She is identified as the daughter of Moses in The History of Clinton County, Indiana. Her sister Polly married Jacob Martz, brother of John.

John’s baptism went unrecorded. He was born in the time period when Jacob and Elizabeth were having their children. It is the release filed by William Mertz of Berks County to John Mertz of Clinton County that ties John to Jacob and then the fact that in the 1850 Census, it looks like Jacob’s widow and daughter — both named Elizabeth — were living with John. He is designated H1b3.

One further piece of evidence linking John to Jacob is that in 1892, John’s heirs, seeking to partition the land they inherited from him that he had bought of his father’s heirs, realized that they could not prove clear title because John had not filed all the necessary paperwork from each other of Jacob’s heirs assenting to his purchase of the land.

This wonderful document includes a very lengthy list of both John’s heirs, the “plaintiffs”, and Jacob’s other heirs, the “defendants”. I don’t think this filing in any way represents a dispute, I think it is just a filing to document the effort to clear the title. I assume all the releases they sought were proferred.

1840. John Mertz lived in Maxatawny Township, age 20-29. But was it this John, age 29, or his cousin John (H1c1), age 27? Based on the tick marks, I think it was this John who had two daughters and one son by 1840 — the other John had no children until the 1840’s.

1850. John lived in Clinton County, IN with his second wife Sarah and his children. His mother Elizabeth age 67 and sister Elizabeth age 34 lived in his household. He then stayed in Clinton County.

John is on find-a-grave linked to Jacob as his father.