I am not the first genealogist in my family. People have been tracking their ancestors probably forever. And seeking to honor them when appropriate. There are three instances in my family where large honorary monuments were erected telling the story of long ago immigrant ancestors well over 100 years after their decease. Two are in cemeteries, one in a woodland once owned by the family being honored. All are called "cenotaphs" because they deal with a whole family, were carved and placed well after any of the family members were alive and are not meant to be necessarily indicative that any of them are actually buried on that spot.

John Henry Mertz donated the land for and was the namesake of Mertz Church, still active today in Berks County. And a monument has been erected in the cemetery there in memory of him and to honor him and his family. Everything written on the stone, so far as I know, is factually correct. The monument is not intended to say that these people are buried in that cemetery. In fact, the only one of them that I know for sure is buried there is Jacob (tombstone pictured below), but some researchers have been mislead by that aspect of the monument.

But the real rub is, I believe, that it may well have been my line -- the Mertzes of Northumberland County -- that paid for and were the motivating force behind the erection of this monument -- and the irony of course is that none of the Northumberland Mertzes were descendants of John Henry. They got their genealogy wrong -- they should have been honoring John David Mertz.

Peter and Christian Hulpusch came to America in 1749. The spelling evolved first to Hollowbush (and variations), then Hilbish -- also Hilbush. In 1902, descendants erected this monument to the family on land they once owned in Montgomery County. In contrast to the Mertz stone -- which is factually accurate but erected by people who were not descendants of that particular family -- this stone is factually and totally inaccurate but was erected by people who were, in fact, descendants of the family.

Probably the most important factual error is that "Mother Hollowbush", the mother of Peter and Christian did not emigrate. She died in about 1719 or 1720 -- in Germany. The second error is that no one of this family came to America in 1730, it was much later. These descendants were also under the mistaken impression that they all descended from Christian when in fact they all descended from Peter.

Now we have the very whimsical memorial to Frantz Krick and his family. It is located in Sinking Springs Cemetery in Berks County. I believe this cenotaph is both factually accurate and properly erected by descendants.

However, I take issue with the common belief that Frantz married his wife, Catherine Stoudt, before they left Germany and came to America with her and one or two of their known children. The problem I have with that belief is that no Krick children were listed on the passenger list of the ship Franz came on and his "alleged" wife was listed under her maiden name.