath is contained on List #21B. Leonard signed his name as Lenhart Mumma. I believe the spelling of MUMMA is quite clear in both lists. These signatures from both lists can be seen at the top of this page. The curved line over the "u" is a German shorthand notation for signifying that this letter is a "u" and not an "n" or "m" which are almost identical in German handwriting. Some researchers have suggested that this mark over the "u" might be an umlaut, but that is not the case.
Leonard Mumma was a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church at New Holland, PA and all of his children born in America are recorded in the baptismal records: Anna Margaretta Mumma, born 1 Nov 1733; John Jacob Mumma, born 11 Dec 1735; Andrew Mumma, born 25 Dec 1738 and Leonard John Mumma, born 10 Mar 1742.
On May 19, 1743 the Muddy Creek Reformed and Lutheran Church of East Cocalico Twp., Lancaster County was formed. It is one of the original "Union" churches in which the church building is shared by two different faiths. The Lutheran and Reformed (Calvinists) Churchs. The signatures of the charter members of the constitution of the church included Leonhardt Muhman. A list of catechumens for 1747 included the names of Juliana Mumma, Catherine Mumma and Anna Margaret Mumma, Leonard's daughters. It is very likely that Leonard Mumma and his wife, Juliana, are buried in the very old cemetery adjacent to the Muddy Creek Church, however the old stones were written in German are too weathered to be read.
Thus we find that Leonard and his wife likely attended both Lutheran and Reformed service.
European Connections -
We do not know for certain where Leonard Mumma was born or lived in Europe. There is strong evidence that Leonard Mumma was living in the Grosskarlbach area of Germany, just prior to his immigration to America. There has been speculation that Leonard is the person listed as Johann Leonard Momma in a book called "Aachener Wappen und Genealogien", pp 5-8, volume II by Herman Macco, published 1908 in Aachen, Germany. This particular book contains a genealogy about the Momma family. Proof is not available that this Leonard Mumma descends from the Momma family of Aachen or Stolberg. Others have speculated that Leonard Mumma was originally Swiss and lived for a brief period of time in Germany prior to coming to America. Likewise there has been speculation that this family were French Huguenots who migrated from the Alsace-Lorraine area of north eastern France. Much research remains to firmly establish the European connections.
The following facts are known:
1) On June 1, 1728, the Heuchelheim Evangelical-Lutheran Church records state that Eva Sÿbilla Muhmain of Großkarlbach married Heinrich Kayssners. Researchers have speculated that Muhmain and Muma are the same surname, just written differently by this church scribe. This person could fit as Johann Leonard Momma's sister, but is unlikely.
2) On 20 Sep 1763, the Heuchelheim Evangelical-Lutheran records show that an Eva Sybilla died and was buried on 21 Sep 1763 at the age of 66 years, 3 weeks which would put her birth about 30 Aug 1697, very close to the published baptism of 25 Aug 1697 for Eva Sibylla Momma of Aachen.
3) In 1743, Sebastian Heckman, citizen and master weaver married Anna Catharina Mumma after the required three proclamations on the 12 of October, 1742. We have not identified or connected Anna Catharina Mumma with the other Mummas. This record appears in the Reformed Church records of Grosskarlbach. All of the records from Reformed Church in Großkarlbach prior to 1742 are lost. Lutheran records do exist, however the Mumma name does not appear in any of the Grosskarlbach Church records. This record does demonstrate that the Surname spelled MUMMA was found in Grosskarlbach during the early 1700's.
4) From the Gerolsheim Lutheran Church records, "On February 23, 1789, David Muma, a widower from America, born at Großkarlbach, married Gertraud Neümann, a daughter of the school master of Gerolsheim." We believe this to be the David Muma, the son of Leonard. It is interesting that he returned to Germany after the death of his 2nd wife to seek another wife at the age of 62.
This last record is the one that has influenced most researchers into believing that Leonard Mumma and family lived in Grosskarlbach prior to their emigration to America. There are many unanswered events surrounding this David Mumma and his sudden jouney back to "Holland". Whether he indeed is the person mentioned in the Grosskarlbach records as marrying Gertraud Neümann is still speculative.
Leonard was very active in Earl Township, Lancaster County throughout his life, buying and selling property and being a member of the Muddy Creek Lutheran/Reformed Church. He died intestate with the original administration bond filed in Lancaster on 23 July, 1770 so it is likely he died only a few days prior to this date. Two of his sons and a close friend, Jacob Stoltz served as administrators of his estate.
