She was said to be Sarah Fester, born in Cambria County to Henry D and Rachel Fester in the “Soldiers” profile of Henry Martz.

Death certificates of her children call her Sarah Fester or Lester, with the exception of that of daughter Henrietta which says her name was Sarah Roop and the informant was none other than “the father”, i.e. Henrietta’s father, Henry Martz.

Most of those death certificates say only vaguely the she was born in PA but on her son George’s it said she was born in Huntingdon, PA.

In Huntingdon County, I found a family headed by Henry D Feaster (then Fester the next Census) with wife Martha and children including daughter Sarah — but that Sarah was at least 10 years too young and apparently married someone named Warbeck.

It is interesting that I also found that two daughters of this Fester family married two Raup brothers from Cambria County, sons of Henry Raup (by either his first or second wife).

That Cambria Raup (Rupp or Roop) family caught my attention because there were two sons named Theodore and Thomas who served in the Civil War. In the “Soldiers” profile of Henry Martz it said two of his brothers, Theodore and Thomas, also served in that war. But Henry had no brothers of those names. Could they possibly have been talking about the Raup brothers, but why would they have been said to be Henry’s brothers?

Her tombstone says she was born 10 Nov 1832, the same date cited in Presidents, Soldiers, Statesmen. But she never in Census was indicated to be that old.

She was 34 [1836], 38 [1842], 60 [Jan 1840], 69 [1841] and 82 [1838] in the 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910 and 1920 Census.

So here is what I believe — understand it is possible to find some “facts” which might seem to indicate what I say here cannot be true — but I have pursued any number of different theories to try to fit all the “facts” and I found no scenario which was consistent with all those “facts”. Some “facts” are wrong somewhere.

I believe Sarah, wife of Henry Martz, was the daughter of Henry and Rachel Rupe.

Yes, Sarah Roup was said to be 4 (maybe she was 6) in 1850. But the 1832 on her tombstone is not a confirmed date, contradicted by all those Census dates.

Yes, there are quite a number of documents that give her name as Sarah Fester, daughter of Henry and Rachel. But there is no evidence of any Rachel Fester, Henry’s wives were Susan and then Martha. And I guess it’s possible her children became confused over the years — Henry Fester was, I think, their uncle. Sarah’s husband said her name was Sarah Roop.

Even if she was 6, she married in 1861 (we think), so age 15 and had a child at about age 17. Yes this seems unlikely that she was too young, but remember, this is the only Sarah Roup we can find — clearly she was alive in 1850 — and the only Sarah Fester we can find was even younger and her later marriage can be identified.

And remember, though Theodore and Thomas were said to be Henry’s brothers in his “Soldiers” profile, from the profile of Paul George, it would seem they were in a logical place in the profile where typically they might have named brothers-in-law. And Sarah Raup had brothers named Thomas (actually a half-brother in his case) and Theodore — who both did serve in the Civil War — in fact in the same unit as Henry Martz.

Her own death certificate says she was the daughter of Henry Fester and unknown wife. The informant was daughter Mrs. R E George.

It is really curious that Rachel George, who likely was the namesake of her grandmother (no matter what scenario you want to believe) did not acknowledge the name of her grandmother on Sarah’s death certificate. Had Rachel George realized by 1922 that she actually was a little confused on the names of Sarah’s parents? She wanted to believe Henry Fester but had never met a Rachel Fester so something wasn’t right.

We know Henry as George’s son from his presence in his parents’ household in 1850, confirmed by his death certificate which says he was the son of George Martz and Rachel Keller. Henry is designated P5d1.

A write-up on him in Presidents, Soldiers, Statesmen published in 1899 by H. H. Hardesty — so written when Henry was still alive and so presumably he (or a child of his?) contributed — names the same parents and adds that he was born 24 Dec 1836.

“Henry Martz was born Dec. 24, 1836 in Union County, Pa., of parents George and Rachel (Keller) Martz, long ago dec. He was married April 28, 1861 in Lilly Pa., to Sarah Fester, who was born in Cambria Co, Pa., Nov. 10, 1832. Her father, Henry D. Fester, is dec., as also her mother, Rachel (Fester). Six children have graced this marriage, Rufus, dec., George, Rachel R., James, Emma and Harry. When the War of the Rebellion was inaugurated, he became impressed with a desire to take an active part in defense of the Union. He was 25 years of age when he enrolled at Harrisburg, Pa., as a private in Co. G. 10 Pa. V. I., 1st Brig., 3rd Div., 18th A. C. and was soon made Corp. In 1864 he was wounded at Drewry's Bluff in hand and wrist, for which he received treatment in hospital at Annapolis, Md., ten months. He was taken prisoner at that battle and was confined in Libby prison four months. In 1864 he was furloughed for 30 days, having re-enlisted as a veteran. The following are his battles: Weldon R. R., Drewry's Bluff and Bermuda Hundred; he was honorably discharged May 26, 1865 at Annapolis, Md. His brother, Rufus, served in the late war; a second brother, Alfred, was wounded at Cold Harbor and died in hospitaL His brothers Thomas and Theodore were in service, the former was wounded and the latter died in hospital. Comrade Martz, belongs to Dick White Post 513, he is a laborer, and his address is Lilly, Pa.”

His “Soldiers” profile mentions his brothers Rufus and Alfred who served in the Civil War and then says his brothers Theodore and Thomas did too. But Henry had no brothers of those names. The format of these “soldiers” profiles seems pretty formulaic and in a different one I read (Paul George), first named brothers and then brothers-in-law who served.

So a first guess would be that Theodore and Thomas were brothers-in-law — but I have also considered that the form (that I have imagined that the soldiers filled out) asked for other relatives who served and maybe Henry did name those two and stated his relationship to them and the publisher made a typo and called them brothers.

So who were they and what was their relationship?

We actually do think we know who they were: the Roup family of Cambria in 1850 headed by Henry and Rachel had young sons of those two names and records show that those two served — in fact in the same unit as Henry.

But what was the relationship of Henry to Thomas and Theodore Roup? Well first let’s consider another anomaly/discrepancy. We have death certificates for maybe five of Henry and Sarah’s children and they unanimously say their mother was Sarah Fester (once Lester) — consistent with the “Soldiers” profile. But on the death certificate of their daughter Henrietta, it says her mother was Sarah Roop and the informant was none other than “the father”, Henry himself. What is that all about? Is Roop and Roup the same name? Probably it is. 

Let’s consider some possible relationships between Henry and Thomas/Theodore.

Brothers-in-law? That would mean either Thomas and Theodore married Henry’s sisters or they were Sarah’s brothers. They did not apparently marry Henry’s sisters: Thomas married Catherine Henry and Theodore married Mary Gray.

Could they have been Sarah’s brothers? That would mean Sarah was indeed Sarah Roup, daughter of Henry and Rachel Roup. In the 1850 Census, Henry was age 40 and Rachel age 35. Henry’s wife, Sarah, was said to be born in 1832, but in Census she always was reported as younger than that (1836-1841). So it’s possible Sarah was Henry and Rachel’s daughter but it would have to be the daughter Sarah, age 4 in 1850.

I have considered that maybe Henry had two wives, Sarah Fester and then second Sarah Roup (when she grew up) but Sarah never reports an age in the range of 1846 in Census and in 1910, Sarah said she had been married 48 years and she had seven children — all confirming Henry had only one wife.

Nephews? That would mean either Henry or Rachel Roup was a sibling to Henry Martz or to his wife Sarah. But Henry and Rachel were simply too old to be children of George Martz.

Could Rachel Roup have been the sister of Sarah Fester? If we believe her age in Census, Rachel was born in 1815, Sarah let’s say 1832. So, it’s possible. But understand there is no evidence of this sister relationship whatsoever, other than trying to find some relationship between Henry and Thomas/Theodore.

Could Sarah have been the sister of Henry Raup? Now the ages seem a bit too wide— Henry born in 1810, Sarah in 1832. And if that were true, why did her children all insist her name was Fester as did the “Soldiers” profile?

The only reasonable explanation is that Thomas and Theodore were Henry’s brothers-in-law., that he married Sarah Roup and yes, she was quite young when she married.