Family in front of the William Mertz House, Vera Cruz, Indiana, circa 1888

Description:	Three generations of a family pose in front of a brick house in this circa 1888 cabinet card made by B. Ashbaucher of Bluffton. Written on the back: Maxine Mertz Moss Estate.Records on Ancestry.com indicate that Maxine (Mertz) Moss was the daughter of Edward Mertz (1877- ). The Mertz family lived in Vera Cruz, located in the same township as Bluffton. The family lived on Center Street in Vera Cruz in the 1880 Wells County, Harrison Township Census. Edwards family matches in age to the people depicted, so this might be his parents, siblings, and grandparents. If so, then this might depict (left to right):father William Mertz (1852-1933, a pharmacist and postmaster in Vera Cruz), sister Mary A. Mertz (1884-1929, married Loose), mother Lucinda Miller Mertz (1854-1955), grandparents, and brothers in unknown order Edward Mertz (1877- ) and John Roy Mertz (1879-1959). Another son Homer A. Mertz was born in 1892. Because the grandfather looks so similar to William Mertz, the older couple might be Wilhelm Mertz (1821-1891) and Anna Engeler Mertz (1821-1907). However, these might be maternal grandparents Johann Michael Miller (1813-1891) and Anna Maria Gottschalk Miller (1816-1898). Both sets of grandparents lived in Vera Cruz at the time of this photograph.
Origin:	1888, circa
Source:	http://indianaalbum.pastperfectonline.com/photo/167B468C-45FC-4473-ADEF-572963718067
Collection:	Indiana Album
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Geography:	2869 Southwest Center Street, Vera Cruz, Wells County, Indiana, United States 40.700468,-85.079489
Subjects:	Family members Houses Vera Cruz (Ind.) Wells County (Ind.)

Further information on this record can be found at its source.