> John. <http://www.cgo.wave.ca/~hessian> I noticed the spelling of your name as MERZ rather than the more common MERTZ. and your reference to the Hessians, which I associate (perhaps incorrectly) with battles in PA. Are you descended from / related to the * Jacob MERZ * (b - abt 1838 d-1912 Philadelphia) who married *Sabina LAMPARTER* in Philadelphia July 1869? I only know about one child of this marriage who lived to adulthood - *Pauline MERZ* (b-1874 d-1972?) who married *John Georg SINGLE* (b-1864 d-1943) Bob Lamparter Selinsgrove, PA