INFORMATION FROM THE HISTORY OF HENRY JOSEPH MERTENS and his wife MARIA MAGDALENA LOETHEN - PAGE 101
AUTHOR - QUENTIN VIET

The Mertens' ninth child was born to them on the 5th of March 1876. They had him baptized at Westphalia on the 30th of March and named him Peter Paul Mertens after his godfather, Peter Paul Leuthen (probably Loethen). His godmother was Catharina Braester. This child was known in later years by the name of Paul.
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PETER PAUL "PAUL" MERTENS (Son of John)

Peter Paul Mertens was born March 5, 1876 at Westphalia, MO. He was christened on March 30, 1876 in St. Joseph Catholic Church at Westphalia, MO. His godparents were Peter Paul Leuthen (Loethen) a neighbor and possibly a relative on his grandmother's side and Catharina Brester, a neighbor.

Paul probably attended the Osage Bluff public school or the St. Thomas public school, both of which were one-room schools. He was not of school age when his parents moved to the osage Bluff side of the Osage River where his dad ran a sawmill and a grist mill. At the age of 25, Paul married Mary Bock on April 23, 1901 in St. Peter Catholic Church at Jefferson City. One wonders how he became acquainted with Miss Bock since she resided in Jefferson City, quite a long way from Osage Bluff in those days.

Paul and his wife lived in the Osage Bluff, MO vicinity after their marriage. Since his dad was already in the Fulton, MO mental institution when Paul married, he and his wife probably lived with his mother in the house his dad had built along the Osage in the 1880's. There he continued the business started by his father. In an 1898-1899 business directory he is listed as having a saw and corn mill at Osage Bluff. Both of these had been run by his father, John Mertens, before he was confined to Fulton. He was listed as running or having a flour and grist mill at Osage Bluff in the 1900 Cole County Directory. This no doubt was the mill that had belonged to his father. Paul was shown as a Cole County taxpayer in the 1904-1905 directory. His brother, Theodore, is not listed so maybe only land owners paid a tax.

Sometime around the time of his father's death, Paul moved his family to Wardsville, MO. Most of the present day Mertens of Wardsville are his descendants. Paul's nephew, Clement Mertens, wrote of Paul loading his family into a box wagon on a Saturday morning and making the around 10-mile trip to St. Thomas to visit his brother, Theodore. The family visited Saturday afternoon, went to church on Sunday morning and after a mid-day meal returned by wagon to Wardsville.

The 1908-1909 directory shows Paul Mertens to be living at Wardsville. In the 1911-1912 directory he is shown to be on Route 4, Jefferson City. This would be in the Wardsville area. he shows up at the same address in the 1913 directory. He is still on Route 4 in the 1914 and 1917 Directories.

Paul and his first wife, Mary Bock, had twelve children:
1) George Joseph Mertens - born July 11, 1903 at Osage Bluff;
2) Lawrence Theodore Mertens - born Dec 7, 1904 at Osage Bluff; and died the same year;
3) Clara Ann Mertens - born November 18, 1905
4) Louis John Mertens born June 23, 1908
5) Frances Marie Mertens - born November 12, 1910
6) Augusta Mertens - born Dec 30, 1912
7) Bernard Henry Mertens -born July 28, 1914
8) Edward Theodore Mertens born July 16, 1917; ***married to Dorothy Catherine Rackers
9) Joseph Garard Mertens - born Sept 29, 1919, and died the next year;
10) Otto August Mertens - born August 18, 1921 and died two years later
11) William Francis Mertens - born June 27, 1924
12) Alice Marie Mertens - born June 4, 1927
The last ten children were all born at Wardsville, MO

Paul's brother-in-law, William Edward Hopen, who had been living in Pratt, Kansas, returned to Missouri and according to Clement Mertens, started a dair farm off of Greenberry Road north of the Moreau River. He soon developed tuberculosis and, because of the contagious nature of the disease, was not allowed to continue the dairy farm. He sold the business to Paul Mertens who moved the operation to his farm halfway between Wardsville and Jefferson City.

Paul and his first wife, Mary Bock, celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on the 25th of April 1926 at their home. Mary Bock, died on January 27, 1939 and was buried at Wardsville, MO.

In 1940, Paul married his widowed sister-in-law, Mary Ludwina (Huhmann) Mertens. Mary Ludwina's son, Emil and his wife Catherine, were their attendants. Mary Ludwina died on November 1944.

In Sept. 1946, Paul married forty-year old Johanna Korsmeyer, daughter of Herman Korsmeyer and Anna Graessle, and a schoolmate amd good friend of Quentin Veit's mother Anna (Mertens) Veit. Paul's niece, Anna (Twehous) Westerman and her husband, Sam, were the witnesses for the wedding. Johanna was born on April 26, 1906 at Honey Creek, MO. Johanna told Quentin Veit that she could not speak English when she started school, Johanna, born a Lutheran, became a Catholic, and was a member of St. Stanislaus Catholic Church at Wardsville, and a member of the Ladies Sodality there. A child, Pauline Johanna Mertens was born to Paul and Johanna on Feb 10, 1948 at Wardsville. Annie and Sam Westerman were he godparents.

Paul, with the help of a couple of his sons, ran the dairy farm until a few years before his death, when he retired with his third wife, Johanna Korsmeyer to a small home along the old Wardsville to Jefferson City road. The 24 by 40 foot story and one-half home was built partly with lumber that Paul salvaged from an abandoned one-room school house that was on his farm. Paul bought the building for $1,000. The next closest bid was for $300. The school was called the East Union school and stood in an open field on Paul's farm. When Quentin Veit saw it in the early 1940's the books were on the desks and writing was on the blackboard as though school had been stopped in the middle of the school year. Paul's daughter, Pauline, has some of the books from the old school. Strangely, there were no roads to the school, which stood approximately one-half way between Tanner Bridge Road and the old Wardsville-to Jefferson City (old Highway B) Road.

Paul died on May 23, 1962 at Wardsville, Mo and is buried in the cemetery there. His wife, Johanna, continued to live in the small house until a few years before her death. After leaving the home, she lived with her daughter, Pauline, for five years and them retired to St. Joseph Home for the Aged in Jefferson City. She died at the age of 91, on November 14, 1997 and is buried at Wardsville.
9) William Francis Mertens - born June 27, 1924
10) Alice Marie Mertens - born June 4, 1927

Paul Mertens second wife was his brother Theodore's wife, Mary Ludwina Huhmann. Ted (my mom pronounced it Tedder) used to run the ferry where the bridge now crosses the Osage River to St. Thomas. My mom ran around with Paul and Mary's kids, Georgie, Gustie and Clara so I know some of these people and their kids. Mary Huhman Mertens son Clem (Bud) is still living and he and his wife Ida (Stockman) are residents at Westphalia's retirement center. (Per Alma Chambers)

Hoer's Book of Births in or near Westphalia lists baptism as Mar 30, 1876 with sponsors Peter Paul Leuthen and Catherine Brester.