There is a Pvt Daniel Martz on find-a-grave buried in Schuylkill Haven. His tombstone says Martz, his memorial gives his surname as Martz (Mertz). He was born in 1834 and died in 1903. His memorial says he was a Civil War soldier and served in Company C, 50th Pennsylvania Infantry. He is linked on find-a-grave to his wife Lavina (Deibler) Martz.

It would be easy to make the case that he was the son of Peter Mertz (J3b) and his wife Eliza who are buried in the same cemetery. From Census, they had a son Daniel age 15 in 1850 and age 25 in 1860. There were three privates in the 50th Infantry named Martz: Daniel Martz born 1834, Samuel Martz born 1838 and John B Martz born 1842 and Peter had sons of those three names, with ages per the 1850 Census: Daniel 15, Samuel 10 and John 4. The ages aren’t exactly right but errors like that happen often in genealogy and so everything seems to fit together into a nice package.

Here’s the problem. Peter wrote his will in 1874 naming his son Daniel F as one of his Executors. But when Peter died in 1891 and his will was to be proven, Daniel’s brothers testified that their brother Daniel F had predeceased their father. Indeed, Daniel Francis Mertz (1834-1879) is also buried in that same cemetery, in his case in the same Section A-1 as his parents.

The next obvious thought is that maybe this Daniel was Peter’s nephew. Peter had two brothers, John and Samuel. John never actually lived in Schuylkill County though he did have a son Daniel — but that Daniel is accounted for and he is buried in Dauphin County. And Peter’s brother Samuel had no sons.

So who was Pvt Daniel Martz? I can’t really say I know for sure but I have a theory. A David Mertz appeared in Manheim Township in 1840. I can’t say I know for sure who he was either but I believe he was the son of Conrad Mertz (N3) and I have designated David (N3b). David’s wife Christina died in 1847 and the estate file of Christina Martz of Schuylkill Haven said she had sons named David, John, Joshua and Samuel — all minors.

My theory is that son David was this Daniel. I could argue maybe he was David Daniel (or Daniel David) — genealogists do that all the time, they make up names to solve problems like this. But that is not the argument I would make. I have observed in many instances where the handwritten name David was misread as Daniel and vice versa. Now I have looked at the estate file and I would be hard pressed to say it says Daniel and not David. But who wrote that? Did somebody write what we find now in her estate file from some other piece of paper and made that mistake? That’s what I think.

Note that this Daniel, it seems, can be linked in certain ways to brothers (?) named Samuel, Joshua and John. Note that in Christina’s case her name had come to be spelled Martz by the time she died and she was then of Schuylkill Haven. Note the I cannot find anyone anywhere that I think could be Christina’s missing son David.

What’s particularly frustrating about Daniel not being the son of Peter is that in the 50th Infantry, Company C, there were privates: Daniel, Samuel and John B Martz born in 1834, 1838 and 1842 respectively. Peter had sons of those names, with ages per the 1850 Census: Daniel 15, Samuel 10 and John 4. It’s not an exact match but it just seems too close not to be them.

He was in Schuylkill Haven with wife Levina in 1860-1880.

Daniel and Lavina are on find-a-grave.

She is said to have been the daughter of Henry and Eliza (Rease) Deibler on find-a-grave.