[Note- Her birthdate was calculated from her exact age at death and date of death that were engraved on her headstone]

Family research has traditionally said that Maria was the daughter of Martin (June 30 1737-March 11 1813) and Anna (Dec 1740-Aug 8 1827) Schenk. Her paternal grandfather was Michael C. Schenk (abt 1694-abt Dec 24 1763), the immigrant of 1717.

She was married to Martin Wengert (1780- 1855). Her husband Martin served in the War of 1812. They resided on the ancestral family farm still located near Jonestown. They were the parents of the following known children:

1-Martin Wengert (Jan 3 1812-May 15 1881) # 17080731 married Ann/Nancy Herr (Oct 17 1814-Sept 4 1887) daughter of Henry Herr (abt 1785) and Sarah Forney (abt 1785); 12 known children

2-Anna (Nancy) Wenger (June 11 1813-June 6 1861) married Joseph Light (May 26 1810-Jan 22 1862) son of Henry Light (1760-1841) and Magdalena Wenger Funck (1761-1841); 15 known children

3-Christian Wengert (abt 1814-died young)

4-Jacob Wengert (1815-after 1860) married Sarah 'Sallie' Hershberger Sarah (Sallie) E. Hershberger (Nov 17 1821-May 20 1850); childless

Maria was known by the Wengert family to have been buried in Kauffman's Mennonite Meeting House Cemetery. There is now concurrence from contributor Broken Claw that this is the same woman previously listed as Maria Wengert Scherk on this memorial (with a vastly different birth year due to misreading one digit). Closer inspection of her headstone photo allowed her birthdate to be calculated based on her age.

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Burial location and date of death concur with notes taken when her headstone was originally observed by Edith Wengert Kern's cemetery walking half a century ago during her genealogical research. The Wengert Family Tree validates this.

There is an almost identical transcription from a survey by Christine E. Weaver which was submitted to the Lebanon County Historical Society in 1974 as part of her 'Cemeteries of North and South Annville'. This transcription states that she was born in 1745 rather than 1775. It states that she died in 1813 rather than 1843. This version of a Maria S. Wenger/Wengert does not appear on any known records or family trees using birth and death years close to 1745 and 1813. the dates are so similar it appears that instead of 1775 they read 1745. And instead of 1843 they read 1813. This also explains the original memorial here. There is no Maria who was born or died in those years who married a Martin Wengert or Wenger. Therefore this had to be Martin Wengert's wife Maria (1775-1843). Her maiden name has been read as both Scherk and Schenk. Scherk seems to be a misreading because it seems to clearly say 'Schen'. Mennonite Vital Records state Schenk as well.

[Biography information provided by F.A.G. contributor kw]