A New Zehner Family History
Adam Zehner immigrated to the United States from Germany as a young man in 1754. Family tradition has it that Adam arrived here without sufficient funds to pay for his passage, and was indentured for several years to a Pennsylvania settler named Mertz who had paid the captain's fee. Adam settled initially in Berks County, where he married, about 1759, Anna Maria Mertz, said to have been a daughter of his benefactor. Several children were born to them near Mertztown in Longswamp Township. About 1769 they moved north a few miles across the Blue Mountains to West Penn Township in what is now Schuylkill County, near Tamaqua. There, several more children were born, bringing the total to fifteen.
This is the story of Adam and his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, covering the period from about 1750 to about 1880. They were mainly farmers, struggling with primitive tools to extract a sparse living from the land. Over time, many families migrated westward to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, carving homesteads out of a wild and sometimes dangerous new land. Included are all known descendants in the first four generations, male and female, through about the end of the nineteenth century. Collateral families include Balliet, Blott, Bower, Daubenspeck, Deal, Deeble, Eckroth, Gerber, Hauser, Hettinger, Irwin, Kleckner, Miller, Petry, Shoup, and Witherstine.
Many, but not all, of the 852 Zehners currently listed in the U. S. descend from Adam and Maria Zehner. If you are one of them, you may want to own a copy of this book. They also make great gifts for younger family members.
