Jan, Ray-- I have also seen this surname spelled as LANTZ which a number are also buried in St. Matthews Reformed Church Cemetery in Maiden, NC. Is Barbara Lantz who m. in 1832 Lincoln Co., NC John Hoover the same as your Barbara Lontz? Ann Propst, Brevard, NC -----Original Message----- From: Jan Williams [mailto:jxwilliams@earthlink.net] Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2003 2:42 PM To: CATAWBA-WEST-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [CATAWBA-WEST] Mary Lontz Hallman Ray (and others who have commented on my posting), This is how I arrived at my info: Since I have never seen any original documentation that would indicate Daniel Hallman¹s first wife was a Loretz, my guess is that someone a long time ago was familiar with the Loretz family and incorrectly interpreted the writing on the marriage bond or some other document. This mistake dates back at least to Bynum¹s book on marriage bonds in 1929 and Sherrill¹s ³Annals of Lincoln County² in 1937. Mary/Polly¹s surname on the marriage bond doesn¹t have enough letters to spell Loretz. I¹ve shown this document to a number of people here in Ohio who have never heard of the Loretz family, and they have been unanimous in saying that the name on the bond is Lontz..... Jan From: "ray" <tnemelcy@wk.net> Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 13:06:56 -0500 To: CATAWBA-WEST-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CATAWBA-WEST] Re: CATAWBA-WEST-D Digest V03 #83 Interesting information you have sent. I have Daniel Hallman b January, 19, 1803 and died January 13, 1891. One of his wives Mary Lorentz (???) b October 5, 1801 and died November 18,1842. He married her February 5, 1824. His second wife was Sally and I have no further information on her. I have a Mary Lorentz who's father was Andrew H. Lorentz b about 1763 and died March 31, 1812 he married Elizabeth Ramsour b around 1787 and died around 1833 or later. 1788 - Andrew Loretz came west of the Catawba after arriving in Pennsylvania from Switzerland where he was a member of the German Reformed Church. 1789 - Pastor Loretz was ordained and began serving the German Reformed Congregations in the area. These were the Congregations that met in the Union Meeting Houses throughout the area. 1812 - March 31, Rev. Andrew Loretz died at the age of 59 and was buried at Daniels Church four miles north-west of Lincolnton with members of his family. Andrew H. Lorentz's father was Andrew Von Lorentz but little other information. He had Andrew H and a Daughter Mary Von Lorentz.... ray taylor tnemelcy@wk.net