This gentleman is my great great great grandpa. I never thought I'd find who he was, but here he is. Born Johannes, went by John.

The above year of birth is approximated from his age at the time of his passing and matches censuses.

John W. Merkert is the father of Mary Elizabeth Merkert, who had a daughter, Rosena Kimpel, who had a son, William Hamilton Storkey V, who had my mother.

The only reason I was able to recognize him in his tiny obituary is that I had done research on the marriages of his kids - my great great grandma and her siblings. My Mary Elizabeth Merkert had a sister, Josephine, whose husband is mentioned in the obituary as the home hosting the funeral. As soon as my eyes fell on "Eichenhofer" (how many Eichenhofers are there, after all) my heart pounded happily, knowing John was my kin.

He passed away in Homestead Pennsylvania which is Allegheny County, the county Pittsburgh calls home. What he was doing out there across the state is anyone's guess because so far as I know the family was Roxborough-based in Philadelphia... but his daughter, Annie and her husband William Bayer had moved to Homestead somewhere between the 1900 and 1910 censuses, so possibly he visited or stayed with them, after his wife had died the year before him.

John, a German speaking immigrant, seems to have embraced his new country's responsibilities, and was part of a patriotic, responsible family. He appears to have served twice in the Civil War, once definitely with the 5th Regiment, Pennsylvania Cavalry (65th Volunteers), Company I, mustering in and out as a Private. The reason it is him - his middle initial matches. There's also a record of a John Merkert serving with the 7th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry, Company G, also as a Private, for 3 months in 1861.

But he was not alone. Two apparent brothers (I have not completed the genealogy yet, but everything points to their being brothers) also served. Magnus served with the same 5th Regiment, Pennsylvania Cavalry (65th Volunteers) as John did. Magnus also was with the 21st Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry (3 months, 1861). Interestingly, the 21st was composed in part by the Jackson Rifle Company of Manayunk. Meanwhile, Amor or Amos Merkert was with the 98th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry, Company I.

Chronologically, the first official document I can find on our John is the February 5, 1876 death certificate of his daughter Elizabeth, age two, who died of convulsions. The family is living at 133 Levering Street in Manayunk, and John's wife is recorded as Luwina.

The 1880 census shows John W. Merkert and his wife Lavina in Roxborough on what appears to be Keely or Neeley Alley. (There was a Keeley's Alley in Manayunk, and the name was changed to St. David's in 1900 to match the nearby Episcopal church. This fits very well, as it is right in the neighborhood, near Smick street and all the lower streets my families lived in.) Children in the home then are Frank L (age 18), Mary (my gg grandma, age 16), Annie (12), Julie A (10), Katie (8), Johanna (5), Josephine (3) and Maggie (2). John reports being born in Baden like his parents. He is working at a paper mill, his wife keeping house, and the four eldest children are working at cotton or woolen mills.

The fact this census says he was born in Baden made me smile; his daughter, my great great grandma Mary, in her first marriage, would end up marrying Valentine Kimpel, a man from Baden as well. The town of Baden is pictured with this memorial.

John and his wife lost a four year old son, also named John, November 17, 1884. The death certificate for this boy shows the family living at 4843 Washington Street in the 21st ward, Roxborough/Manayunk. (And this is still in the same neighborhood. If you are of a mind to check this location out, be aware that Washington Street in this area is now called Umbria, changed to reflect the influx of Italian immigrants to the area.) On the child's death certificate, his mother, John's wife is recorded as Mary. It may have been a mistake or English-speaker's simplification of a German name - no, John did not take a new wife because in the next census we go back to another version of a name beginning with "L" for her.

On the 1900 census, the family lives on "Lamont, formerly Prospect" street and John's wife is identified as Leudveina. Kids present are Hannah, Margaretta, and L. Clementina. John, age 68 is reporting himself as German-born like his parents, and is listed as a "retired gent". He reports being a naturalized citizen who came to the United States in 1856. The Eichenhofer family is 3 doors up, so we can guess daughter Josephine married a neighborhood boy.

In "History of Schuykill County" on page 134, a John W. Merkert is listed as signing up for Civil War participation "under the call of July 18th, 1864." It's not clear if he were a local man then or if he was one who came from a distance so it's unclear if it is our subject. Still, I believe it is him. In March of that same year his daughter Mary was born in Mahanoy City so that would suggest they were Schuylkill County residents at the time.

The 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry Company C was supposed to have been recruited at Philadelphia, and John's name, complete with the correct middle initial again, is on their list. John's "Date of Muster Into Service" was August 25, 1864, for a one year term, though remarks show he was "not on muster-out roll".

John W. Merkert also appears in "Memorial of Patriotism of Schuylkill County in the American Slaveholder's Rebellion" (Benjamin Bannon, publisher, Pottsville, PA, 1865). Here he's shown again as with the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry Company C.
This has to be our man mentioned above of Schuylkill County.

Using this information as a clue, one needs to check the census to see if there are Merkerts in Schuylkill County; indeed there are (all in Butler Township), but the first Merkerts there show up in 1880, by which time our gent is known to be living in Philadelphia. Perhaps they are his kin, perhaps not. He came to the United States when about age 25, so he may have come alone. Still, it's interesting to note that the head of the clan in 1880 in Schuylkill County is a man named Lorenz Merkert who is age 44, thus born five years after our John, making brotherhood not out of the question.

And looking at Lorenz's family is interesting - our John had a descendant Lawrence, and likewise in both families there's a Hannah and a Josephine. Coincidence? Further, at one time there was a Lawrence Merkert in Philadelphia as evidenced by the burial of this young boy whose father was Lawrence. So was possible brother Lawrence "out there" in Schuylkill County and in Philadelphia over his life?

By 1900, Lorenz is listed as Lawrence, reveals his birth as having happened in Germany in September 1836. He also is recorded as having come to the United States in 1854, close to John's 1856.

The Berks and Schuylkill Journal has a Lawrence Merkert of Amity drafted for service on October 17, 1862.

Still, the first Merkert to show up on any US census is one named Amos, in 1860, born in Baden (like our John) and age 21 or 27 - again close enough in age to be a brother to John. And guess where Amos lives? Philadelphia, though in Kensington, not the Roxborough section, but certainly close enough. He never shows up on any subsequent censuses, so we never see his answers to to other questions, like the 1900 census' question of "When did you come to the US?"

There is also a Magnus Merkert listed as being recruited from Philadelphia, mustered in April 29, 1861 in Company E of the 21st Regiment in "History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5".

For now at least, my great great great grandpa's life remains murky to me, but I hope with time I will find where he arrived and lived in the United States between 1856 and 1876 when that death certificate of his daughter lands his name in Philadelphia's city records.

One other item of note - like his deceased children Elizabeth and little John, our John was buried and his mass said at St. Mary's Church, a German Catholic church. John being a probable Catholic is a bit of a surprise because so far all individuals I have found in our Manayunk/Roxborough families do not appear to be affiliated with the Catholic church. Cemetery records are at the rectory office, so perhaps they will reveal more.

MERKERT - On December 30, 1904, at Homestead, Pa., JOHN W. MERKERT, aged 73 years. The relatives and friends of the family, also the societies of which he was a member, are respectfully invited to attend the funeral, on Tuesday morning, at 8:30 o'clock, at his son-in-law's residence Frank Eichenhofer, 4422 Smick st., Manayunk. Requiem mass at St. Mary's Church, at 10 o'clock. Interment at St. Mary's cemetery, Roxborough.