Magdalena (Mertz) Schreffler (1766 - abt. 1831)

Born 24 Dec 1766 in Oley Township, Berks, Pennsylvania

Ancestors

Wife of Charles Samuel (Scheffler) Schreffler — married about Nov 1787 in Reading, Berks, Pennsylvania, United States

Descendants

Died about 1831 at about age 64 in Reading, Berks, Pennsylvania

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Cathy Brandstetter [send private message]

Biography

Magdalena was born in 1766. She passed away in 1831. ^[1]

• Fact: Burial (ABT 1831) Prob, Haines Twp, Centre, Pennsylvania, USA
• Fact: http://familysearch.org/v1/LifeSketch OH CONRAD, WHY DIDN'T YOU LEAVE A WILL?

A genealogist's life would be so much easier if every person survived until all his daughters had married and left a will naming all his children including married names of his daughters.

So far as I know, neither Conrad nor his wife Anna Margaretha (Heckman) Mertz did so. Are there surviving records for baptisms of all of their children? So far as I know only two such baptism records have been found. Was there a property deed after Conrad's death naming all the heirs? I have looked and never found anything like that. A family bible? Never seen mention of one.

So I am only aware of two children for Conrad: Heinrich, baptized at Oley Reformed in 1765 and Johannes baptized in 1772. I know nothing more about Johannes.

But he likely had other children. Magdalena, in my opinion, is a possibility. Here's what I know about her.

I share DNA with a woman who descends from Carl/Charles Schreffler and Magdalena Mertz of Berks County, PA who later moved to Centre County, PA and my “cousin’s” line then on to Venango County.

Magdalena, my cousin believes, was the daughter of Conrad and Margaret (Hetman) Mertz. If true, that would certainly explain our shared DNA.

A death certificate of Sophia S Hover (1809-1909), who died in Clarion County, states her parents’ names as Carl Schreffler and Mary M Martz (transcribed Martez by Ancestry.com). As many Magdalena’s were in fact Mary Magdalena and the Mertz name often became Martz in a different place, I think we can accept this as reasonable evidence that Carl’s wife was Magdalena Mertz. So I have no reason at all to think that this is not our connection.

• There does not seem to be any other intersection of our family trees
• There is no other Magdalena Mertz I’m aware of who might be Carl Schreffler’s wife

I have not been able to find many real documents that mention Magdalena. You CAN find mention of Magdalena and Carl and their families in many on-line family trees. As is typical, once one tree purports to have a particular fact about someone, that same fact gets picked up in all the other trees.

So a “fact” that everyone with those trees and whoever put it here believes is that Magdalena was born 24 Dec 1766 supposedly in Oley Township. That sounds very much to me like there must be a church baptism record for Magdalena at, I would guess, Oley Reformed.

• But the IGI at LDS includes Oley Reformed and she is not there
• However, Heinrich Mertz, son of Conrad and Margaret, was baptized there in 1765

So was Magdalena the daughter of Conrad and Margaretha? Maybe? Was she born 24 Dec 1766? Maybe.

Submitted August 2020 by Oakey Mertz mertzgenealogy.com

Sources

1. ↑ Unsourced family tree handed down to Dylan Troy.

• Detail

Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; Pennsylvania, USA; Certificate Number Range: 013601-017400 Source information Title Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1944 Author Ancestry.com Publisher Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Publisher date 2014 Publisher location Provo, UT, USA Repository information Name Ancestry.com Address http://www.Ancestry.com

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 28 January 2024, 07:52), entry for Magdalena Mertz (PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:LV87-1YW ); contributed by various users.
• Pennsylvania Church Records - Adams, Berks, and Lancaster Counties, 1729-1881

Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1762-1810: Longswamp Reformed Church records

U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1944

• Family Bible.

Source Citation Source number: 8841.302; Source type: Family group sheet, FGSE, listed as parents; Number of Pages: 1 Source Information Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

Source Citation Book Title: Lineage Book : NSDAR : Volume 164 : 1921 Source Information Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.