muddy
Muddy Creek Church
Cemetery
(located off exit 21 of the Pa turnpike,
Rt 272 Lancaster County, Pa
between Denver and Adamstown)
 
 
    This is the entrance to Muddy Creek Church Cemetery.  There are nearly 4000 burials here.  Many of the stones are no longer legible.  Records of early burials were not kept so many of our earliest descendants are lost to time.

Muddy Creek Union Cemetery (adjoins the church)
    Record Locations:
        Started ca 1730
        Gravestone Inscriptions:  Pennsylvania German Tombstone Inscriptions, V. 1, ed. by Oscar Stroh.  E&RHS;  LCHS;
        LMHS (1910) A. Hunter Rineer, Jr.
 

 
     Muddy Creek Evangelical Lutheran Church
    (Also called Modenkrik or Moden Creek Church in early records)  South of Pa. Rt. 272 at Muddy Creek Road.

History
    1730/33 First log church built with services conducted by itinerant pastors.
    1733 Church records begun by Rev. John Casper Stoever.
    1744 Land deeded jointly to Lutheran and Reformed congregations.
    1747 Second church built of stone.
    1847 Third church built of stone
    1939 Present brick church dedicated.
    1968 Union with reformed Church dissolved and Lutherans acquired other half of the property.

Ellis and Evans, pp. 712-713.
                              Hist. Sketches of Cocalico, 99 37--38
                Hist. of Lancaster Conference, 99 746-748
            Klein, V. 1, p. 197; V. 2, pp. 746-748
Schmauk, V. 1, pp. 287-289
Glatfelter, V. 1, pp. 320-321
Record Locations:
    Church records, 1733 to date, are held by congregation and include baptisms, 1733+, marriages, and burials, 1921+.
        Microfilm of original records, 1733-1869, GSP, LTS-P.
    Church records, 1733-1869, translation by Rev. Melville Schmoyer, 1941. LCHS; LMHS; ACHS; SLP; NGS; LTS-P.
    Records of pastoral acts at the Lutheran and Reformed congregations of the Muddy Creek Church, East Cocalico Township
        1730-1790, translated by Rev. William J. Hinke and Rev. Frederick S. Weiser.  Pennsylvania German Society, 1981.
        Series:  Sources and documents of the Pennsylvania Germans: V.
    See Records of John Casper Stoever, Baptisms-Marriages, 1730-1796, indexed.  Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co.,
        1982.
    See Pastoral records of Rev. Benjamin g. Welder, 1886-1921.  Welder was pastor here during this whole period.  Original
        manuscript is held at the Salem Lutheran Church, Reamstown.  Transcript by Rev. Frederick S. Weiser.  LCHS; LMHS;
        LTS-P; NGS.  A. Hunter Rineer, Jr.
Peace United Church of Christ, founded 1731/32
(Formerly called Muddy Creek Reformed Church)
(Formerly a Reformed Church)
South of Pa. Rt. 272 on Pa. Rt. 897, west of Adamstown.

History
    1731/32 Baptismal records begun and first log church built.
    1744 Land acquired jointly with Lutherans at site 1 above.
    1747 Second church built of stone.
    1847 Third church built of stone.
    1871-1914 Sunday School chapels built at Muddy Creek (Grace Chapel), Reinholds, Shimps, and Stonehill.
    1938/39 Fourth church built of brick.
    1968 Union with Lutherans dissolved and congregation merged with St. Paul's Church of Adamstown.
              New Congregation adopted name, "Peace".
    1970 Present church built.

             Classics of Lancaster, pp. 168-182
                      Dedicatory brochure, Peace Church, 1970.
      Ellis and Evans, pp. 712-713.
                Hinke, Hist. of Muddy Creek Congr.
                Hist. Sketches of Cocalico, pp. 37-38
Klein, V. 2, pp. 746-749
     Glatfelter, V. 1. pp 320-321.
                   Hinke, History of the Cocalico Charge
Record Locations:
    Church record book, 1730-1765, is held by the Lancaster County Historical Society.
    Church records, 1766 to date, are held by congregation, and include baptisms, 1766+; catechumens, 1767-1777;
    marriages, 1766-1779; burials; and communicants, 1767-1875 (with breaks).
    Church records, 1743-1781, translated by Rev. William J. Hinke.  E&RHS.
    Records of pastoral acts at the Lutheran and Reformed congregations of the Muddy Creek Church, East Cocalico
        Township, 1730-1790, translated by Rev. William J. Hinke and Rev. Frederick S. Weiser.  Pennsylvania German
        Society, 1981.  Series:  Sources and Documents of the Pennsylvania Germans:  V.
    See Pastoral records of John Waldschmidt, 1752-1786.  Waldschmidt was pastor here during part of that period.
        Translated by Luther R. Kelker in Pennsylvania Archives, 6th Series, V. 6, pp. 153+.  Translation by William J. Hinke,
         E&RHS.
    See Pastoral records of Rev. Stephen Schweitzer, 1868-1914, and Rev. Martin Schweitzer, 1914-1937.  The Schweitzers
        were pastors here, 1871-1937.  Original records are at the Swamp United Church of Christ, West Cocalico Township,
        1985.
    See Marriages Performed by Rev. Daniel Hertz, 1823-1868.  Hertz was pastor here 1822-1867.  Transcript, LCHS;
        E&RHS.
    Records of the former St. Paul's united Church of Christ, Adamstown, 1911-1968, are held by the congregation since
        the merger in 1968.
 
 
 LIST OF THE STONES AT MUDDY CREEK CEMETERY 
 
 
 
 
 
The church information is from Churches and Cemeteries of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, A Complete Guide by A. Hunter Rineer, Jr.
pages 109 and 110.
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© Brenda Creasy