There is a David Mertz in the 1810 Census in Longswamp Township and a David Mertz who “popped up” in Manheim Township in 1840 after Henry disappeared from that same place after the 1820 Census. In 1810, he was age 16-25 and there was a female 45+ living with him. In 1840, he was age 40-49.

I really can think of three different ways he may fit into Conrad’s family and I really don’t know which of these theories may be the most reasonable. But I should say that I believe David was of the Longswamp family — (based on his presence in Longswamp Township in 1810 and based on the fact that David is such an important name in the Longswamp family) — and there are very few Mertzes who remained in Longswamp past 1790. So I believe David was either a son or grandson of Conrad.

I have considered the he may be Henry’s son, but since he wasn’t named as such in the estate file of Henry’s father-in-law which named his grandchildren, I have explain things by giving Henry a first wife, prior to Maria Blatner, by whom he had David.

A second guess is that David was a son of Conrad’s son Johannes, who other than his 1772 baptism I know nothing more about. Maybe Johannes lived only long enough to marry and have a son in 1795 and then died but never made any other imprint on history. And maybe David then went to live with Conrad and was reported as age 10-15 in Conrad’s 1810 household.

Or maybe he was Conrad’s son. It might be considered strange that Conrad had sons in 1765 and 1772 and then another in 1795 and if he did, I suspect it was by a second, younger, wife.

So each of these theories requires me to believe some additional fact which there is no evidence for. In the end, it is basically a coin toss (a three-sided coin) and for now I am going with the theory he was Conrad’s son. David is designated N3b.

Well I should add there is one other possibility. I know little about Conrad’s brother Henry other than he was listed in the 1790 Census in Longswamp, that he married Maria Catharina Heckman (the sister of Conrad’s wife) and died in 1822. I have always believed he had no children.

There was a David Matz in the 1830 Census in Cumru Township, Berks County. It’s possible it was this David, I suppose. Other than that I believe he was the David Mertz in Longswamp Township in 1810 and David Mertz in Manheim Township in 1840.

There is an 1847 estate file for Christina Mertz of Schuylkill Haven, widow of David. It seems an obvious guess that, since David was in Manheim Township in 1840 and then disappeared that maybe he died in the early 1840’s and then Christina not too long after.

The estate file named their children, all minors: David, John, Joshua, Samuel, Lydia and Mary Jane. It is very hard to find evidence of these children in the 1850 Census. There was a Joshua Mark, age 12, in Wayne Township with the Allenbach family and a John Martz, age 18, lived with the Boyer family in Pottsville age.

But then in the decades following I think there is evidence of males of the right age to be David’s and Christina’s sons.

The most interesting evidence is records detailing either registration for or service in the Civil War. Consider, there was a volunteer unit formed named Company I, 39th Regiment and on its roster we find Corporal Joshua Martz and privates: Samuel G W Martz and John B Martz. After this unit disbanded, another unit was formed, Company C, 50th Pennsylvania Infantry and among its members were Daniel Martz, Samuel Martz and John B Martz. One other tidbit is that Samuel and Daniel Mertz were purchasers of small items at Christina’s estate sale.

So I’ve found evidence of Daniel, John (John B), Joshua and Samuel (Samuel GW). Who’s Daniel and what happened to David? I have seen many instances over the years where the name handwritten name David was mis-read as Daniel and vice versa and I am posting the theory here that ttat is whet happened. As I look at Christina’s estate file, I think the name written was indeed David but what if whoever wrote that into the official record copied it from some other handwritten document and mis-read it?

I think David’s sons were: Daniel, Joshua, Samuel G W, and John B.

I found her maiden name, Dress, on the death certificate of her son Joshua. When I inspected her estate file, I noticed that her town lot in Schuylkill Haven had been sold to Susanna Dress and I also noticed any number of buyers of her property named Dress and so I searched for any Dress who died in Schuylkill County and Jacob Dress who died there in 1843 seemed, perhaps, to be in the right timeframe.

A look at Jacob’s estate file produced a petition by John Dress, to wit: “that your petitioner’s said father died intestate on or about the 24th of May last (1843) leaving a widow named Catherine and eight children, namely Christina, intermarried with David Mertz now deceased, Jacob, Elizabeth intermarried with David (??), your petitioner, Maria intermarried with Samuel Heebner, Catherine intermarried with Samuel Fenstermacher, Daniel and Susannah who is still in her minority”.