John Philip Mertz was my great-grandfather. Census proves that he was the son of George Peter Mertz and father of John Oakley. Jack Mertz did not know John P's birth date, I only came across it by chance since he was baptized at Selinsgrove at his Hummel grandparent's church and that is the only source I have found that gives it.

Jack wrote this about John Philip. "He was born on the Old Mertz Homestead, the log cabin along the old Milton Road in Northumberland in 1857. He worked on the Tuckahoe Farm on Ridge Road which he later inherited when George Peter died in 1887. He married in the Methodist Church, Northumberland in 1875 or 1876. Later, he sold his farm and moved to town where he entered the dairy and ice business, based in Mertz's Hollow on upper Second Street near his house with two large dams and big ice houses. As his sons took over and expanded the business and started businesses of their own, John Philip was able to retire early. In later years, he would winter in Florida near Safety Harbor. He became ill there in winter 1926, and died on the way home near Athens, GA in Lee Mertz' car."

I was examining LDS film 1414851, the records of First Lutheran Church, Selinsgrove because it was the early Hummel church and I was surprised to find John Philip among the baptisms. No one before then had ever known his exact birth date. Obviously, Amelia’s parents still belonged there and the parents returned to Selinsgrove (from North’d where they were living) to baptize their son.

He is designated P4a4d.

He was listed in his father’s household in 1860 and 1870.

Then in 1880, he is nowhere to be found. John and Rebecca are definitely married and have had at least one child. They are not living with either his or her parents. They should be living in Northumberland, most likely Point Township. I have searched the Census for them and the only possibility is a listing in Point Township for John Mertz age 22, but all the details are wrong about his wife and child for this to be him.

Several mentions in the Public Press in about 1897 show John P selling his farm in Chillisquaque, starting an ice business, building a dam, etc.

His will proved 9 Feb 1926 with Rebecca as Executor.

John Philip is on find-a-grave. I got his memorial transferred to me. I found his death certificate from Georgia and added it to that site too.

I think Jack Mertz was wrong when he said John P died near Athens, I think he meant near Augusta. The death certificate says his wife was Rebecca Anna and his parents were George P Mertz and Amelia Homer. It says he was born 21 Jun 1858 and died 21 Jan 1926. His tombstone though is engraved with an 1857 birth year which I think is correct.

Her mother’s and father’s obituary both list Mrs. John P Mertz as their surviving daughter. Her death certificate confirms she was the daughter of John and Sarah (Young) Hopewell.

Jack Mertz wrote:

”John Philip's wife, Anna Rebecca Hopewell, was a tall woman, almost six feet in height. She was also slender and very pretty as a young woman. She was literary minded and taught school for a while before she was married. She played the organ, wrote poetry, and spoke Pennsylvania Dutch. She wasn't much of a housekeeper or cook but would rather ponder the verses of the bible or write poetry, or sniff the air or admire the setting sun. She was a great student of the bible and was finally convinced that her religion would be the Seventh Day Adventist denomination. She had been raised a strict Methodist but on her conviction, abetted by Marie's and Anna's support, they and their families became Seventh Day Adventists. The Mertz's are traditionally Lutheran and Edmund, Oak, Blair, and Byron's families remained in that denomination.

Anna Rebecca was also very active in the Women's Christian Temperance Union and very much against drinking, smoking, and other vices, such as dancing and playing cards and gambling. Consequently, most of her sons, except Edmund, had overdoses of religion and WCTU propaganda so they promptly tasted deeply and often of less virtuous habits. However, none of them that I know of danced or played cards but were tolerant of those sins in others. But Anna Rebecca had a redeeming characteristic, she had a fine sense of the ridiculous, was humorous and laughed and laughed. When she stayed at the Springs with Gerry and me when we were in our early teens, she used to keep me awake at night recounting the incidents of the day and the week in the most comical manner that we laughed until two or three AM.

After the sons and daughters had left home, John Philip and Anna Rebecca lived in their house on Second Street for some time. After John died in 1926, the sons, mainly Oakley, built her a more comfortable home on one floor on the corner of Prince and Second Street near the old house."

The Hopewell family were English Quakers who came to America apparently before 1722 and settled in New Jersey before removing to Northumberland around 1800. I had always thought Dad was of 100% pure German stock -- I knew I wasn't because Mom was of Scots-Irish-English ancestry -- but I thought Dad was. And I think the Hopewells are about the only non-German line in his heritage, but it is most certainly present.

Curiously, according to Jack Mertz, Anna Rebecca spoke Pennsylvania Dutch. I think the explanation for that is that her grandfather John Young -- which sounds like an English name -- was in fact German, the son of George Jung. So Rebecca’s mother was German.

In 1914, she was President of the local WCTU and advocating prohibition.

1860 and 1870. She lived with her father.
1880-1920. She lived with her husband.
1930. She lived with her son J O.

I placed a memorial for her on find-a-grave.

http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSmcid=48523401&GRid=149802719&