The death certificate of Joseph Garfield Mertz says he was the son of Joseph Mertz and Amanda E Fenstermacher. Garfield lived with his father and his father’s second wife Mary J in 1900.

I know Joseph from Census and that he had a son Harvey S and a wife Amanda. Amanda and Harvey are buried in the same cemetery where John and Sarah (Dewees) Mertz and their son Tilghman is buried so I have guessed that Joseph was John’s son. He is designated H4b1a.

Joseph lived with random people, at age 11, in 1850, in Whitehall Township. Then in 1860, he had found his way to Allen Township (the home turf of the H4 family) though still lived with random people.

I think the fact that he did not live with any parents as a teenager supports the idea that his father must have died young and is consistent with my placement of him as the son of John who died in 1846.

Joseph is on find-a-grave. I should say, a Joseph is on find-a-grave in about the right place and with birth year matching what I know about this Joseph. His wife Amanda is in a different cemetery, the same cemetery as Joseph’s parents,

Joseph married again after Amanda died, I don’t know if that has anything to do with why he was buried in a different place.