I have been aware of the presence of this man in the 1790 Census from my earliest days researching the Mertz/Martz families. He was one of the few men named Mertz or Martz in that Census that I could not identify.

It was only when I began to research the various Martz families of Frederick County, MD that a theory began to form in my mind. A man named Theobald Martz died in 1786 in Frederick County in 1786. He left a will and named his four sons, one of whom was Peter.

I believe I have found Theodore’s oldest son, George, in the 1790 Census and he has 3 males over 16 in his household. I thought, shouldn’t there be four? The answer had to be that one died or one was living on his own separate from George and his other two brothers.

And then I thought of Peter in Franklin County, PA — not very far, almost abuts, Frederick County, MD. It then took a lot of searching but I then found a wikitree about Peter based on the work of Beth Rasmussen. Her tree is backed by substantive research — she cites deeds, church records and several other sources. Beth has concluded that Peter was the son of Theobald and she documents the presence of Peter in the 1780’s in Frederick County and then links him to several mentions of Peter in Franklin County by about 1790.

The strongest link, in my opinion, is that Peter married Mary Horine at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Frederick in 1785 and they baptized son Johann Peter there in 1787 and then, from his will, the wife of Peter of Franklin County was Mary and his oldest son was Peter, not yet 21. It all fits. (Beth Rasmussen sources both Peter’s marriage and the birth of his son Peter to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Frederick, I have found reference to both events at the Zion Lutheran Church in nearby Middletown, MD.)

Unless and until new information comes to light, I have enough confidence in my theory to make Peter the son of Theodore (T); Peter is designated T3.

And we know Theobald had a son Peter of about exactly the right age, he baptized him in Germany, the baptism record giving Peter’s birth date as 14 Jun 1750.

I am always reluctant to just assume or believe someone else that, say, Peter Marts of Franklin County, PA was none other than Peter Martz mentioned in the will of Theobald Martz of Frederick County, MD.

I look for carry-throughs. In this case a carry-through is that in Frederick County, Peter and Anna Maria Mertz baptized a son Johann Peter 26 Sep 1787 who was born 1 Aug 1787. Then the 1804 will of Peter Martz named wife Mary and eldest son, not yet 21, Peter.

His will also refers to property due him from his father's will so that must not all have been yet settled. He doesn’t say anything specific about his father — it sure would have been nice had he done so. However, a close reading of Theobald’s will has the interesting clause that if any of his children die without issue, then their share of Theobald’s estate shall go to the survivors with issue. It seems to be the case that of Thoebald’s five children, only Peter married and had issue.

The executors of Peter’s will were his wife Mary and two friends one of whom was of Washington County Maryland.

The research I have done seems to show that Peter’s family, while starting out in Franklin County, PA, do also show up later in Frederick County and also in Washington County, MD where several are buried. The geography is that Washington County, MD is directly south of and just on the other side of the PA-MD line from Franklin County, PA and then Frederick County, MD is just east of Washington County. This family is from that area consisting of three counties.

Peter Marts is present in the 1790 Census in Peters Township, Franklin County and his household includes two young males — presumably Peter and John.

He is still there in 1800 and now the household includes two more young sons — presumably Jacob and David. And it includes two young daughters.

Peter Mertz of Peters Township, Franklin County wrote his will 21 Jan 1804, it proved 4 Feb 1804

Peter’s will named his daughters as Mary Catherine and Elizabeth — without punctuation so it is a little unclear if there were two of them or three.

Peter’s will referred to his beloved wife Mary, son Peter not yet 21, son John not yet 18 and youngest sons Jacob and David. I have been able to track all of them although it took me many years to find David who for the most part later went by Davolt, a fact which makes me certain it is him.

T3a Peter born 1787, T3b John N born 1788, T3c Jacob born 1792, T3d David born abt 1799.