Baron Gurney HOLTZ married two sisters who are my grand-aunts. Baron G. HOLTZ was a career Army officer and from his military records I knew he was born in 1871 in New Oxford, Adams County, PA. He married Sarah MYERS who was born in 1876 and they had one son, Joseph HOLTZ. Sarah MYERS HOLTZ died in 1895 and son Joseph was raised by his grandparents, Henry and Matilda (HOFFHEINS) MYERS of New Oxford, PA. In Sept. 1908 Baron Gurney HOLTZ married second to Mary MYERS born 1885.

My brick wall was trying to locate Baron G. HOLTZ' parents and finding him on any census in Adams County, PA, as a child. I find him in 1900 as a single man in the Army in the Philippines and by 1910 he's married to my grand-aunt Mary MYERS. But prior to 1900 he was a complete mystery.

Since Baron G. HOLTZ was born in 1871 I figured he should be with his parents on the 1880 census but I couldn't find any record of Baron HOLTZ in Adams County. Since both Baron and Gurney are very rare names I tried searching for these names with no surname and came up with this:

1880 New Oxford, Adams County, PA:

John C. ZOUCK, age 61, Justice of the Peace born MD
Julian ZOUCK, age 59
George ZOUCK, age 35 son
Gurney B. ZOUCK, age 9, nephew
I suspected this was Baron Gurney with his first and middle names reversed and that he was living with uncle and incorrectly assigned the uncle's surname--but I felt I still had to prove this.

In 1860 I found the ZOUCK family in Baltimore MD, Dist. 5, Union Meeting House:
John C. ZOUCK, 40
Julian ZOUCK, 38
George ZOUCK, 17
Sarah ZOUCK, 10
Magdalena ZOUCK, 60 (mother)
So the ZOUCKs did have a daughter named Sarah...but could I prove she was Baron G. HOLTZ' mother?

I did a general search for ALL HOLTZ in Adams County, PA in 1880 in an attempt to see whether the above ZOUCK entry was just a fluke and found THIS:
George BOLLINGER age 42, born PA
Jennie BOLLINGER, age 30, born MD
Wade BOLLINGER age 1, born PA, father PA, mother MD
Gertrude HOLTZ age 8 born PA, father born PA and mother MD
George HOLTZ age 5, born PA, father born PA and mother MD
"Jennie" BOLLINGER and "Sarah" ZOUCK would be the same age and both born in MD---but were they the same person and if so was she Baron G. HOLTZ' mother?

I figured that since I knew Baron HOLTZ was born in New Oxford in 1871 I'd check for all HOLTZ living there in 1870 and found:
A. HOLTZ, age 31, Physician, born PA
Jenny Holtz, age 18, born MD
Effie HOLTZ, age 2 (I could establish that A. HOLTZ had been married before he married this 18 year old Jenny and Effie was the daughter of the first wife.)

So why can't I find A. HOLTZ on the 1880 census? And is he Baron G. HOLTZ' father? And is Jennie/Jenny his mother?

On Find A Grave I found the grave of Dr. Abraham HOLTZ who died in 1877--which explains his absence on the 1880 census. It also explains the identity of Jennie BOLLINGER above in 1880. She had remarried and had two of her (and Abraham's) minor children (HOLTZ) with her. But not Baron G.

I felt if I could prove that Sarah and Jennie ZOUCK were the same person, and that Jennie BOLLINGER was a ZOUCK, I'd have sufficient proof to claim the above lineage.

The New Oxford Item dated 15 Dec. 1899 includes an obituary for Mrs. J. C. ZOUCK, Esq. for a number of years a merchant and Justice of the Peace of this place died very suddenly from apoplexy at the home of her daughter Mrs. George N. BOLLINGER, near New Chester on Monday afternoon. Age about 75 years. Interment New Oxford Cemetery.

This proves that the ZOUCK's daughter is the one married to George N. BOLLINGER and establishes the relationship to Baron G. HOLTZ virtually proving he is the boy listed with them as their nephew in 1880. So likely her name is Sarah Jennie/Jenny or Jennie Sarah.

Joan Young