Samuel was named in his father’s will and from the order, it would seem that he was Sebastian’s third oldest son.

Samuel was listed in the 1810 Census in Rockingham County, age 26-45, with eight young children.

He is designated S3.

Samuel is present in the 1810-1840 Census in Rockingham. In the 1840 Census, Samuel had a lot of older sons living with him. Then in 1850, it is Samuel’s sons, Samuel and Jacob, living with their sister Maria.

Samuel is on find-a-grave and that is my source for his birth and death dates. The Thomas Looker book has the same date of death, 4 Nov 1847, but has his birth date as 10 Apr 1768. Someone has reversed 4/10 and 10/4, I believe it was the Looker book author.

The cemetery database at Rockingham Historical Society is in agreement as to his date of death and adds age 79 years 1 month, which I assume is the source of the idea he was born 4 Oct 1768.

The Thomas Looker book lists these daughters: Marial born 1794 never married, Elizabeth married Nathaniel O’Roark, Sallie born 1798, Polly born abt 1805 married David Robinson Robertson, Lydia born 18 Nov 1811 married Curtis Yates, Rachael married Morgan Layton, Maria born 18 Jan 1813 died 12 Jan 1896 never married and Emma who it says was born 1840 (which can’t possibly be right).

I think there may be some confusion between Marial and Mariah whose tombstone on find-a-grave gives the dates as shown for Maria. I suspect that Marial never existed as it is clear that Mariah never married.

Maria lives with her two unmarried twin brothers, George and Jacob, in the 1850 Census. She is said to be 25. Also present in that household is Emma age 9. I think this is the Emma listed as Samuel’s daughter in the Thomas Looker book. Maybe she was, but couldn’t she also be a niece or great niece who for whatever reason was living with Samuel’s other unmarried children?

His will dated 6 May 1844 proved Nov Court 1847 named only son Martin, who was appointed Executor, but it referred, without naming them, to other sons.

However, the Thomas Looker book documents an 1851 land partition after Samuel’s death in which six sons were named: John, Abraham, Reuben, Martin, Jacob and Samuel.

The Thomas Looker book also lists a Michael Martz as Samuel’s oldest son but has no more information on him. There was no mention of him in the land partition record.

Samuel married Mary Philips 13 Dec 1792 in Rockingham County according to the Thomas Looker book, which adds that she was the daughter of John Evan and Uriah (Woodley) Philips.

She is listed on find-a-grave in the same cemetery as her husband. Only a date of birth, 1776, is given, no date of death. She is said to be buried at the Zetty Cemetery where her husband and three children are also buried.

The cemetery database at Rockingham County Historical Society also lists her at Zetty. Mary Martz, consort of Samuel, died 14 Jun 1840 (with a question mark) age 63 years 8 months (so late 1776). They add that the date of death was not legible when someone lately went out to check but had been recorded by the DAR in the 1960’s.

I have gone with those dates.

But the cemetery database at Rockingham County Historical Society also lists a Mary Martz at the Martz Cemetery died 7 Mar 1855 aged 79 years [1776]. It adds there is no visible stone (it may be a case of the data first coming from an older transcription and then a later transcription effort could not find her). Mary, wife of Samuel, was possibly born in 1776, so is this his wife? It doesn’t say that, just names her. However, she is listed next to Martin and I believe was his wife.

However, the Thomas Looker book picks up that 7 Mar 1855 date of death and suggests it was for Mary Philips and says also she is buried at the Martz Cemetery. The book gives her date of birth as 5 Oct 1779 (not 1776) — I’m not sure where that comes from.

In any event, I believe 1840 is the better date for her to have died. She was not named in her husband’s will dated 1847 and I think had she been alive in 1850, she would have been living with her three children, Samuel, Jacob and Maria, all living together. Moreover, there was a petition filed after the death of her brother, Abraham Philips, in 1843 apparently naming Abraham’s siblings as his heirs and Polly was not listed but her children were — she had certainly died by 1843. I also think she is buried at Zetty not Martz Cemetery.

An 1840 date of death is also curious, since the Looker book says Samuel and Mary had a daughter Emma in 1840. I think that is not true, but could it be that Mary died in childbirth at age 64, at Emma’s birth?

The Wiki profile of Abraham Martz includes a full transcription of a Licking County petition and series of court records “Abraham Philips adm vs Elizabeth Philips et al” spanning the 1843-1846 time period. It named about 28 persons some of whom were named Martz and their names seemed very much to line up with the names of the children of Samuel and Polly (Philips) Martz. It was posted there by Meghan Dewhurst-Conroy and I have discussed the interpretation of it with her. She believes that:

1. Abraham Philips was the brother of Mary “Polly” (Philips) Martz
2. He had recently died leaving a widow Elizabeth and no children
3. He owned a tract of land but had debts that could not be paid off without selling some of the land
4. So the court got involved to set off Elizabeth’s third of that land as her dower and then to sell the remainder
5. Since Abraham had no children, and died intestate, all his siblings were his lawful heirs
6. At least two of his siblings had died. Polly was one of those two, and so the heirs of deceased siblings were named in that case.

Polly’s children named in that petition were:

John, Abraham, Martin, Reuben, Jacob and Samuel Martz. These are the same six sons named on the 1851 land partition. So if there ever was a son Michael, as stated in the Thomas Looker book, he must have died before 1843 presumably without issue.

Polly Martz who the Looker book says married David Robinson Robertson. They are named in the petition as Polly Robinson and Daniel Robinson. Close enough for me.

Lydia Martz who the Looker book says married Curtis Yates listed in the petition as Lydia Yates and Curtis Yates.

Rachel Martz who the Looker book says married Morgan Layton in November 1843 was listed as Rachel Martz, which makes sense since the petition was dated September 1843.

Maria Martz. The Looker book named a Marial and a Maria. Maria supposedly married Samuel Handley according to the Looker book. But there is no mention of anyone named Handley in the petition. There could be several explanations, but I believe there was not both a Maria and a Marial, there was only Mariah, she never married and was the Maria Martz named in the petition.

The petition is also notable for who wasn’t mentioned.

There was no mention in the petition of Elizabeth Martz who according to the Looker book married Nathaniel O’Roark and supposedly had children by him. There are any number of possibilities: maybe there was no daughter Elizabeth, maybe the Licking County cousins forgot about her or didn’t have any idea where she was, perhaps she died early with no surviving issue.

There is no mention of Emma Martz who the Looker book listed as a daughter of Polly born in 1840 which never made no sense to me (Polly would have been 64, all her other children were born before 1815 or so).

There is one more interesting court document in Meghan’s post: A day after the Sheriff was ordered to summon the full list of persons he came back to the court and said a number of persons “are not in my bailiwick”. The Martzes not in his bailiwick were: Jacob Martz, Martin Martz, Lydia Yates, Maria Martz, Rachel Martz John Martz, Abraham Martz, Reuben Martz and Samuel Martz.

According to Census, John Martz was in Rockingham in 1840 and in Licking in 1850 so he must not yet have arrived in 1843. Abraham and Reuben were both in Licking in 1840 and Iowa by 1850, so they both must already have left by 1843. Polly Robinson seems to have been the only Martz actually in Licking in 1843.