Abraham married Susanna Donat, daughter of Jacob Donat, an immigrant who had previously settled in Albany Township [this may not be true--Donat references suggest that Jacob never moved--since Abraham and Susanna were both born in Northampton (now Lehigh) County, they probably met there and moved to Albany Township after their marriage].

Abraham met a tragic end--he was murdered by Jacob Hawkenstein in late summer 1826 [sic]. Because of the drought in northern Berks County on the southern side of the Blue Mountains, Abraham took his grain to a mill on the northern side. On his way home on the road from Jacksonville to Tamaqua, he had to pass an old hostelry on the slope of a hill in West Penn Township, abandoned 50 years. There had been many stories of robbery and even murder of peddlers and cattle dealers near its crumbling walls and trash-filled well. When passing, Abraham was invited in and saw a band of ruffians playing cards and drinking. One of them, Hawkenstein, who had told others that he would kill someone before the day was over, began quarreling with Abraham, who told him that it would be to his benefit to keep his peace. When Abraham was loosening the reins of his horses to depart, he was fatally stabbed with a knife by Hawkenstein who had hidden himself behind the fence. Thereafter Hawkenstein had a miserable existence alone among the rocks, dens and hollow trees of the Blue Mountains, where he died despised of all men. His skeleton was found more than a year after his death by a band of hunters. Abraham Merkel is buried on the New Bethel (Corner) Church Cemetery in Albany Township, in an unmarked grave.