Johannes (John) has the distinction, like Peter Mertz Jr., of being a known son of Peter. Berks County records show a Johannes Mertz of Longswamp who died in about 1786 and Peter's will referred to his deceased son John. He died before the rest of his family removed to Northumberland County.

It is by observing the close relationship that many other Mertzes of his generation had with he and Peter Jr. -- and knowing that they weren’t the children of Nicholas -- that we can identify Peter’s other children.

I don’t know exact birth dates for any of Peter’s sons, nor their exact birth order, but I do have small clues for some of them. Johannes, for example, was a single man on a 1767 tax list indicating, I believe, a birth prior to or about 1746. He sponsored a baptism in 1759 which may suggest a somewhat earlier birth than that. I have been told that someone could be a sponsor so long as they had been confirmed into the church and that usually happened at about age 13-15. So maybe he was born in the 1744-1746 period.

But going with 1746, and understand I don’t have real facts for his other brothers either, I am designating Johannes as P3, that he was Peter’s third son.

1779. Pennsylvania Septennial Census. John Mertz, Longswamp Township.

On September 29, 1786, his widow Margaret posted bond as administrator of his estate. On 30 Sep 1786, she petitioned the Orphans Court on behalf of her five children, all minors. These records establish Johannes’ approximate date of death.

As of autumn 2015, Johannes is not on find-a-grave.

Johannes had three daughters: Elizabeth, Maria Barbara and Gertraut.

All are known from their mother Margaret's 1786 petition to the Orphans Court. In addition, Maria Barbara, and I think Gertraut, are also known from their baptisms at Longswamp Reformed. Elizabeth’s baptism, for whatever reason, went unrecorded. And Gertraut was also mentioned in her grandfather’s will.

I know the most about Gertraut. I believe she was the unnamed daughter John and “wife” baptized at Longswamp Reformed which record has the date 29 May 1782 which I believe was given as her birth date.

In 2018, I was reviewing some Lehigh County death records from LDS film 2131072 and I found one for Gardroud Gachenbach who was born in Longswamp Township, it says, 13 May 1780, the daughter of John Mertz and unnamed wife. It named her husband as Charles Gachenbach and her children as: Daniel, David, Jacob, George, Maria, Cathrine and Lena. The informant was Jonas Geringer, her son-in-law.

This death record also gave an age at death 72y, 9m, 20d which, given her date of death of 3 Mar 1854, computes to a different birth date — either 11 May 1781 or 14 May 1781. Date calculations can be ambiguous at times (do you count forward from the date of birth or backward from the date of death?). So let’s just say the death record which has May 1780 written down really suggests May 1781 by it’s stated arithmetic.

Since she had died after 1850, I decided to find her in the 1850 Census. She was a widow living with Jonas and Sarah Geringer. From there I found her find-a-grave memorial. That memorial gives this information: born 12 May 1781 (more consistent with her birth date as computed from her stated age at death) and died 3 Mar 1854 and it has a brief bio: “daughter of Johannes Mertz and wife Catherine nee Dresher married first David Christman about 1800 and had 7 children then married Carl Gachenbach in 1821 and had 1 daughter.” A source was given for this information: Ziegel’s Church Burial records.

Obviously, there are several contradictory “facts” in all of this.

If I am right that the unnamed daughter baptized by Johannes and “wife” was Gertraut, the date of birth is a discrepancy. But I don’t consider it a major discrepancy and I have certainly seen discrepancies of this small magnitude in other cases.

For one thing, when a baptism gives only one date, as this one did, it is not always clear whether it was a birth date or baptism date. It’s quite possible 29 May 1782 was her baptism date and the idea that she was born a few weeks earlier not at all unreasonable.

So maybe it really took a full year until Johannes and Margaretha got around to baptizing their daughter but I really suspect she was born in May 1782 (11, 12, 13 or 14, take your pick) and the age at death in the church records are off by a year. Not unusual at all.

But the real issue is was her mother named Catherine or Margaret? Since Margaret was mentioned with John several times at Longswamp previous to Gertraut’s birth and it was Margaret who was John’s widow, I think John’s wife was named Margaret and not Catherine.

But I really like the idea that Margaret was nee Drescher. In reviewing all the records of Longswamp Reformed, I had observed numerous examples were either a Mertz infant was baptized and Conrad and Elizabeth Drescher stood as sponsor or vice versa. For example, in Sep 1776, Conrad and Elisabetha Drescher were sponsors for the baptism of Jonathan Mertz son of Peter and Susanna and then in 1777, Johannes and Margaretha Mertz were sponsors for the baptism of Susanna daughter of Conrad and Elisabetha Drescher. The explanation for both of these, I thought, was as simple as Elisabetha was the sister of Johannes and Peter Mertz.

Now consider these two additional baptisms: In Jan 1776, Conrad Drescher and Elisabeth Mertz, both single, were sponsors for the baptism of Johannes, son of Johannes and Margaretha. And at the 1782 baptism of the unnamed daughter of Johannes and wife, who I think was likely Gertraut, the sponsors were Conrad Drescher and Gertraut Sassman. (Note that means there were really three baptisms where Margaretha and Conrad took part together).

As to the first of these latter two baptisms, I have observed the pattern many times at Longswamp baptisms that a sponsor was typically a sibling of one or the other parents and if single, it was possibly a “dating” situation and the single couple may well end up married to each other in the near future. So that only makes Conrad possibly Elizabeth’s “date” and doesn’t necessarily indicate he was Margaretha’s bother — but wouldn’t it be special if the sponsors were in fact a sibling of each parent?

And that's what makes the second one so significant. Elisabetha was about four months pregnant at the time so perhaps wasn’t able to stand as sponsor. Or maybe Gertraut Sassaman was Conrad’s and Margaretha’s sister (for whom the child who I think was Gertraut, in part because Gertraut Sassaman was a sponsor) and so Elisabetha got the day off. I cannot imagine any other scenario that would explain why Johannes and Margaretha would have Conrad Drescher as sponsor without Elisabetha.

So I don’t consider it totally proven, it would be nice to find more evidence, but I suspect that Gertaut’s find-a-grave memorial is wrong about her mother’s given name but right about her maiden name. Clearly the given name was Margaret as early as 1776 and then still in 1786 when Johannes died.

We know the names of his two sons, both minors, from their mother Margaret's petition to the Orphans Court. They were John, designated P3a, and Philip, designated P3b.

See the discussion about daughter Gertraut in my profile of on Johannes about his known daughters. Gertraut’s find-grave memorial says she was the daughter of Johannes Mertz and Catherine Drescher. I think that memorial is wrong as to John’s wife’s given name — it was Margaret for sure — but may very well be right about Margaret’s maiden name, Drescher. (Johannes, the son of Johannes and Margaretha did marry a Catharina and that could be the source of some confusion as to her name.)

Here’s why:

In 1776, Johannes and wife Margaretha baptized son Johannes with Conrad Drescher and Elizabeth Mertz (single) as sponsors. Elizabeth, I believe, was Johannes’ sister and she would soon marry Conrad Drescher. I have observed the pattern many times at Longswamp baptisms that the sponsor was typically a sibling of one or the other parents and if single, it was possibly a “dating” situation and the single couple may well end up married to each other in the near future. So that only makes Conrad possibly Elizabeth’s “date” and doesn’t necessarily indicate he was Margaretha’s bother — but wouldn’t it be special if the sponsors were in fact a sibling of each parent?

In 1777, Johannes and Margaretha were the sponsors when Conrad and Elizabetha Drescher baptized daughter Susanna.

In 1782, John Mertz and unnamed wife baptized an unnamed daughter and the sponsors were Conrad Drescher and Gertraut Sassaman.

To be sure, both couples here, Conrad and Elisabeth and Johannes and Margaret, baptized other children with had other siblings as sponsor or were sponsors for the baptisms of the children of other siblings — throughout the 1770’s and 1780’s.

But it is the fact that there were three baptisms when Margaretha Mertz and Conrad Drescher were involved that I think is convincing as well the fact that Conrad was present in 1782, without Elizabeth.

I can imagine a scenario where Johannes and Margaretha wanted to have Conrad and Elisabetha as sponsors and maybe Elisabetha couldn’t make it (she was four months pregnant at the time). Or maybe Gertraut Sassaman was Conrad’s and Margaretha’s sister for whom the child (who I think was Gertraut, in part because Gertraut Sassaman was a sponsor) and so Elisabetha got the day off. I cannot imagine any other scenario that would explain why Johannes and Margaretha would have Conrad as sponsor without Elizabetha.

So I don’t consider it totally proven, it would be nice to find more evidence, but I suspect that Gertaut’s find-a-grave memorial is wrong about her mother’s given name but right about her maiden name. Clearly the given name was Margaret as early as 1776 and then in 1786 when Johannes died. (Johannes, the son of Johannes and Margaretha did marry a Catharina and that could be the source of some confusion as to her name.)

And one other thing: when Margaret was appointed Administrator of her husband’s estate in 1786, her sureties were Philip Drescher also of Longswamp and and Frederick Gossler of Reading. Yet another Drescher connection.