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,

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.