Notes:
Her tombstone reads "Barbary Mumaw died 5 Jan 1828 age 52 years."
===The following Information provided by Raymond Noftsger [rnoftsger@gmail.com] in Nov, 2025 ==
BBarbara - b. about 1776; m. Jacob Mumaw; d. 5 January 1828, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Early Life and Family Origins
Barbara Naftzinger was born about 1776, the daughter of John. Her father was among the Mennonite-affiliated settlers of the Somerset County region whose 1813 will named Barbara as one of eight surviving children. [^1] That document and the related probate proceedings later furnished the vital link between the Somerset Naftzingers and the Mumaw family of neighboring Westmoreland County.
Barbara’s early years are unrecorded, but she likely came of age in the Conemaugh or Brothersvalley area of Somerset County where her father had settled. By the opening of the nineteenth century she had married Jacob Mumaw (also Muma or Mummaw), a middle son of George and Catharina Mumaw of East Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County. Their marriage, probably around 1799-1800, joined two well-established German families who shared religious and kinship ties within the Brethren and Mennonite communities extending from Berks and York westward into Fayette and Somerset Counties.
Settlement in Fayette and Westmoreland Counties
The earliest household record appears in the 1810 census of German Township, Fayette County, which lists “Barbara Mooma” aged twenty-six through forty-four and four young children—two sons and two daughters—matching the later composition ofthe family. No male was entered in the enumeration. Nearby were Andrew Mumma and Mary (Mumma) Fretz, Jacob’s siblings, underscoring the tight cluster of related households along Dunlap’s Creek. [^2]
Within a few years Barbara moved west across the county line into East Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County, where Jacob’s father and brothers held extensive acreage purchased in 1794 from Robert Newell and his wife Christina. Over the next two decades George Mumaw, Sr. and his sons redistributed portions of the original 291-acre patent among themselves. Barbara occupied a modest eight acre tract near her brother-in-law David Mumaw, remaining close to the family’s ancestral homestead.
Ineritance from the Naftzinger Estate
Barbara’s connection to her Somerset birth family remained active through her father’s estate. On 16 November 1814, she executed a formal release acknowledging receipt of $125.82, described as her “full share of the personal estate of John Noftzinger deceased,” from executor John Marteeney. She signed in her married name, Barbara Mummaw, witnessed by her brother-in-law Peter Longenecker and Alexander Ogle, but Jacob did not join her in that instrument. [^3]
Two years later, on 7 December 1816, both Jacob and Barbara Mumaw executed a power of attorney appointing Christian Stauffer of East Huntingdon Township to collect the balance still due to Barbara from the Noftzinger estate. The deed explicitly identifies her as “formerly Barbara Noftsinger, daughter of John Noftsinger late of Somerset County deceased,” providing the documentary proof of identity between the Somerset and Westmoreland families. Stauffer’s receipt, dated 17 January 1817, confirmed full satisfaction of the legacy “with the exception of seventy-five dollars which remains unpaid.” [^4]
This transaction not only demonstrates the couple’s settled residence in East Huntingdon by late 1816 but also their connection with Mennonite neighbor networks, the Stauffer family being prominent in that faith community.
Land and Family Arrangements
Within the Mumaw patriarchal estate, Barbara’s welfare was directly secured by a family deed. On 17 May 1815, David Mumaw and his wife Mary conveyed an eight-acre tract to George Mumaw, Sr., “on trust… for the sole use and benefit of Barbara Mum, wife of Jacob Mum, during her natural life, and at her decease to go to her children born of her body or the survivors of them.” [^5]
This arrangement ensured Barbara’s independence and provided a residence for h
er and the younger children apart from Jacob’s property holdings. The tract, originally part of the James Johnston patent of 1788, bordered the farms of Mathias Tintsman and others along Jacob’s Creek.
The 1815 trust deed later became the focus of family conveyances after Barbara’s death. In March 1831, four couples—John and Rachel Mumaw, George and Catharine Bachtle, Abraham and Fanny Shellenbarger, and John A. and Elizabeth Malebash—all residing in Holmes County, Ohio, issued a power of attorney to John Stoner of Westmoreland County authorizing the sale of that very tract. [^6] Their names correspond precisely with the known children of Jacob and Barbara, confirming both her issue and the family’s westward migration after her death.
Death and Estate
Barbara Mumaw died on 5 January 1828 in East Huntingdon Township. Letters of administration on her estate were granted 7 March 1828 to John Stoner, with Abraham Stoner and Jeremiah Abrams as sureties. [^7]
A partial, weathered headstone at Alverton Cemetery, near Scottdale, Westmoreland County, reads “…ary …maw …ied this …5, 1828, 52 years…,” consistent with her reported age and death date.
Her husband Jacob Mumaw survived her but appears to have been in declining circumstances. His father’s will, written 10 November 1834 and proved 15 May 1835, directed that Jacob’s inheritance be held in trust suggesting either physical incapacity or habitual intemperance. [^8]
"unto my son Jacob to be appropriated to his use as follows viz to be put on interest by my Exor and kept safe and in case he should become unable to keep himself to be interest of the same is to be applied for his use & relief and of the interest be not sufficient the principle is to be applied as the circumstances may require which said have Coming to or willed to my son Jacob Whatever it may amount to is subject nonetheless to a deduction of four hundred & sixty six dollars & seventeen cents already paid him"
The will also noted a prior advance of $466.17 to Jacob, to be deducted from his final share.
Children and Legacy
Barbara and Jacob Mumaw had at least four children, all of whom removed to Holmes County, Ohio, by the early 1830s:
Catharine Muma w (1801-1879), m. George Bachtle
Frances (“Fanny”) Mumaw (about 1803 - before 1850), m. Abraham Shellenbarger
John Mumaw (1805-1887), m. Rachel —
Elizabeth Mumaw (1808-1885), m. John A. Malebash (Malebash/Mollabach)
These children’s 1831 power of attorney, followed by the 1831 deed of John Stoner to Jacob Stoner, completed the legal disposition of the eight-acre life-estate originally reserved for their mother. The migration of all four to Ohio parallels that of other Naftzinger descendants (including her sister Elizabeth (Naftsenger) Longnecker) marking the family’s transition from Pennsylvania’s frontier settlements to the new Mennonite and Brethren communities of the Western Reserve.
Barbara’s life, though modestly documented, thus traces the full arc of the Naftzinger family’s westward expansion: from the Somerset valleys through the German-speaking farmsteads of Westmoreland County to the rolling farmlands of Holmes County, Ohio, carrying with it the faith, family structure, and endurance that characterized this Pennsylvania-German lineage.
Footnotes
[^1] Will of Barbara’s father (John Naftzinger), 1813, Somerset Co., Pa.; family group of eight children referenced. (Corroborated via various deed references. Somerset County Wills 1795–1814, 1795–1922; FS Film 005535024 Images 607-611.
[^2] Year: 1810; Census Place: German Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania; Roll: 54; Page: 958; Image: 171; FHL Film 0193680.
[^3] Somerset County Deeds 1812–1815; FS Film 007901449 Images 480–481.
[^4] Somerset County Deeds 1816–1821; FS Film 008035212 Image 489.
[^5] Westmoreland County Deed Books 1814–1815; FS Film 008036029 Image 336.
[^6] Westmoreland County Deed Books August 1830–May 1832; FS Film 008085311 I
mage 141.
[^7] Westmoreland County Wills 1819–1839; FS Film 005547050 Item 2 Image 243.
[^8] Westmoreland County Wills 1819–1839, Vol. 2, p. 337; FS Film 005547050 Image 207.