Davey Family in Reading, Pennsylvania

I just got back from a 10 day auto trip across the southern part of Pennsylvania from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. I saw a lot of the countryside because we did not travel via freeway but by back roads. We saw farms and woods; barns and covered bridges; railroads and caverns; and when we got to Reading, I knew I had to find the church where my husband's great grandfather, Frederick Henry Davey had been baptized.
Frederick Henry Davey was the 15th and last child of Thomas Davey and Mary Nicholas, born 10 Oct 1853.[1] Thomas and Mary were from Cornwall County and had lived in Somerset County and London before immigrating to America.[2] The ship list has not yet been found, but it was likely between the 1851 census in London and the baptism of their youngest child in Reading.

Baptisms for Frederick Henry Davey and Adeline Rose Flinn - 4 Jul 1854

Frederick was baptized 4 Jul 1854 at St. Peter’s Church.[3] Also on the same day, were the baptism of his niece, Adeline Rose Flinn (Flynn), and the marriage of his sister, Susan to Joseph Muir.[4]
So here I was in Reading, Pennsylvania and I wanted to see the church where this all happened. Well, this church has had a long history. It was St. Peter’s Methodist Episcopal Church at the time of the baptisms and marriage. It was located at 355 5th Street and had been built in 1848. However, at the time of the microfilming, it was called Central United Methodist Church.

355 5th Street, Reading, PA

A history of the church stated that “in 1883-1884 the front was remodeled, a tower built, 21 feet added to the length and a one story infant school-room annexed.”[5] So the tower was not there at the time the Daveys attended the church.

Today, the church is called Iglesia HisPana Pentecostal Asambleas de Dios.

Anyway, I felt a bit of history by stopping by and photographing the church where my daughter’s ancestors attended.

---

[1] Family data, Thomas Davey Family Bible, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Moore, Wilstch, Keyes & Company, 1859); original owned by [address for private use], transcription done by Mary Davey Korn, granddaughter of Thomas Davey.
[2] 1841 England Census, Somerset, Bedminster, Bristol, folio 41 recto, line 11, Thomas Davey, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 May 2012); PRO HO 107/376/4, GSU roll 288785, citing The National Archives of UK, London. 1851 England Census, Kent, Deptford, St. Nicholas parish, page 5-6, household 24, Thomas Davey; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 May 2012), PRO HO 107/1585, GSU rol 174822, citing The National Archives of UK, London.
[3] Central United Methodist (Reading, Pennsylvania), Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, St. Peter's Church, Baptisms p 2, Frederick Henry Davey; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 June 2012).
[4] For Adeline’s baptism: ibid, p 2, Adeline Rose Flinn. For the marriage: ibid, Marriages, p 2, Joseph Muir & Susan Davey, 1854.
[5] Supplementary Sheet no. 1, St. Peter’s Methodist Church, Pennsylvania W.P.A. Inventory, “WPA Church Archives 1937-1940”, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 Aug 2014), citing Congregations, 1937–1940, and undated. Microfilm, 298–299, 3258–3313. Records of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Record Group 13. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.