I have confirmed that the marriage of Bastian Mersh and Magd Burghard was recorded 5 Mar 1762 in the records of the German Reformed Church in Frederick, MD. Sources say she was the daughter of John.

This record gives some credence to the idea that Sebastian and Theobald may have been brothers, as that is the church where Theobald also worshipped, but there is no direct proof that they were brothers.

A man named Sebastian Martz died in Rockingham County, Virginia leaving a will he wrote in 1815 and that was recorded in the Spring of 1818. He was a large landowner and was the father of seven sons and two daughters. He was listed in Rockingham in the 1810 Census and likely was listed there in 1790 and 1800, but those Census records for Virginia have been lost. It is believed he was the man named as Bastian Mersh whose 5 Mar 1762 marriage to Magd(alena) Burghard was recorded in the records of the German Reformed Church in Frederick, Maryland.

I was able to learn a lot about Sebastian and his descendants by visiting the Rockingham County Historical Society. Sebastian’s family was a prominent and large family of early Rockingham and their presence there can easily be documented by their wills, tombstones, tax records and several books on the families they intermarried with.

I assign Sebastian the designation code S.

A book I found at the Rockingham Historical Society, Shadowed by the Massanutten, by William Algernon Good, gives an interesting biography of Sebastian.

“Sebastian Martz married Mary Magdalene Burkhart, daughter of John, 5 Mar 1762 at the Reformed Church of Frederick, MD. Sebastian came to Augusta County (the part now Rockingham) sometime before 19 Mar 1777 when he purchased 545 acres near where the village of Tenth Legion now stands. He named his farm ‘The Toll House Farm’.

Tradition says he did favors for Thomas Jefferson by keeping his colleagues in line with Jefferson’s ideas, and for so doing Jefferson named the Legion here the Tenth, thus the name Tenth Legion. A school, the first in this area, was built near his home.”

Similar things are stated by Ralph Fraley Martz in his book The Martzes of Maryland who adds these snippets:

“The Martzes lived in Frederick County, MD and some of them moved into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

Sebastian rented his farm for some time before he actually bought it in 1777.

There was an Inn on the farm at a spring on the main stagecoach road connecting Maryland to the Carolinas.

Sebastian and his family collected the “tolls” which consisted of wood, hides, feathers and grains. He hauled these raw products to Frederick, MD where he traded these products for manufactured goods such as boots, shoes, leather, flour, sugar, salt and linen goods.

Sebastian Martz served as Thomas Jefferson’s right-hand man. Jefferson liked him so much that he renamed his area as the ’Tenth Legion’.

I have no idea the credibility of all of that. Some facts seem documented, some not. It may all be true, but if Sebastian were my ancestor, I would want some evidence especially of his supposed (but interesting) relationship to Thomas Jefferson.

For example, I have an ancestor, Moses Collett, whose descendants say he moved to western Virginia and leased his land from George Washington. I found that interesting but I was skeptical. But indeed, among the published papers and letters of George Washington, there is a letter from Washington to Isaac Collett, Moses’ son, about overdue rents. There it was, it really was true and provable that Moses had leased his land from Washington.

I’ve done a search to see if there is anything other than Martz family tradition showing a link between Jefferson and Sebastian and I came up empty. Maybe Jefferson’s papers haven’t been digitized and made searchable the way Washington’s have, and maybe there is something someone can find among Jefferson’s papers to make the case — but until such a document is found, I would be a little skeptical.

I also did a search for Tenth Legion and Thomas Jefferson and indeed, Jefferson apparently referred to the whole of the Shenandoah Valley as his “tenth legion” (like a baseball team might call the fans their tenth man).

Sebastian and his male descendants to 1850 are covered in the Mærtz Hierarchical Project:
https://www.mertzgenealogy.com/names/sebastian_martz_family_s.pdf

You don’t have to do much research on Sebastian to encounter the idea that his father was Baltzer (or Balser or Balthazar) Marche (or Mertz). There is a well-known book, The Martzes of Maryland by Ralph Fraley Martz (RFM), that says just that.

In one place the book talks about a Balser Michell Mertz, age 54, who arrived on the ship Elizabeth in 1733. RFM says his wife was Anna, age 46, and they had three sons: George Henrich age 20 a shoemaker, Hans Jacob age 20 a shoemaker and John George age under 16.

Then in a chapter about instances of Martzes moving from Pennsylvania into Maryland, he cites “Balser Marchel married Ann Merkel. He lived near Hanover, PA….was an early arrival to Frederick County….children John Jacob, Catherine, George Henry, John Sebastian born 1740 and John Theobald.”

In several different chapters devoted to the Martzes of Frederickstown or Frederick County, Maryland (the heart of RFM’s book), RFM discusses three particular early Martz families who had some association with that place:

1. John Theobald Marche later Martz who died in 1786 Frederick. Theobald was a shoemaker. It sure sounds like John Theobald, son of Balser Marchel, and note his occupation of shoemaker, the same supposed occupation as the sons of Balser Michell Mertz. RFM adds: “The Martzes of Frederick County, MD would travel on the B&O Train to Luray, VA. There they were met by relatives who would drive them about 30 miles to their farm in the Valley of Virginia. The Martzes of Frederick always claimed that they were related to the Martzes living in the Valley of Virginia.”
2. Sebastian Marche later Martz who married in Frederick in 1762 and then moved to Rockingham County, Virginia where he operated a toll station. The tolls were paid in the form of wool, hides feather and grains which he hauled to Frederick to sell. It sure sounds like John Sebastian born 1740 son of Balser Marchel.
3. John George Martz or Markle, born 1752 and died in 1822. RFM says that in 1781 George Martz bought a property called “Baltershum” which had been named for Baltzer Michael Mertz who was born in 1679. Baltzer Michael Mertz sounds very much like Balser Michell Mertz who arrived in 1733 at age 54 (thus born in 1679). Balser Michell, according to RFM, arrived with a son under the age of 16 named John George. And both Balser Mertz and Balser Markel had a son named George Henrich or Henry. Clearly John George under age 16 in 1733 was not John George born in 1752, but it is typical of RFM’s way of throwing names around all too loosely and not connecting very many dots, that the implication is that there is some connection.

Now part of the confusion of the RFM book is that in many places it is just long lists of random citations of supposed real documented events for various persons named Martz (often), but then also Marks, Merkel, Marchel, March, Moritz, Marchan, Markhan and many more — the implication is that RFM thinks those all might be alternate ways Martz was spelled at times. And RFM doesn’t often enough say which past events he has cited elsewhere is applicable to some person he’s profiling more in depth later.

So, RFM doesn’t explicitly say that Sebastian Martz of Rockingham County and Theobald Martz and John George Martz of Frederick County were brothers or closely related nor does he explicitly say that Balser Marchell, who had sons named Theobald and Sebastian, was one and the same as Balser Michell Mertz, the 1733 immigrant born in 1679 who had a son John George.

But the fact that both Balser Michell Mertz and Balser Marchel had a wife named Ann or Anna and sons named (Hans or John) Jacob and George Henry and that Theobald, a known shoemaker, shared that occupation with those two sons of Balser Michell Mertz — all point to the conclusion that Sebastian, Theobald and John George were brothers or otherwise quite closely related.

And since you can find dozens (hundreds?) of people’s family trees on the Internet which also make those connections, many other people seem to also believe that is what he was saying.

To which I say POPPYCOCK.

Let’s start with Balser and the ships lists. RFM seems to have used the ship’s passenger lists compiled by Rupp — which may be part of the problem. A different transcription/translation of those lists was done by Ralph Beaver Strassburger and William Hinke. They point out many errors they feel Rupp made and in my opinion, the Strassburger lists should be considered authoritative.

Strassburger documents the passengers on the Elizabeth in 1733 as: from the captain’s list, Jurigh Hendrick March age 20, Malster Mixt age 54, Hans Jacob Mixt age 20. Then translating the two signature lists, Strassburger lists: Georg Henrich Mertz, Balser Mets and Hans Jacob Mets. What the captain wrote as March looked more like Mertz where Georg Henrich signed his name and what the captain wrote as Mixt looked more like Mets where Balser and Jacob signed their names.

Strassburger also includes an alternate captain’s list which names not just men over the age of 16 but all passengers and their ages. And those translated lists show Jerick Hendrick March shoemaker age 20 and Mickell Mikt farmer age 54 and Hance Jacob Mikt age 20 no occupation. Anna Mikt age 46 was on the women’s list. No younger Mikt, Mets, March or Mertz children were listed.

So I can’t even count up the number of mistakes in RFM’s description of the passenger lists for the Elizabeth (some of which may be attributable to Rupp). For one thing, while Jacob and Balser/Malster Mikt were listed one after the other on all the lists, meaning they were together, George Henrich Mertz was in a different place on the lists — always. And why would the captain have spelled the names so differently? To infer that George Henrich on this list had any connection to Balser and Jacob is a mistake.

For another thing, the only shoemaker was George Henrich, Jacob Mikt had no occupation listed. And lastly, there is no mention of John George, who in any event had he been listed would have had an age stated for him as opposed just being under 16. It is my opinion that the Mikt or Mets family have nothing to do whatsoever with anyone named Martz including especially nothing to do with Sebastian nor Theobald nor John George.

Having said that, all three of those men did exist and did have some connection to Frederick County, Maryland. Here’s a brief sketch that I believe accurate:

1. John Theobald Martz. People seem to believe he was born in 1735 in Pennsylvania but since there is evidence his son George was born in 1743, obviously he was born well before 1735, and therefore would have been named on the 1733 passenger list if it pertained. In my opinion he was likely born in Europe. Theobald died in 1786 in Frederick, Maryland and left a long line of descendants. Theobald was sometimes named in the records of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Frederick (as a baptism sponsor in both cases) and sometimes in the Evangelical Reformed Church there. Ralph Fraley Martz states as a fact that he was Reformed. I have found record of the death of his son George in the Reformed records and RFM says that on 9 Feb 1767, George, Balser, Henry and Peter (Theobald’s four sons) were all confirmed in the Reformed church. Yes, Theobald named a son Balser, but that alone does not give any credibility to RFM’s assertions, in my opinion.
2. Sebastian Martz. People seem to believe he was born 1740 in Ratisborn, Germany. I have no idea when or where he was born — nor where the idea he was born in Ratisborn, Germany comes from. I find it ridiculous though to believe that he was born in Germany in 1740 and was the son of a 1733 immigrant. But Sebastian did marry in Frederick County in 1762 and then did indeed settle in Rockingham County where he was listed in the 1810 Census and were he died in 1818. He also left a long line of descendants. His marriage was listed among the records of the Reformed church in Frederick.
3. John George Martz. There was a John George Mertz, later Martz, listed in the 1780’s in the records of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Frederick and I believe he was the George Mertz listed in Frederick in the 1790 Census. He died in Frederick in 1822. I have compiled strong evidence to make the case that he a.) was not related to Sebastian or Theobald and b.) was a son of the Berks County Mertz immigrant, John Henry Mertz (designated H). He definitely practiced the Lutheran faith. His descendants all came to have their name spelled Martz.

It is my opinion, none of these three men were related to any of the others.

DNA AND RELATIONSHIPS TO OTHER MERTZ/MARTZ IMMIGRANTS. There is a Mertz/Martz y-chromosone DNA project at Family Tree DNA (FTDNA). By analyzing the DNA from males named Mertz or Martz today, we can see which other Mærtz males in the project they share a common Mærtz male ancestor with and then using genealogical practices we can pretty well determine who that long ago ancestor was.

Right now we have five persons tested whose results should potentially be telling us something about Theobald or Sebastian: Were they related to each other? Did they share a common ancestor? Was either related to any other known Mærtz immigrant? Here are the five:

A. The brother of Beth (Martz) Rasmussen, who has done exhaustive research on the Theobald Martz family. Per her research, with which I agree, she (and her brother of course) descend from Theobald. I’ll call him person A and call these other five also by their letter assigned.
B. Another person whose research, with which I agree, says he also descends from Theobald.
But here’s the rub, the DNA of person A does not match the DNA of person B and if they both descend from Theobald, they should match. There are several possible explanations for the non-match:
1. One or the other of A or B has made an error in their research. I consider that unlikely.
2. Somewhere in either A’s lineage back to Theobald or in B’s lineage back to Theobald, there was an adoption no one is aware of. Such things happened.
3. Somewhere in either A’s lineage back to Theobald or in B’s lineage back to Theobald, there was some other kind of “non-paternal event”. Such things happened.
C. A person whose research shows, and I agree, he descends from Sebastian, in his case Sebastian’s son Michael.
D. A second person whose research shows, and I agree, he too descends from Sebastian, in his case Sebastian’s son John.
The DNA of person C does match the DNA of person D, as we would expect. It is not a perfect match but within the limits of what FTDNA statisticians say indicates they likely are related.
It is also true that neither person C or person D is a match to person A or person B. And while those two do not match, I assume one or the other is carrying Theobald’s DNA, though at this point I don’t know which of them it is. I think this seems to rule out the idea that Theobald and Sebastian were brothers or otherwise related.
E. In a strange twist to this story, we have a person who descends apparently from another immigrant, George Mertz who immigrated in 1732 and settled in Heidelberg Township in what is today Lehigh County. (George is designated G in the Mærtz Hierarchical Project.) The DNA of Person E matches that of person B.
This George, the 1732 immigrant, had a son Philip and Philip named a son Theobald — the only other Theobald Mærtz I know of, anywhere in America. There are any number of ways that this shared DNA between the Martzes of eastern Pennsylvania and the Martzes of Frederick County can be explained. I explore that subject in more detail in both my book on Theobald Martz (T) as well as the one on George Mertz (G).

We are actively trying to find more male Mertz or Martz descendants of George, Theobald and/or Sebastian to shed more light on all of this.

Since DNA suggests that Sebastian was not related to any other immigrant Mertz or Martz family, I have to conclude he was an immigrant himself. It is possible he came to America with a father whose name is forever lost to history but until some new fact emerges, I list Sebastian as one of the eight original Mærtz immigrants.

I never really paid attention to the Martz family of Rockingham County, VA until I began the Mærtz Stratification Project to identify every Mærtz in every early Census and link every one back to his respective original Mærtz ancestor. It didn’t take too long until I realized there were a lot of Martz households in Rockingham County starting in 1810 and continuing with a virtual explosion of people of this name by 1850. They could not be ignored.

It turns out it is not a difficult family to research. Many of the earliest of them wrote wills and there are tax records, Census, bible records, church records, tombstones and many other sources of fact to understand the first several generations of the family.

I actually greatly enjoyed finding a family that was so well researched. I have found no discordant notes to discredit any of the major findings of what I have learned from the work of others. I believe that, at least up until 1850 and probably beyond, that all of the Martzes of Rockingham descend from Sebastian. It is just one family and while within this one family, certain names were repeated, there is enough documented evidence to keep them straightened out.

The Rockingham Martz family stands in stark contrast to the Mertz families of Berks County where there were several unrelated immigrant original ancestors and where so much mis-information has been published and so much confusion exists because of the multiple use of just a few specific given names in the different families.

Ralph Fraley Martz in The Martzes of Maryland devotes a whole chapter to the Rockingham Martz family. Someone posted a summary family tree based on that book showing Sebastian, his children and their children — with many exact birth, death and marriage dates and places, and names of spouses — to the Genealogy.com message board in 1999 titled Martz Family, Rockingham County, Virginia. (Hereinafter Rockingham Martz tree.) This tree also adds some additional information, some of it erroneous, about this family. I will comment on its errors in the appropriate place.

I have verified all of the relationships among these people by my own means — based primarily on things I found in a research visit I made to the Rockingham County Historical Society in 2015. I was able to also verify many of the exact dates, though there may be some exact dates that appear herein which I took from either the Rockingham Martz tree or directly from the Ralph Fraley Martz book. If I found a specific source for a date, it is stated in context, otherwise, if it matters, some skepticism is appropriate.

So, it all begins with the 1810 Census in which we find Sebastian and several of his sons. I am quite sure the family was no doubt present in Rockingham in 1790 and 1800 too, but all Census listings for Virginia for those years was lost in a fire during the War of 1812.

Sebastian died in about 1818 so 1810 was his only appearance in Census.

The will of Sebastian Martz dated 13 Apr 1815 proved May Term 1818. He had a lot of land and gave all of his children a sizable farm.

As of summer 2015, there is no evidence of him on find-a-grave.