Sam Wonders who has studied the Merz family of Hangenveiler, but gives no basis for a lot of his information (including that John Henry was a brother of John David) says his wife was of the Merz line but that he is connected too as he is a descendant of Georg Angstadt who married Anna Maria Schneider and their son Johann Georg Angstadt and wife Eva Catharina Schafer were on the same ship as David and Veronica. He says another related couple on board were Jacob Leibengut and wife Anna Margaretha Schafer.

He does not though say how Anna Maria Schneider ties into Joseph. She is not listed by Burgert and she devotes several pages to the Schneider family.

The Burgert book documents that he was born in Switzerland and emigrated to Alsace, that his daughter married David Mertz and that they emigrated to America.