We know Isaac as the son of Nicholas and Catharina from his 8 May 1777 baptism at Longswamp Reformed which said he was born 10 Mar 1777. As Nicholas’ eldest son, he filed the Orphans Court petition after his father’s death which named all his brothers and sisters.

Isaac is designated P5a.

THE NEW BERLIN MERTZES. In 1800 and 1810, Isaac lived in Middleburg where his parents lived and then later is found in New Berlin where he died in 1832 and his tombstone said he was 54 years old. There is no question that Isaac who died in New Berlin was Nicholas’ son.

His name appeared often in the official records of Union County as he held several offices -- most importantly he was Sheriff of Union County from 30 Oct 1819 to 21 Oct 1822. He served in the Union Rifle Volunteers in 1814 (War of 1812) and he was the Coroner from 1816 to 1819.

1800. He lived in Penns Township (where his father was).

1810. He lived in Swinefords (where his widowed mother was). He was the constable. A male age 16-25 was present and since Isaac was too young to have a 16-year old son, I am guessing that this male was his brother, Jacob, age 19.

1820. He lived in New Berlin (he was a constable).

1830. He lived in New Berlin (where he was Esquire). An elderly woman age 70-80 lived with he and his wife, the mother of one of them, I would presume. Isaac’s mother is said to have died in 1825, so it must have been hers.

Isaac is on find-a-grave with dates 23 Mar 1778-23 Dec 1832. I uploaded my own photo to his memorial. I can read that he died in December 1832 on the photo but the exact date has been obliterated. I think I have seen the 23 Dec 1832 date though in some transcription.

I can also read that his tombstone says age 54 years and 9 months — which is the source of the 23 Mar 1778 date of birth given on find-a-grave. That is not, however, in agreement with his birth date as given on his baptism record.

So there are any number of possibilities.

1. Did it really mean 9 months and no days exactly or were the days just not known? If it was 9 months and 13 days, that would compute to 10 Mar 1778, explaining the 13-day discrepancy -- but not the one year discrepancy -- between his birth date on the church record and what it says on find-a-grave.

2. If he actually died 10 Dec 1832, that would gt us to the same place, 10 Mar 1778.

3. Maybe the Isaac Mertz buried at New Berlin is not the same Issac Mertz baptized at Longswamp. But I reject that idea out of hand. We know Nicholas had a son Isaac and every fact of the life of Isaac of New Berlin is totally consistent with the idea he was Nicholas' son of that name.

So, I cannot explain this discrepancy. But I put Isaac forth as my poster child to illustrate the point that tombstones and church baptism records do not always agree.

From the tick marks of early Census listings, it is clear that Isaac had any number of sons but at most one daughter. I do not know her name. She was under 10 in 1810, 10-15 in 1820 and 20-29 in 1830. So she was born between 1805 and 1810.

There is no list of Isaac’s sons that I have ever found. He did not leave a will, I have found no property record of the kind that sometimes lists all the heirs.

Census tick marks though show any number of sons: one under 10 in 1800, four under 10 in 1810, three under 10 + two 10-15 and two 16-24 in 1820, two 10-14 + 2 more 20-29 in 1830.

So maybe he had as many as seven sons.

I think I can name six using, in some cases, deductive reasoning. Four are designated:

P5a1. John (Jun 1801-1 Mar 1877)
P5a2. Samuel (18 Aug 1802-28 Apr 1871)
P5a3. Israel (1812-10 Sep 1866)
P5a4. George (1815-

I think there were two additional sons who do not need to have a designation code.

Henry was born abt 1805. Henry died in 1885. He was buried in New Berlin Cemetery, Union Co, PA. In his will dated 11 Apr 1871, Samuel Mertz (P5a2) made provision for his brother Henry who "has no home...shall be kept by my children to go to the one he chooses”.

I’m not sure what Henry’s disability was but I do not think he was able to live on his own and there is no evidence he ever did.

Isaac was born on 8 Mar 1812. Isaac died on 28 Mar 1812 He was buried in Hassinger’s Old Cemetery, Snyder Co, PA. Joseph Meiser lists him as a son of Isaac’s but says he died in 1866 and was buried in Riverview, Northumberland, PA. But his grave is near his grandmother's in Hassingers and I think he lived only about 20 days. The Riverview burial is Israel. I believe Isaac and Israel were twins.

The biography of George Mertz, Mayor of Mound City in Pulaski County, IL specifically says he was the son of Isaac and Susan Stahlnecker.

Susannah is on find-a-grave.