Person talk:Rebecca Mertz (1)

Two Rebecca Mertz [17 May 2019]

There were at least four women named Rebecca Mertz, born between 1805 and maybe 1820 in the Union/Snyder County area of Pennsylvania. Rebecca (Mertz) Vandergriff was the daughter of Jacob Mertz (1781-1859) of Lewisburg. Rebecca (Mertz) Pickhart was the daughter of Henry Mertz (1781-1857) of Freeburg. It is the other two, both profiled on WeRelate who are of interest here.

Rebecca (Mertz) Schnee.

Per Wagenseller, Rebecca Mertz married Jacob Schnee 2 Apr 1846 and she was of Washington Township.  Her memorial on find-a-grave says she died 30 Jan 1886 at age 77y, 8m, 18d which computes to 12 May 1808.  But she was listed in four Censuses, and was 31 In 1850, 39 in 1860, 51 in 1870 and 61 in 1880.  This is consistently (ignoring 1860) suggesting an 1819 or so birth.  

Someone here has suggested "Her age at death (77 years) appears to be 10 years too high". There is a photo of her tombstone on find-a-grave and that age of 77 years is quite readable (arguably could still be wrong) while the year of her death is much less readable. I suspect she really died in 1896 and a close inspection of her tombstone might reveal that is really what it says.

Besides her marriage citation, the fact of her being Rebecca Mertz comes from death certificates of her two children: Emma Viola Nipple and Albert Schnee. Albert also gave her name as Rebecca Mertz born in Washington Township when he married a second time in 1919.

Rebecca (Mertz) Tittle. “Snyder County Annals” cites a marriage found in the New Berlin Union Star of Rebecca Mertz to Henry Hittle, both of Beaver Township and gave the date 22 May 1840 (which may have been the newspaper date). I have also seen in a Wagenseller listing of marriages that Henry Hittle & Rebecca Mertz married 3 May 1840. (I think his name was Tittle despite those two citations.)

Her tombstone is pretty readable and says she was born 30 Dec 1805, died 28 Dec 1858 and was 52y, 11m, 29 — and that arithmetic is internally consistent.

She only made one Census: 1850. Henry Tittle lived in Beaver Twp, Union Co with wife Rebecka 43 and Alexander 10, John 8, Amelia 6 and Samuel 5. [1807 birth implied]

Besides the record of her marriage, the fact of her being Rebecca Mertz comes from her tombstone.

Peter Mertz (1774-1845). We know that Peter, whose wife was Catherine, had a daughter Rebecca because he named all six of his daughters in his 1844 will. He gave no married names for any of them and there is no other record I have ever found that does so.

Peter also listed his four sons in his will, all of whose birth dates are known, in chronological order. His sons were born between the years 1806 and 1821 so clearly Peter might have been the father of either Rebecca.

An important consideration though is whether we can attach any significance to the fact that Peter listed Rebecca last among his six daughters, can we infer she was the youngest? The problem is I don't have any solid evidence (maybe a Census here and there) to establish reasonably concrete estimates of the birth years of his daughters. Only for Rebecca -- whichever one she was -- do we have an exact birth date. But from what I can guess, the other daughters were born 1797-1807 and if the one born in possibly 1797 really was born that early, then at least in her case, the idea that his daughters were listed chronologically is invalid.

But I believe we know two things about Rebecca Schnee versus Rebecca Tittle which lead me to believe that Rebecca Schnee was Peter's daughter. For one thing she was said to be of Washington Township -- exactly where Peter lived -- on her and her son's marriage record. The other is this: if Rebecca Tittle's tombstone is right that she was born 30 Dec 1805 and if the tombstone of Philip Mertz, son of Peter, is right, then he was born 7 days later than Rebecca which I think points to the conclusion, Rebecca Tittle was not his sister.

Father of Rebecca Tittle. So this raises the question of who was the father of Rebecca Tittle. She was 35 when she married and living in Beaver Township. Obviously she could have come from most anywhere to that place by that age but I tend to think she was still "somewhat local". So I could list all the candidates who had some geographic proximity -- it wouldn't be too long a list -- and I can divide them into three groups: the ones I know the names of all their daughters and there was no Rebecca, the ones who I know did have a daughter Rebecca but I think I know who she was and the ones who I can't say for sure I can name all of his daughters.

It is this latter group that I have focused on. And there may be another clue. In 1840, there was just one Mertz listed in the Census in Beaver Township and he was the first Mertz ever listed there. He was George Mertz. I believe George was the son of Samuel Mertz (1787-1855), a man I know had large family but with no source that would name all his children. So I would guess Rebecca may have been Samuel's daughter. A tick mark analysis of his early Census households does not contradict that conclusion.

Obviously I write this to solicit any information anyone else might have that would shed light on this question.

Oakey Mertz

oakeymertz@gmail.com--Oakeymertz 21:24, 17 May 2019 (UTC)