VARIOUS CEMETERY LISTINGS
In an E-mail sent to me by Betty Riter of September 30, 2006 I have added a number of locations and information.
Cemeteries
Springtown Cemetery
Address: Lot size 7.0 acres on the south side of State Route 412 and 5375 feet west of Township 420 (Knecht’s Bridge Road). Tax Parcel 42-012-132.
History: September 17, 1873. Springtown Cemetery was incorporated on this date.
Listings: 33 pages
Salem United Methodist Church Cemetery
Address: 3365 Main Street/Route 212, Springtown PA 18081. Tax Parcel 42-017-055.
History: 1842. The congregation erected a building that was to serve only as a church. Log house originally on site was in use as school and church. The cemetery is located on the west side of the building, and extends around behind the building. The cemetery on the church grounds is no longer used for burials.
Among listings: Funk, Kooker, Dean, Drake, Jacoby, Unangst.
Trinity Lutheran Church (Springfield/Pleasant Hill) Cemetery
Address: Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. 2170 Route 212, Coopersburg PA 18036. Tax Parcel 42-012-100.
History: March 12, 1763. Christian Shuck and his wife Anna Catherina Shuck sold 1 acre and 56 perches for 5 shillings to the trustees of the Lutheran and Reformed Congregations. Deed Book 28 Page 291.
Pleasant Hill Cemetery adjoins the church.
Address: 11.47 acres and 6.437 acres on the east side SR 212 and 322 feet south of T491. Tax Parcel 42-012-107 and Tax Parcel 42-012-086.
History: August 13, 1796. A tract of land consisting of 96 perches was gifted for 5 shillings to the Union Church by Conrad Hess and his wife Anna Dorothy Frankenfield in order to enlarge the church cemetery. Deed Book No. 35 Page 378.
Listing: 122 pages
Schuckenhausen Evangelical and Reformed Church and Cemetery.
Address: 1769 Route 212, Pleasant Valley. Tax Parcels 42-011-008 and 42-011-011.
History: In the late 1700’s a German Reformed and Evangelical Lutheran congregation met in members' homes. Land was donated to the congregation by landowners, brothers Charles Mumbower (1820-1903) and Joseph Mumbower (1827-1910) for the building of a log church. The church was known as Glenna Himmel, or Little Heaven. A tree lined lane led up the hillside to the small church building and its adjoining cemetery. When Doctor Charles B. Ott bought the land in the 1800s, the congregation built a more substantial church, and in 1872, the log building was replaced by a stucco over fieldstone structure. The church was used for services under the Evangelical Association jurisdiction until 1924. In 1925, the congregation disbanded and the church was abandoned. The building was sold to Francis Yost who remodeled it into a residence. It is now the property of Ethel Shivik Seifert.
Among the fifty bodies interred in the graveyard is: Henry Riet, son of John and Catharina Riet Born May 31, 1837 Died May 14, 1851 14 Years 1Mo 14 Days. Tombstone in German script.
Springfield Church of the Brethren Cemetery
Address: Passer Road adjoining the church. Coopersburg address. 18036
Attempting to obtain the listing.
Gallows Hill (Long) Cemetery
Address: Located at Gallows Hill (Stony Point). A 1-acre graveyard on the east side of Durham Road.
History: 1782. On behalf of the Red Hill Presbyterian Church. See Davis’ History of Bucks County page 544. Enter on-line at The History of Bucks County - Davis
Listing: 7 legible grave markers, and 100 fieldstone markers illegible.
Springfield Mennonite Meetinghouse & Cemetery
Address: 1905 Pleasant View Road, Coopersburg PA 18036. Tax Parcel 42-009-093.
From Route 212, the site is about one half mile west on Pleasant View Road, heading towards Passer.
History: The earliest record of a Mennonite congregation at Springfield is 1753. At this time, they met to worship in various private homes of members until building a house of worship. In 1758, their first log house of worship was built on today’s Pleasant View Road, one half mile west of Pleasant Valley. In 1824, a transfer of 157 perches by Jacob and Magdalena Meyer was made to the Springfield Mennonite Society and the log house was rebuilt as a stone building. This is the present-day building.
Springfield Mennonite Cemetery adjoins the meetinghouse:
Listings: Surname index has 15 names (not including the spelling variations of those names), and many illegible fieldstones in Rows A to Q.
Gruversville Cemetery
Address: Located on private property of Joan Rumsey. Access permitted.
1469 Gruversville Road, Coopersburg PA 18036. Tax Parcel Numbers 42-009-146, 147, 148.
Location. Gruversville is located two and a half miles west of the village of Pleasant Valley, and lies between Route 212 on the east, Richlandtown Pike on the west, and California Road on the south. State Road is located to the north. To reach Gruversville, travel south on Route 212 from Pleasant Valley to California Road, and then travel west on California Road. At the Y intersection on California Road, a road marker indicates Gruversville Road bearing off to the right. Travel .6 mile on Gruversville Road to the location of the former Gruver homestead, church and cemetery.
History: 1809. Deeding of Gruversville Cemetery. Portion of a deed referring to purchase of 10 acres of woodland, being a part of the same tract of land which Jacob, Sr. and Elizabeth Ritter by indenture bearing date 3/2/1809 did grant and confirm to their son, Philip Ritter and Catherine nee Huber Ritter his wife, and recorded in Deed Book 41 page 163 in the office of Deeds in Doylestown, Bucks County. Philip Ritter reserves the graveyard tract of land for to bury the relations and kindred of the said Philip Ritter and also a road or cart way from the public road to the said graveyard to pass with the dead and people tending the funeral unmolested and if the grave yard is not large enough to bury the said dead in then the said Lewis Ritter is to give more ground around the said grave yard and put up and keep the wall in good order at all times hereafter. Deed Book 88 page 127.
1810. The population of Springfield Township at this date was 1,287.
1812. The first gravestone to be set in the Gruversville cemetery was that of Elizabeth Ritter who died on June 6, 1812. She was the wife of immigrant settler Jacob Ritter, Sr.
Listings: Stones and inscriptions for 35 gravesites. An example: Malinda Ritter
// (headstone) R (footstone). Born 11-13-1851, and died 9-22-1869 at age 17 years 10 months and 9 days. She was the daughter of Johannes (John) and Hannah Berninger Ritter. Tombstone inscription reads: “Jer. (Jeremiah) Ch. 3, v. 24. For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.”
Hoffman Burial Plot
Address: The Hoffman Family Graveyard was located on the estate of Peter Gruver. The burial plot measures approximately twenty feet square and is enclosed within a fieldstone wall on all four sides. Large slates top the fieldstone walls. The stonewall is approximately 3½ feet high with an opening in one side wall for entrance and exit to the graveyard. There are 12 gravesites, with seven graves in a back row and five graves in a front row. There is room for an additional eight graves. As of July 2001, the area inside the wall was heavily overgrown with poison ivy and saplings approximately six to eight feet high.
History: June 4, 1784. Elizabeth Gruver, daughter of Peter Gruver, Sr., and his wife Plantina Gruver was born on this date. Elizabeth Gruver married John Hoffman. August 15, 1812. Peter Gruber Sr. and his wife Plantina Gruber deeded land to their son John Gruver, a portion of which would be used for a graveyard. This is the site of the Hoffman family graveyard.
May 10, 1817. On this date before his death, Peter Gruver, Sr. divided his land and mills among his children. He gave the northern part of his estate located some distance up stream containing a sawmill and a small house to his son, Peter Gruver Jr. (1779-1851), Deed Book 45 page 412. He gave the southern part of his estate containing a gristmill and the 18th century homestead to his son, John Gruver (1787-1870). He gave the farm between the sawmill and the gristmill to his daughter, Elizabeth Gruver Hoffman (1784-1847) and her husband, John Hoffman, son of Johannes and Anna Margareth Hoffman. The Hoffman family graveyard was established on the daughter’s property. In 1829, Peter Gruber, Sr. was buried at Hoffman family graveyard.
1820. The population of Springfield Township at this date was 1,580.
1821 in History - The year of the worst drought in memory and an extremely virulent typhoid epidemic.
Listings: 12 gravesites.
Zion Hill Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery
Address: 2966 North Old Bethlehem Pike, Zion Hill PA 18981.
History: Zion Union Church was built upon ground given to the Lutheran and Reformed congregation by Frederick and Hannah Wolfe in 1840. The land was originally Peter Zuck's property, Patented in 1738, and later owned by the Wolfs. In 1890, the church was rebuilt as a brick structure.
Listing: 48 pages
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Durham
Durham Union Cemetery
Address: Durham Road, Durham PA 18039
History: A Union Church of Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Reformed as early as 1742. In 1812, these three congregations united in purchasing land and appointing trustees for the erection of a church building completed in 1813. The churchyard and modern graveyard are one.
Listing: 178 pages
Tilghman Adam Benner Burial Records
Undertaker in Pleasant Valley Springfield Township Bucks County PA
1891-1952
Listing: 114 pages
West Swamp Mennonite Cemetery
Address: Allentown Road, Quakertown PA 18951
Listing: Chart with names listed in 38 rows down and 12 across
New Jerusalem (Appel’s/Apple’s) Church Cemetery
Address: 3233 Apple Church Road
Lower Saucon Township, Northampton County
Leithsville PA 18055
Listing: 20 pages
Schaeffers Private burial Ground
The Schaeffer Yard (Family Yard)
Address: Lower Saucon Township, Northampton County
Leithsville, PA
Listing: 15 gravesites
New Jerusalem Cemetery
Address: Leithsville Road
Northampton County
Leithsville PA
Listing: 39 pages
Friedensville Cemetery
Address: 2451 Saucon Valley Road, Center Valley PA 18034
Listing: Pages 1 to 76, and pages 1 to 19
Obituaries of Members and Friends of Salem Mennonite Church
Salem Mennonite Church
Address: 41 E. Cherry Road, Quakertown PA 18951
History: First meetings were held in Salem Schoolhouse on Salem Road when it was still in use as a schoolhouse. In 1995, the Church celebrated its 50th anniversary. The church is located in an area of Springfield Township known as Shelly.
Listings: 51 names
Salem United Methodist Church
Address: Powder Valley Road near Route 100
Listing: for Section 1 Rows 1 and 2
Trinity Reformed Cemetery
Address: 226 Main Street, Freemansburg PA
Listing: Gross burial information
Notes – Pastorate of Reverend W. R. Hofford
Zion’s German Reformed Congregation 1765-1861
Address: Hamilton Street Allentown PA
Baptisms by the Reverend John Daniel Gross 1765-1770
Pastorate of Reverend N. S. Strassburger
Pastorate of Reverend Joseph Henry Dubs
St Luke’s Old Williams Lutheran Church
Address: 20 Church Road Hellertown PA 18055
Church records.
Hellertown Union Cemetery
Address: Main Street, Hellertown Pa 18055
Listings: partial