Mertz Genealogy - Person Sheet
Mertz Genealogy - Person Sheet
NameMargaret Roth 
Spouses
Birthbefore 27 August 1702
Memo(baptized in Germany 27 Aug 1702)
Death1768
Memo(dates of the releases signed by his daughters)
FatherPeter Mertz
MotherAnna Dorothea
Marriage25 May 1723
Marr Memo(Weisenheim am Sand Reformed, noted by Annette Burgert)
Parent-Proof notes for Margaret Roth
George Mertz married Anna Margaretha Roth, daughter of Albertus, on 25 May 1723 in the records of the Weisenheim am Sand Reformed Church in Germany.
Margaret Mertz was one of the passengers on the shop George came to America on.
At the Jordan Lutheran Church in Lehigh County, a church that predates the establishment of Heidelberg Church, a Georg and Margaretha Mertz baptized an unnamed child 15 Jun 1740. And he and (now) Anna Margaretha sponsored the baptism in August 1740 of a child named Anna Margaretha Strahl.
Margaret Mertz was one of the passengers on the shop George came to America on.
At the Jordan Lutheran Church in Lehigh County, a church that predates the establishment of Heidelberg Church, a Georg and Margaretha Mertz baptized an unnamed child 15 Jun 1740. And he and (now) Anna Margaretha sponsored the baptism in August 1740 of a child named Anna Margaretha Strahl.
Birth, Parent-Proof, Designation notes for George (Spouse 1)
Many people have scoured the early lists of German ship’s passengers to Philadelphia searching for all those named Mertz (or Martz). For some of those early immigrants, I am quite sure we know what happened to them after their arrival in America — where they settled and something about their descendants. It is actually surprising, though, for how many of them we just don’t know. Where’d they go?
I have long been aware of the name George Mertz as one such immigrant. He actually was the earliest Mertz to come to America and he arrived on the Pennsylvania Merchant 11 Sep 1732 (accompanied by four women named Mertz). But just because he may have been the earliest person named Mertz to ever come to America, don’t for a minute think that means he was the progenitor of everyone in America of this name. Far from it.
For many years, I knew nothing about this man other than finding his name on the ships’ list. I didn’t know where he settled once in America nor the names of any descendants. Nor did I have an idea where in Germany (I assumed) he may have come from or the names of his parents.
There was a time when I thought George, the 1732 immigrant, might belong to the Mertz family of Frankenhausen, Germany who sent two brothers to America, one in 1737 and the other in 1748. Reportedly, from their records, a third older brother named John George possibly also went to America at some time. But whereas the 1737 immigrant became the founder of what is called Mertz Church in Berks County, PA and the 1748 immigrant found his way soon after his arrival to live nearby and worship too at that church, there was no sign of this supposed George Mertz associated with those two. If he did come to America, there was no indication he reunited with his brothers once here. And then, in 2017, a researcher studying the Mertz family of Frankenhausen contacted me to say he was pretty sure that John George, the older brother, never went to America.
Then, in 2018, I figured out at least where George settled once in America and the story of his family began to come together. I was reviewing land records of Northampton County and came across the name George Mertz of Heidelberg Township and the names of some of his family members and there was a reasonable resonance with the names of the Mertz family on the Pennsylvania Merchant. I now believe George settled in Heidelberg Township — which was Bucks County when he patented his land there, was part of Northampton County starting in 1752 when Northampton was created from Bucks and then became part of Lehigh County in 1812 when Lehigh was created from a part of Northampton.
As was true of everyone arriving in those days, his name appeared on three lists. One was the captain’s list on which the ship’s captain wrote down the names of every passenger aboard (in later years some captains only listed adult males). The captain of the Pennsylvania Merchant wrote the name Jerich Mirts as one of his men's names and then on his separate list of women and children he wrote: Margaret Marts, Dorothy Marts and Elizabeth Marts. No ages were given for anyone.
Strassburger and Hinke, using the “loyalty oaths” (the other two lists which only named the adult males), based on their examination of his signature, called this man Georg Mertz.
Now it might be argued, because of the captain's spelling, that the Marts females had nothing to do with the Mirts male. But I also look at the order of the names on the two captains’ lists and I picture the captain walking around the ship and as he encounters each family group he writes down names on two separate pieces of paper. On the list of adult males, the few names that preceded Jerich were Paul Ruyter, Hendrick Ruyter, Jerich Beats and William Creusemer and just after Jerich was Michael Slinagur. On the list of women and children, preceding the three Marts women (who were listed together) were six persons named Ruyter then four named Beats and two persons named Slynegar came just after. The explanation for the two apparent spellings of the same name could be as simple as maybe the captain in fact wrote Jerich Marts and, due to poor penmanship, it was misinterpreted as saying Mirts. In any event, I believe there was one family of four Mertzes on this ship.
Then, in 2021, Caleb Mertz, a descendant who I have worked with for several years, happened to find a little about George’s German ancestry. He found it in a book by Annette Burgert (the wonderful author of a different book which helped me so much with my own Mertz ancestry) titled Palatine Origins of Some Pennsylvania Pioneers. She discovered the baptism of Hans George Mertz on 27 Aug 1702 by his parents Peter and Anna Dorothea in the records of the Lambsheim Reformed Church. She also discovered the marriage of George to Anna Margaretha Roth, daughter of Albertus, and the subsequent baptisms by this couple of three daughters: Maria Catharina bp. 6 Aug 1724, Susanna bp. 19 Jan 1727 (sp. Susanna Roth, single) and Anna Elisabeth bp 21 Oct 1731 — all at the Weisenheim am Sand Reformed Church in the neighboring village to Lambsheim.
Burgert’s research style then is to match names of people from European records with names of people on the ships’ lists and also the names of people in American church records. So she realized the four names on the ship’s list matched known names of the Lambsheim/Weisenheim family and then also figured it must be a match to the names George and Margaret reported as parents at a 1740 baptism at the Jordan Lutheran Church, a church in the general vicinity of Heidelberg Township.
I totally agree with Burgert’s analysis that these citations all pertain to George Mertz the 1732 immigrant and his family. I believe the three women with him were his wife Margaret, his daughter Elizabeth and I think the third one must have been perhaps his mother Dorothea.
George is one of what I call the “eight original American ancestors” of this name, each of which gets a single-letter designation in the Mærtz Hierarchical Project which carries through to all of his male descendants. George is designated G.
George and his male descendants to 1850 are covered in the Mærtz Hierarchical Project:
https://www.mertzgenealogy.com/names/george_mertz_family_g.pdf
I have long been aware of the name George Mertz as one such immigrant. He actually was the earliest Mertz to come to America and he arrived on the Pennsylvania Merchant 11 Sep 1732 (accompanied by four women named Mertz). But just because he may have been the earliest person named Mertz to ever come to America, don’t for a minute think that means he was the progenitor of everyone in America of this name. Far from it.
For many years, I knew nothing about this man other than finding his name on the ships’ list. I didn’t know where he settled once in America nor the names of any descendants. Nor did I have an idea where in Germany (I assumed) he may have come from or the names of his parents.
There was a time when I thought George, the 1732 immigrant, might belong to the Mertz family of Frankenhausen, Germany who sent two brothers to America, one in 1737 and the other in 1748. Reportedly, from their records, a third older brother named John George possibly also went to America at some time. But whereas the 1737 immigrant became the founder of what is called Mertz Church in Berks County, PA and the 1748 immigrant found his way soon after his arrival to live nearby and worship too at that church, there was no sign of this supposed George Mertz associated with those two. If he did come to America, there was no indication he reunited with his brothers once here. And then, in 2017, a researcher studying the Mertz family of Frankenhausen contacted me to say he was pretty sure that John George, the older brother, never went to America.
Then, in 2018, I figured out at least where George settled once in America and the story of his family began to come together. I was reviewing land records of Northampton County and came across the name George Mertz of Heidelberg Township and the names of some of his family members and there was a reasonable resonance with the names of the Mertz family on the Pennsylvania Merchant. I now believe George settled in Heidelberg Township — which was Bucks County when he patented his land there, was part of Northampton County starting in 1752 when Northampton was created from Bucks and then became part of Lehigh County in 1812 when Lehigh was created from a part of Northampton.
As was true of everyone arriving in those days, his name appeared on three lists. One was the captain’s list on which the ship’s captain wrote down the names of every passenger aboard (in later years some captains only listed adult males). The captain of the Pennsylvania Merchant wrote the name Jerich Mirts as one of his men's names and then on his separate list of women and children he wrote: Margaret Marts, Dorothy Marts and Elizabeth Marts. No ages were given for anyone.
Strassburger and Hinke, using the “loyalty oaths” (the other two lists which only named the adult males), based on their examination of his signature, called this man Georg Mertz.
Now it might be argued, because of the captain's spelling, that the Marts females had nothing to do with the Mirts male. But I also look at the order of the names on the two captains’ lists and I picture the captain walking around the ship and as he encounters each family group he writes down names on two separate pieces of paper. On the list of adult males, the few names that preceded Jerich were Paul Ruyter, Hendrick Ruyter, Jerich Beats and William Creusemer and just after Jerich was Michael Slinagur. On the list of women and children, preceding the three Marts women (who were listed together) were six persons named Ruyter then four named Beats and two persons named Slynegar came just after. The explanation for the two apparent spellings of the same name could be as simple as maybe the captain in fact wrote Jerich Marts and, due to poor penmanship, it was misinterpreted as saying Mirts. In any event, I believe there was one family of four Mertzes on this ship.
Then, in 2021, Caleb Mertz, a descendant who I have worked with for several years, happened to find a little about George’s German ancestry. He found it in a book by Annette Burgert (the wonderful author of a different book which helped me so much with my own Mertz ancestry) titled Palatine Origins of Some Pennsylvania Pioneers. She discovered the baptism of Hans George Mertz on 27 Aug 1702 by his parents Peter and Anna Dorothea in the records of the Lambsheim Reformed Church. She also discovered the marriage of George to Anna Margaretha Roth, daughter of Albertus, and the subsequent baptisms by this couple of three daughters: Maria Catharina bp. 6 Aug 1724, Susanna bp. 19 Jan 1727 (sp. Susanna Roth, single) and Anna Elisabeth bp 21 Oct 1731 — all at the Weisenheim am Sand Reformed Church in the neighboring village to Lambsheim.
Burgert’s research style then is to match names of people from European records with names of people on the ships’ lists and also the names of people in American church records. So she realized the four names on the ship’s list matched known names of the Lambsheim/Weisenheim family and then also figured it must be a match to the names George and Margaret reported as parents at a 1740 baptism at the Jordan Lutheran Church, a church in the general vicinity of Heidelberg Township.
I totally agree with Burgert’s analysis that these citations all pertain to George Mertz the 1732 immigrant and his family. I believe the three women with him were his wife Margaret, his daughter Elizabeth and I think the third one must have been perhaps his mother Dorothea.
George is one of what I call the “eight original American ancestors” of this name, each of which gets a single-letter designation in the Mærtz Hierarchical Project which carries through to all of his male descendants. George is designated G.
George and his male descendants to 1850 are covered in the Mærtz Hierarchical Project:
https://www.mertzgenealogy.com/names/george_mertz_family_g.pdf
Relocated and Census Tracking notes for George (Spouse 1)
Just as I had long been aware of George the 1732 immigrant but had no idea where he settled, I had also long been aware that a Philip Mertz just appeared in Heidelberg Township (his earliest mention there being in 1756). For a long time, I believed he was the earliest Mertz of Heidelberg Township and so I thought he might be the immigrant of that name who came in 1749 and who, like George, was otherwise unaccounted for.
It was when I was further researching Philip and his Heidelberg descendants that I learned what I now think is the more complete picture. I think George, the 1732 immigrant, was the progenitor of the Heidelberg Mertz line and that Philip was his son, born not long after George’s arrival in America, likely that baptism of an unnamed chid in 1740. I do not think Philip of Heidelberg was the 1749 ship’s passenger of that name, but I don’t know what happened to that Philip. I also know enough about the European ancestors for all but one of the other Eastern Pennsylvania Mertz immigrants that I believe I can rule out that George and Philip of Heidelberg Township were related in any way to any of those other eastern Pennsylvania Mertz immigrants, confirmed, I think, by DNA.
My conclusion regarding both George and Philip is based on a deed dated 5 Jan 1797 found in Northampton County Deed Book C2 page 479. Here is an abstract:
5 Jan 1797 - John George Mertz of Heidleberg Twp mortgage to John Peter, Sr. also of Heidleberg Twp. To secure the payment to John Peter, John George Mertz conveys to John Peter, 2 adjoining tracts of land in Heidelberg Twp as follows:
1) 163 acres adjacent to John George Mertz's other land, being the same land surveyed and granted to George Mertz on 29 May 1749, George Mertz died intestate and the land became vested in his son Philip Mertz. Four daughters granted releases to Philip Mertz in Apr and May 1768: Anna Margaret married to John Kern, Elizabeth married to Felix Arner, Maria Susanna married to John Ebert and Anna Juliana married to Samuel Wirth.
2) 66 acres adjacent to John George Mertz's other land, being the same tract surveyed and granted to Philip Mertz (date is missing).
Philip Mertz conveyed tract #1 on 2 Jan 1797 to his son John George Mertz, tract #2 on 3 Jan 1797 to son John George Mertz.
Based on this deed, I believe George Mertz, the 1732 immigrant, is the George Mertz who patented that land in Heidelberg Township in 1749. Now, I’m always critical of others who, upon finding someone named, for example George Mertz, in one place just cast about and when they find someone of that same name in a different place, they just assume it was the same person. It’s not as simple as that. How can it be known that George Mertz, the person on board the Pennsylvania Merchant, was the same George Mertz who patented that land?
The answer is we can’t ever claim we know it beyond any shadow of a doubt but to start I always look for carry-throughs and in this case it is the name of his other family members that is the carry-through. See discussion elsewhere where it is explained that Margaret was likely his wife, Elizabeth his daughter and Dorothy his mother.
It was when I was further researching Philip and his Heidelberg descendants that I learned what I now think is the more complete picture. I think George, the 1732 immigrant, was the progenitor of the Heidelberg Mertz line and that Philip was his son, born not long after George’s arrival in America, likely that baptism of an unnamed chid in 1740. I do not think Philip of Heidelberg was the 1749 ship’s passenger of that name, but I don’t know what happened to that Philip. I also know enough about the European ancestors for all but one of the other Eastern Pennsylvania Mertz immigrants that I believe I can rule out that George and Philip of Heidelberg Township were related in any way to any of those other eastern Pennsylvania Mertz immigrants, confirmed, I think, by DNA.
My conclusion regarding both George and Philip is based on a deed dated 5 Jan 1797 found in Northampton County Deed Book C2 page 479. Here is an abstract:
5 Jan 1797 - John George Mertz of Heidleberg Twp mortgage to John Peter, Sr. also of Heidleberg Twp. To secure the payment to John Peter, John George Mertz conveys to John Peter, 2 adjoining tracts of land in Heidelberg Twp as follows:
1) 163 acres adjacent to John George Mertz's other land, being the same land surveyed and granted to George Mertz on 29 May 1749, George Mertz died intestate and the land became vested in his son Philip Mertz. Four daughters granted releases to Philip Mertz in Apr and May 1768: Anna Margaret married to John Kern, Elizabeth married to Felix Arner, Maria Susanna married to John Ebert and Anna Juliana married to Samuel Wirth.
2) 66 acres adjacent to John George Mertz's other land, being the same tract surveyed and granted to Philip Mertz (date is missing).
Philip Mertz conveyed tract #1 on 2 Jan 1797 to his son John George Mertz, tract #2 on 3 Jan 1797 to son John George Mertz.
Based on this deed, I believe George Mertz, the 1732 immigrant, is the George Mertz who patented that land in Heidelberg Township in 1749. Now, I’m always critical of others who, upon finding someone named, for example George Mertz, in one place just cast about and when they find someone of that same name in a different place, they just assume it was the same person. It’s not as simple as that. How can it be known that George Mertz, the person on board the Pennsylvania Merchant, was the same George Mertz who patented that land?
The answer is we can’t ever claim we know it beyond any shadow of a doubt but to start I always look for carry-throughs and in this case it is the name of his other family members that is the carry-through. See discussion elsewhere where it is explained that Margaret was likely his wife, Elizabeth his daughter and Dorothy his mother.
Death and Find-a-Grave notes for George (Spouse 1)
I do not know exactly when George died but I can make a reasonable estimate, likely 1767 or 1768, not too long before the land was transferred to his son Philip and his daughters signed their releases.
Research notes for George (Spouse 1)
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
This is the hardest line of Mertzes I have ever had to work on. My own Northumberland County, PA line was difficult because a lot of other “genealogists” had published family histories about one or more of them and there were a significant number of major errors made in their work that all had to be discovered, debunked and corrected. But in the end, everything came together and it all made perfect sense.
But the people in this book have not been researched much at all. Yes, I can find a few of the names in a few family trees on, for example, ancestry.com. But mostly, these are dead-end persons — unattached to any parents with no commentary on where they came from.
I’ve been researching everyone named Mertz or Martz who lived anywhere in America up to 1880 for well over 15 years. For most of them, I’m quite confident I can correctly link people of this name back to their immigrant ancestor. The task is made difficult since the same few names were used in most all of the different Mertz families. We can identify numerous persons named Jacob, Heinrich, Johannes, Philip, George, Peter, William — and others — in each of the different Mertz family groups. Tracking these people, especially when they moved to a new area, and being certain the match was correct was the big challenge.
But there were several “geographic clusters” of persons of this name who I could never connect to anyone else. There was a group of Mertzes who settled quite early in Heidelberg Township, Northampton County, PA and were listed there in the 1790-1810 Census. Another group was in Carbon County, PA after its 1843 creation from Northampton County and present from 1810 in the specific area of Northampton from which Carbon was created. And a group of Martzes began to appear in Westmoreland County, PA starting in 1810.
It was only when I began to discover coincidences that seemed to suggest that at least some of the Carbon County family must have come there from Heidelberg and some of the Westmoreland County family must have come there from (what would become) Carbon County that I began to form my unifying theory that all three of these geographic clusters of people were for the most part the same big family — they started out in Heidelberg, some moved to Carbon County and then some or all of them to Westmoreland County.
Over time, the evidence has grown to the point where I am now convinced my theory is largely correct. In this book, we’ll meet fourteen males named Mertz or Martz, born before 1811, who I believe in one way or another have some relationship to each other. The earliest-born of the fourteen was George Mertz, a 1732 immigrant who settled in Heidelberg. I believe the other thirteen in some way descend from him. In some cases, I can document the child-parent relationship I suggest, in some cases I lack the “smoking-gun” document that would establish the relationship but I can make a strong evidentiary case and in some cases, I’m the first to admit (and indicate in my commentary) that I am just guessing.
In fact, a few of my guesses would seem to be contradicted by the evidence at hand but when I am trying to place someone I believe fits somewhere into this family and there is no place to put him not seemingly contradicted by the evidence, I have to pick the best among the bad alternatives. But there are enough contradictions in some of the connections I suggest for me to fear I’ve not yet quite figured everything out.
I have always wished someone related to these people would pick up the ball and join me in further researching this family to try to tighten things up. It’s quite possible that one or two of the people in this book belong in another family or maybe it’s only they do belong here but to a different father. But I do believe the story I tell in this book is substantially correct.
This is the hardest line of Mertzes I have ever had to work on. My own Northumberland County, PA line was difficult because a lot of other “genealogists” had published family histories about one or more of them and there were a significant number of major errors made in their work that all had to be discovered, debunked and corrected. But in the end, everything came together and it all made perfect sense.
But the people in this book have not been researched much at all. Yes, I can find a few of the names in a few family trees on, for example, ancestry.com. But mostly, these are dead-end persons — unattached to any parents with no commentary on where they came from.
I’ve been researching everyone named Mertz or Martz who lived anywhere in America up to 1880 for well over 15 years. For most of them, I’m quite confident I can correctly link people of this name back to their immigrant ancestor. The task is made difficult since the same few names were used in most all of the different Mertz families. We can identify numerous persons named Jacob, Heinrich, Johannes, Philip, George, Peter, William — and others — in each of the different Mertz family groups. Tracking these people, especially when they moved to a new area, and being certain the match was correct was the big challenge.
But there were several “geographic clusters” of persons of this name who I could never connect to anyone else. There was a group of Mertzes who settled quite early in Heidelberg Township, Northampton County, PA and were listed there in the 1790-1810 Census. Another group was in Carbon County, PA after its 1843 creation from Northampton County and present from 1810 in the specific area of Northampton from which Carbon was created. And a group of Martzes began to appear in Westmoreland County, PA starting in 1810.
It was only when I began to discover coincidences that seemed to suggest that at least some of the Carbon County family must have come there from Heidelberg and some of the Westmoreland County family must have come there from (what would become) Carbon County that I began to form my unifying theory that all three of these geographic clusters of people were for the most part the same big family — they started out in Heidelberg, some moved to Carbon County and then some or all of them to Westmoreland County.
Over time, the evidence has grown to the point where I am now convinced my theory is largely correct. In this book, we’ll meet fourteen males named Mertz or Martz, born before 1811, who I believe in one way or another have some relationship to each other. The earliest-born of the fourteen was George Mertz, a 1732 immigrant who settled in Heidelberg. I believe the other thirteen in some way descend from him. In some cases, I can document the child-parent relationship I suggest, in some cases I lack the “smoking-gun” document that would establish the relationship but I can make a strong evidentiary case and in some cases, I’m the first to admit (and indicate in my commentary) that I am just guessing.
In fact, a few of my guesses would seem to be contradicted by the evidence at hand but when I am trying to place someone I believe fits somewhere into this family and there is no place to put him not seemingly contradicted by the evidence, I have to pick the best among the bad alternatives. But there are enough contradictions in some of the connections I suggest for me to fear I’ve not yet quite figured everything out.
I have always wished someone related to these people would pick up the ball and join me in further researching this family to try to tighten things up. It’s quite possible that one or two of the people in this book belong in another family or maybe it’s only they do belong here but to a different father. But I do believe the story I tell in this book is substantially correct.