I am aware of Charles Mertz from his memorial on find-a-grave. He is buried in the Rittersville Cemetery, said to be in Allentown but from the map sort of between Allentown and Bethlehem and south of Catasauqua and Hanover. Also buried there is his wife Eliza and his son Tilghman.

This is no doubt the Charles Mertz living in Hanover Township in the 1850-1870 Census with wife Eliza and son Tilghman, all three with ages matching more or less their calculated age from their tombstones. The history of Hanover Township is that it was formed from the southern portion of Allen Township and then once formed (in 1795) was split into its Lehigh County part and its Northampton County part when Lehigh was created in 1812. It was served by the Catasauqua post office per the 1870 Census.

The question that I have to answer is who was Charles’ father? I have gone with John since Charles’ age is right, his geographic location is right and John had another grandson named Tilghman. Charles is designated H4b3.

Charles and then his widow was consistently reported in Census in Hanover, Lehigh County.

Charles and Eliza are on find-a-grave.

The death certificate of Mary J Dannecker, 3 Aug 1853 - 25 Jul 1935, who died in Allentown, names her parents as Charles Mertz and Eliza Senbach. She was obviously Mary age 6 in the 1860 Census.

The death certificate of Tilghman H Mertz, 23 Feb 1857 - 7 Jun 1910, who died in Hanover, Lehigh County names his parents as Charles Mertz and Eliza Osenbach.