Mertz Genealogy - Person Sheet
Mertz Genealogy - Person Sheet
NameJohn Martz (P1d2) 
Birthabout 1825
Memo(a wild guess really)
FatherPeter Martz (P1d) (~1788-<1840)
MotherElizabeth Kline (~1798-<1842)
Birth, Parent-Proof, Designation notes for John Martz (P1d2)
We know that Peter had a son John from the estate settlement after his wife Elizabeth died. That was in 1848 and the wording was payment made to “J S Reed on behalf of John Martz”. My first thought is that John must have been a minor and maybe he was.
If we look at the headcount of persons by age group in Peter’s household, in 1820, he had one son and one daughter both under the age of 10. That would be Susan (age 5 or so) and Henry K (age 2 or so). In 1830, there were two sons under 5 and two females 10-14 and one more 15-19. So 1830 is a bit of a puzzler. Susan was about 15 so she was there, but who were the other younger females? And where’s Henry? And is John one of the two males under 5?
If John was a minor in 1848, he was born after 1830, and that just seems too big a gap after his older siblings. The 1830 Census may show that Peter was still having children as late as the late 1820’s, however it’s not clear those 1830 tick marks can be trusted. There was no Orphans Court action after Peter’s death which we would have expected to find were John a minor when his father died.
In going through old Sunbury newspapers, I found one very curious item that might pertain.
It was originally published by The Spirit of Democracy (a paper from Woodsfield, OH) on 17 Dec 1851 and then picked up by the Sunbury American and published 3 Jan 1852 and by the Uniontown, PA Sentinel. It tells the story of the death of Ellen Martz (the Woodsfield paper consistently spelled the name Martry but it became Martz as picked up by the Sunbury paper). Ellen was supposedly about 17 years of age and died in in Calais, Monroe County, OH. She had come to that area about a year previous in the company of a man named John R (the story said “possibly K”) Martz.
John was described as a tailor and a “gentleman having the protection and guardianship of a beloved sister“. John and Ellen at first claimed to be siblings but eventually John left her and after that she confessed that her maiden name was Green, she was from Allentown, PA and she and John had been married. Among her remains was a diary kept supposedly by John Martz and in the diary there was “frequent mention of the towns of Sunbury and Hughsville, Pennsylvania and Brownsville and Danville, Indiana”.
The things that resonate in this story with what we know about John, son of Peter and Elizabeth are:
1. His name especially if it was John K — his brother was Henry K and Elizabeth’s maiden name was Kline.
2. John Martz of Sunbury might well have thought his sister was his guardian.
3. The frequent mention in his diary of Sunbury.
4. The mention of Brownsville, IN and Danville, IN — one a little east of Indianapolis and one a little west — Indianapolis being where both his sister and brother were living by 1851.
A later clipping in the 6 Mar 1863 Woodsfield paper reports the marriage of John Martz to Margaret Grosebaugh.
If we look at the headcount of persons by age group in Peter’s household, in 1820, he had one son and one daughter both under the age of 10. That would be Susan (age 5 or so) and Henry K (age 2 or so). In 1830, there were two sons under 5 and two females 10-14 and one more 15-19. So 1830 is a bit of a puzzler. Susan was about 15 so she was there, but who were the other younger females? And where’s Henry? And is John one of the two males under 5?
If John was a minor in 1848, he was born after 1830, and that just seems too big a gap after his older siblings. The 1830 Census may show that Peter was still having children as late as the late 1820’s, however it’s not clear those 1830 tick marks can be trusted. There was no Orphans Court action after Peter’s death which we would have expected to find were John a minor when his father died.
In going through old Sunbury newspapers, I found one very curious item that might pertain.
It was originally published by The Spirit of Democracy (a paper from Woodsfield, OH) on 17 Dec 1851 and then picked up by the Sunbury American and published 3 Jan 1852 and by the Uniontown, PA Sentinel. It tells the story of the death of Ellen Martz (the Woodsfield paper consistently spelled the name Martry but it became Martz as picked up by the Sunbury paper). Ellen was supposedly about 17 years of age and died in in Calais, Monroe County, OH. She had come to that area about a year previous in the company of a man named John R (the story said “possibly K”) Martz.
John was described as a tailor and a “gentleman having the protection and guardianship of a beloved sister“. John and Ellen at first claimed to be siblings but eventually John left her and after that she confessed that her maiden name was Green, she was from Allentown, PA and she and John had been married. Among her remains was a diary kept supposedly by John Martz and in the diary there was “frequent mention of the towns of Sunbury and Hughsville, Pennsylvania and Brownsville and Danville, Indiana”.
The things that resonate in this story with what we know about John, son of Peter and Elizabeth are:
1. His name especially if it was John K — his brother was Henry K and Elizabeth’s maiden name was Kline.
2. John Martz of Sunbury might well have thought his sister was his guardian.
3. The frequent mention in his diary of Sunbury.
4. The mention of Brownsville, IN and Danville, IN — one a little east of Indianapolis and one a little west — Indianapolis being where both his sister and brother were living by 1851.
A later clipping in the 6 Mar 1863 Woodsfield paper reports the marriage of John Martz to Margaret Grosebaugh.