Abraham Mertz existed. He was first listed on the 1779 Berks/Longswamp tax list as a single man -- from which we have deduced his approximate 1758 birth. He was listed as a sponsor at five Mertz baptisms starting in 1776 and in every one of them, the parent was, I believe, a grown child of Hans Peter. That suggests that Abraham, too, must have been a child of Hans Peter.

Even more compelling, the Berks/Longswamp tax lists in the early 1780’s consistently showed Peter Mertz being taxed on 400 acres of land, no other Mertz of that era in that place even came close to owning that much land. Then, in 1784, Peter was not listed as a taxable, (though still alive), but Abraham Mertz was -- with 400 acres.

Early on, I believed that Abraham might have been the son of John Jacob, but I am now convinced that Abraham was the son of Hans Peter. I believe he was the seventh and youngest son. He is designated P7.

When I first started thinking about Abraham, I assumed he had been born in the early 1760’s which would make him old enough to be a sponsor in 1776 and marry by 1783. I therefore came to the early conclusion that he may have been the son of John Jacob (son of Nicholas) who I believed was about the only Mertz having children in the early 1760’s.

But a man named Scott Martz from Michigan found my website and contacted me about Abraham, who he believed was his ancestor (but I think I have proven he was mistaken in that notion). Scott pointed out to me what my own data showed -- but which I hadn’t laid out in quite the way Scott got me to see it -- and that was that Abraham was always the sponsor for Peter’s grandchildren. This also caused me to look more closely at the tax lists of Berks/Longswamp from that period and those too convinced me that 1.) Abraham was a little older than I had thought originally and 2.) he seemed to be closely associated with Hans Peter’s family.

I think his birth was more like 1758.

Abraham was listed in the Pennsylvania Septennial Census: in 1779 in Longswamp Township, single and in 1786 also in Longswamp.

1790. I think he was the only Abraham old enough to be listed in the 1790 Census. I also think he was one of but two of Peter’s sons who did not move to Northumberland County. I would have expected to find him in Longswamp Township but there was an Abraham in Hereford Township and I think this was him.

He was still in Hereford in 1800, age 26-44.

In 1810, I’m sure it is him in Longswamp age 45+.

Two sequential land records found in Lehigh County Deed Book 4 page 212 and 213 tell the rest of Abraham’s story, I think. In 1816, the sheriff of Lehigh County sells off a 33 acre tract of land that had belonged to Abraham Mertz then deceased. The land was seized as best I can tell because Abraham owed money to Owen Rice and Owen Rice acquired that land. And the in 1822, he sold it to Abraham Mertz, Jr.

Abraham is not on find-a-grave.

Abraham and Catharina baptized daughter Anna in 1802 and daughter Elizabeth in 1808. From her father’s will and later estate papers, we learn the names of Catharina’s surviving children in 1830 -- her daughters were Anna and Eliza who shared in his estate and Mary who was disowned.

From their baptisms at Longswamp, we know that Abraham and Catharina had a son John George born 22 Jan 1786, Johannes born 8 Jan 1787 and Jacob born 21 Jun 1799. I long suspected that there may have been two others. One was a younger Abraham who appeared in Salisbury in 1830 where the older Abraham had been in 1820. The other was Peter who was born in 1783 per his tombstone, who I believe was the Peter who baptized son Ely at Longswamp in 1808 and, because of the Longswamp connection, for whom Abraham was the best candidate to be his father.

We know Abraham married sometime after 1781 when he was listed as a single man on a tax list and as single sponsor at a baptism and 1783 when he and wife Catharina were named together as sponsors. So my guess would be he married in 1782 and had son Peter in 1783.

And then I remembered that I had been tipped off long ago by Sharon Gill Vanden Bossche that Leonard Griesemer’s will noted that the children of his daughter Catharine, except for Mary, were to share in his estate. The will did not name those children but I went and found his estate file and the accounting filed in 1830 named the six surviving children other than Mary. The sons were: Peter, Jacob, Charles and Abraham. Obviously John George and Johannes died before then.

Normally, I would think the children would have been listed in birth order, in this case I think maybe not. If I have correctly identified Abraham Jr. in Census, he was born about 1796. In 1790, Abraham Sr. only had one son who must have been Peter, meaning John George and Johannes really had died young. Then in 1800, there were three sons age 0-9: Abraham and Jacob, I think, and possibly Charles. Finally in 1810, there was one son 0-9, perhaps he was Charles.

So Charles is the son I have no real clue as to his birth. I also have no idea what happened to him. In 1830, if I have correctly identified Abraham Jr. in Census, he had a younger male living with him (either the one age 15-19 or the one age 20-29) who was deaf or dumb. I am guessing that was maybe Charles. Only Peter, Abraham and Jacob are assigned designations and tracked further.

P7a Peter born 1783
P7b Abraham born 1796
P7b Jacob born 1799

Something that ties at least Peter and Abraham Jr. together is that in 1822 (Lehigh Deed Book 6, page 226) Jacob Griesemer, Executor of Leonard, sold a 13 acre tract in Salisbury to Abraham Mertz Jr which Leonard had bought in 1814 from Peter and Jane Mertz.

From the records of Longswamp Reformed Church, we know that Abraham's wife was Catharina. A hint suggesting her maiden name is that the sponsors at the baptism of their son John George in 1786 were Leon Grismer and wife Elisabeth. And that hint led to the will of Leonard Griesemer written in 1817 proved in 1821: he left his estate in equal shares to his children, except the share of his (apparently pre-deceased) daughter Catharina, wife of Abraham Mertz, to go to her children. The estate file proved key, Catharina’s children were not named in the will but were in the estate file.

I have in a very old handwritten note this from Butz: Abraham and Catharina Drescher (?) baptized children in 1786-1808. I think Butz has been proven wrong as to her maiden name.