Peter, I believe, was Nicholas’ youngest son. In several Orphans Court documents, the males appear to have been listed in chronological order and Peter was consistently last and consistently after Samuel who was next to last. I do not have an exact birth year for Samuel but from Census it was approximately 1787. Samuel and Peter filed a petition in 1804 as part of their father’s Orphans Court proceedings saying they were both minors above the age of 14. This implies a birth date for both of 1788 -1790 or so.

Peter’s tombstone tells us he was born in 1789. Peter is designated P5e.

THE ARCADIA, IN MARTS FAMILY. In 2006, I was contacted by some descendants of a Peter Marts who died and was buried in Arcadia, IN. Their family tradition was that he was the son of Nicholas born 1762 in Lancaster County. They knew from his tombstone that Peter was born in 1789. I pointed out to them that there is no evidence that a Nicholas Mertz ever lived in Lancaster County or that there was a Nicholas Mertz born in 1762 and that what they knew about their Peter might well fit the facts I knew about Peter Mertz, son of 1748 Nicholas.

Working with them, several other facts emerged. The names Indiana Peter gave his children were in many cases the same names as other children of Nicholas. Moreover, Indiana Peter had married in 1809 in Fairfield County, Ohio before moving on to Indiana and in the 1820 Census, an Abraham Mertz was living in that place in Ohio, age 50-60. Moreover, Ohio cemetery records show that Abraham’s birth date matched exactly that of Abraham, known son of Nicholas. And there was no other Abraham that I can account for back in PA that might have been Nicholas’ son. And Peter’s birth date, from his tombstone, said he was born in 1789, fitting exactly the narrow window that bracketed Nicholas’ son Peter’s birth.

So I conjectured, on the basis of these facts, that Peter, son of Nicholas 1748 was Indiana Peter. No member of this research group had any evidence that would even hint at this not being the case and they have come around, after some time, to accepting my point of view.

The final lynchpin proving (in my opinion) my theories, though, was when I found in Snyder County Annals that local lore was that Nicholas of Middleburg was a huge man, weighing in at 395 pounds. The family histories this group have say that Nicholas of Lancaster County was a huge man, weighing 400 pounds. Close enough for me. I found their Nicholas.

Peter first showed up in Census in 1830 in Wayne County, Indiana. Then in 1840 and 1850 he was in Fayette County. Since he was buried in Hamilton County, I wasn’t sure how I could know it was him in these other places. His age was right, but was that enough?.

A family history on Peter and his family says he moved to Indiana about 1818 and settled in Dublin — which is Wayne County. It says he retired in 1868 and moved to Arcadia. It offers no information as to why he was listed in Fayette County, however a check of a map shows that Dublin is in the far southwestern corner of Wayne County and very close to the Fayette/Wayne border. Since his age in 1850 was right and his wife was Christena, I am sure it was him.

In 1850, I think the woman listed as Magdalena Marts, age 88, living with Peter and Christena was really Christena’s mother, Magdalen Myers.

I found a database of persons who were identified as qualified (Indiana) Pioneer Ancestors. It included this entry:

Peter Martz (Marts); b. Pennsylvania, 1787; To Fayette Co. from Ohio, 1818 {In War of 1812}

He is on find-a-grave. His name is spelled Martz on his memorial and also on the Hamilton County memorials of his wife and several sons. But, in fact, in most Indiana records the family name was spelled Marts.

There is a photo of Peter’s tombstone on find-a-grave but it is a little blurry and it is not totally clear if the spelling is Marts or Martz on his tombstone. In any event, I have gone with the Martz spelling for Peter and his sons who stayed in Indiana and am using the Marts spelling for his son Charles who moved away and in whose line the Marts spelling continues to the present day.

Sarah was born in Pickaway County, OH, on 1 Jun 1814. Sarah died in Wisconsin on 7 Feb 1904. Sarah married Andrew Doyle. Their children were William, Henry, Eleanor, Julia, Charles A, Charlotte, Samuel D, Lydia J and Nelson.

Mary was born in Pickaway Co, OH, on 8 May 1816. Mary died in Indiana on 10 May 1874; she was 58. Mary married first Jacob Ream. Their children were Elizabeth A, Lettie Ellen, William Henry, Nancy Jane and Littleton. She married second Zimri Cox and they had Nathan P, Mary C and George.

Catherine married Wesley Swafford and they had Martha Jane, Perry, Harriet, Christina and Mary Ann.

Christina was born in Indiana on 14 Nov 1820. Christina died in Missouri on 22 Mar 1912; she was 91. Christina married Newman Shinn and they had Silas, Elizabeth, Louisa, Elbert Julian, James Monroe, Sarah Ann, Samuel Henry and Ida Wilhelmina.

Eliza was born in Indiana on 21 Oct 1824. Eliza died in Indiana on 27 Nov 1884; she was 60. Eliza married Eli McConkey and they had Lafayette B, Mary Jane, William Thomas, Sarah Angeline, James Peter, Cynthia E, Prudence Christina, Ruth A, Reuben E and Emma E.

Barbara. Barbara was born in Indiana on 27 Mar 1834. Barbara died in Indiana on 25 Oct 1868; she was 34. Barbara married Edmund Rogerson and they had Henrietta J, Delphina, Eliza A, Francis and Jennie Belle.

Peter had seven sons:

P5e1 Henry born 1809
P5e2 Charles born 1811
P5e3 Moses born 1812
P5e4 Isaac born 1812 (twin of Moses)
P5e5 Gideon born 1823
P5e6 Samuel born 1828
P5e7 Jacob born 1831

I have taken birth and death dates for all of these sons, unless otherwise noted, from a white paper by Frank Myers.

On 30 Nov 1809 when Peter was 20, he married Christena Myers in Pickaway Co, OH. She was the daughter of Johannes Heinrich Meyer and Anna Magdalena Emmerich.