Peter arrived Philadelphia on 28 Sep 1733 on the Ship Richard & Elizabeth together with his parents and siblings. He was later listed with his father David and his brother Nicholas as a founder of the Longswamp Reformed Church, Longswamp Township, Berks County, PA.
The transcription of the ship captain's list in September 1733 indicates that Peter was age 13 3/4 at the time. That conflicts with an actual December 1717 baptism record for Peter in Alsace. The best explanation is that perhaps the captain wrote 15 3/4 and it was mis-read.
The 1781 Berks County Tax List for Longswamp Township shows Peter Mertz with 400 acres.
Peter died in 1787 and his very brief will mentioned only three sons: John deceased, and Nicholas and Peter who he named as Executors. But he had quite a number of other sons and daughters. Most of his sons moved to Northumberland County, PA by 1785-1790, including: Jacob, David, Philip, Nicholas and Peter. For Philip and Nicholas, the M-E-R-T-Z spelling was retained. For the other three, the spelling of their name almost immediately evolved to M-A-R-T-Z.
The big question relating to Peter is who was his wife. There are any number of people who claim she was Johanetta Sheridan (Girardin) but she came to America well after most of Peter's children were born so wasn't the mother of his children and in any event there is no one that claims this fact to be true that has any credible evidence to support their claim.
The memorial was created by "An Oregonian" and I took it over since Peter is my 5G-grandfather. There's no evidence he was buried at the Longswamp Church but it was Peter's church and is certainly a possibility. Another possibility being he was buried on his farm. But one way or another, Peter deserves a find-a-grave memorial and in my opinion better to have him placed at this church than in the burial unknown category.
The transcription of the ship captain's list in September 1733 indicates that Peter was age 13 3/4 at the time. That conflicts with an actual December 1717 baptism record for Peter in Alsace. The best explanation is that perhaps the captain wrote 15 3/4 and it was mis-read.
The 1781 Berks County Tax List for Longswamp Township shows Peter Mertz with 400 acres.
Peter died in 1787 and his very brief will mentioned only three sons: John deceased, and Nicholas and Peter who he named as Executors. But he had quite a number of other sons and daughters. Most of his sons moved to Northumberland County, PA by 1785-1790, including: Jacob, David, Philip, Nicholas and Peter. For Philip and Nicholas, the M-E-R-T-Z spelling was retained. For the other three, the spelling of their name almost immediately evolved to M-A-R-T-Z.
The big question relating to Peter is who was his wife. There are any number of people who claim she was Johanetta Sheridan (Girardin) but she came to America well after most of Peter's children were born so wasn't the mother of his children and in any event there is no one that claims this fact to be true that has any credible evidence to support their claim.
The memorial was created by "An Oregonian" and I took it over since Peter is my 5G-grandfather. There's no evidence he was buried at the Longswamp Church but it was Peter's church and is certainly a possibility. Another possibility being he was buried on his farm. But one way or another, Peter deserves a find-a-grave memorial and in my opinion better to have him placed at this church than in the burial unknown category.
Peter arrived Philadelphia on 28 Sep 1733 on the Ship Richard & Elizabeth together with his parents and siblings. He was later listed with his father David and his brother Nicholas as a founder of the Longswamp Reformed Church, Longswamp Township, Berks County, PA.
The transcription of the ship captain's list in September 1733 indicates that Peter was age 13 3/4 at the time. That conflicts with an actual December 1717 baptism record for Peter in Alsace. The best explanation is that perhaps the captain wrote 15 3/4 and it was mis-read.
The 1781 Berks County Tax List for Longswamp Township shows Peter Mertz with 400 acres.
Peter died in 1787 and his very brief will mentioned only three sons: John deceased, and Nicholas and Peter who he named as Executors. But he had quite a number of other sons and daughters. Most of his sons moved to Northumberland County, PA by 1785-1790, including: Jacob, David, Philip, Nicholas and Peter. For Philip and Nicholas, the M-E-R-T-Z spelling was retained. For the other three, the spelling of their name almost immediately evolved to M-A-R-T-Z.
The big question relating to Peter is who was his wife. There are any number of people who claim she was Johanetta Sheridan (Girardin) but she came to America well after most of Peter's children were born so wasn't the mother of his children and in any event there is no one that claims this fact to be true that has any credible evidence to support their claim.
The memorial was created by "An Oregonian" and I took it over since Peter is my 5G-grandfather. There's no evidence he was buried at the Longswamp Church but it was Peter's church and is certainly a possibility. Another possibility being he was buried on his farm. But one way or another, Peter deserves a find-a-grave memorial and in my opinion better to have him placed at this church than in the burial unknown category.
The transcription of the ship captain's list in September 1733 indicates that Peter was age 13 3/4 at the time. That conflicts with an actual December 1717 baptism record for Peter in Alsace. The best explanation is that perhaps the captain wrote 15 3/4 and it was mis-read.
The 1781 Berks County Tax List for Longswamp Township shows Peter Mertz with 400 acres.
Peter died in 1787 and his very brief will mentioned only three sons: John deceased, and Nicholas and Peter who he named as Executors. But he had quite a number of other sons and daughters. Most of his sons moved to Northumberland County, PA by 1785-1790, including: Jacob, David, Philip, Nicholas and Peter. For Philip and Nicholas, the M-E-R-T-Z spelling was retained. For the other three, the spelling of their name almost immediately evolved to M-A-R-T-Z.
The big question relating to Peter is who was his wife. There are any number of people who claim she was Johanetta Sheridan (Girardin) but she came to America well after most of Peter's children were born so wasn't the mother of his children and in any event there is no one that claims this fact to be true that has any credible evidence to support their claim.
The memorial was created by "An Oregonian" and I took it over since Peter is my 5G-grandfather. There's no evidence he was buried at the Longswamp Church but it was Peter's church and is certainly a possibility. Another possibility being he was buried on his farm. But one way or another, Peter deserves a find-a-grave memorial and in my opinion better to have him placed at this church than in the burial unknown category.
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