John’s baptism went unrecorded. He was born in the time period when Jacob and Elizabeth were having their children. It is the release filed by William Mertz of Berks County to John Mertz of Clinton County that ties John to Jacob and then the fact that in the 1850 Census, it looks like Jacob’s widow and daughter — both named Elizabeth — were living with John. He is designated H1b3.

One further piece of evidence linking John to Jacob is that in 1892, John’s heirs, seeking to partition the land they inherited from him that he had bought of his father’s heirs, realized that they could not prove clear title because John had not filed all the necessary paperwork from each other of Jacob’s heirs assenting to his purchase of the land.

This wonderful document includes a very lengthy list of both John’s heirs, the “plaintiffs”, and Jacob’s other heirs, the “defendants”. I don’t think this filing in any way represents a dispute, I think it is just a filing to document the effort to clear the title. I assume all the releases they sought were proferred.

1840. John Mertz lived in Maxatawny Township, age 20-29. But was it this John, age 29, or his cousin John (H1c1), age 27? Based on the tick marks, I think it was this John who had two daughters and one son by 1840 — the other John had no children until the 1840’s.

1850. John lived in Clinton County, IN with his second wife Sarah and his children. His mother Elizabeth age 67 and sister Elizabeth age 34 lived in his household. He then stayed in Clinton County.

John is on find-a-grave linked to Jacob as his father.

John had a large family including six sons. By first wife Leah, he had Eli and Jonathan. By second wife Sarah he had Simon, Adam Luther and Seymour. Eli, Jonathan and Simon were all born before 1850 and are therefore the only of his sons who meet my criteria to track further. But as Simon was not present in John’s 1860 household (nor listed on the 1892 court filing), I assume he died young.

Jonathan is a problem. I know he was still alive in 1892 because he is named as a plaintiff on that filing and it also lists his wife Sallie but I cannot find him after 1870, when he still lived at home. If he was listed as John on the 1880 Census or thereafter, it is just too common a name to be sure who is who.

So the only son I have tracked further is: H1b3a Eli born 1840.

If I ever find Jonathan, he will be designated H1b3b.

There were three daughters in John’s 1850 household and several more in later Censuses. The two of interest to me were “Vienna” (I think it was Fianna) and Susan because I have concluded that Susan married her cousin Benjamin who came out from Berks County sometime in about 1861 and after he died, Susanna was living with her sister Fianna in 1880. Elizabeth, Fianna’s aunt who never married, also lived with her in 1870 and 1880.

In the 1880 Census, John’s son Adam was living with his other son Eli. Adam, almost 20 years younger than Eli, was described as a half-brother. So the marriage record I found of John to Sarah Lacklitner, whose name is given as Salome Lecklitner on her find-a-grave memorial, was clearly a second marriage. He married Sarah/Salome 29 Jun 1847.

This is confirmed by the fact that Leah Merkel is also linked to John on find-a-grave as his first wife. She died in 1846.

But note that Eli’s mother’s name, according to his death certificate, was Susan Merkel. For now, I’m just assuming that Susan and Leah were the same person, either she went by either name, or the information on Eli’s death certificate who was wrong on the name of Eli’s father was also somewhat wrong on the name of his mother,

She is identified as the daughter of Moses in The History of Clinton County, Indiana. Her sister Polly married Jacob Martz, brother of John.