Spelling of the Last Name

The reasons why the spelling of the Montz name changed is not known other than some good explanations that are discussed in  Introduction of the Montz Family.  Landing in New World on page 30 and forward.  After arriving in the area of present day Louisiana, the last name of Montz had a few variations before being established.

Dwayne Montz

In the late 1990s, I received an email from Dwayne Montz who lives in Ohio, I live in Houston, Texas, where he introduced himself as a cousin in the Montz family.  I do not recall how he found me but it was possibly through some Internet Search Engine at that time.  We exchanged information, photos and scans of documents pertaining to the Montz family history, where I thoroughly enjoyed learning a great deal more of the Montz history through Dwayne.

In September of 2001, I sent Dwayne Montz an email asking many questions regarding his knowledge of our family name and if we had a Coat of Arms.  Dwayne sent me back a very nice email with two attached pictures and the following information:

"I have found the surname spelled many ways in the early church and civil records of the German Coast. The earliest church record I have found is the 1774 marriage of Antoine Mans to Siville Bischof.  (Click here for Dwayne's translation.) and that document records the surname as either MONS or MANS.  It is difficult to tell the difference in the handwriting between "o" and "a".  I read it as an "a".  Attached is a scan of the original document and possibly "your" eye can differentiate (my translation also is attached).  No doubt the church marriage records of Antoine's siblings, Joseph and Bridget were among the burned records of the St Charles des Allemands Church lost in a rectory fire in the 1870s and these lost records may have spelled the name other ways.  Note that prior to about 1770 this was the only church on the German Coast as St John the Baptist in Edgard was founded in 1772 and St Peter in Reserve much later in 1864 or 5. The earliest civil records of St John the Baptist Parish, as "read" by Mr. Glenn Conrad for his book on the early parish Original Acts, have the surname as MANNE.  These three documents are dated 1760, 1761 and 1763.  1762 and 1770 documents have the surname as MANCE and a 1771 document has MONCE. Mance or Monce is used in later records with MONCE becoming more common until 1785 where the name is spelled MONTS.  The first use of MONTZ I noticed is in a 1788 document and the name is spelled that way in most if not all later civil records. However, the spelling of the surname in Alsace in the mid 1700s may well have been MANTZ per research by Mr. Albert Robichaux for his upcoming publication on the origins in Europe of the mid-1700 Alsatians who settled the German Coast which included the Montz and Bischof families.  I doubt if there was a Montz coat of arms.  Mr Robichaux has indicated to me that Joseph MANTZ, the father of our Antoine Montz, was a miller by profession which would place him among the ordinary working class of the time, I believe."

Coat of Arms Update

On September 8, 2019 while continuing to work through documents and photos, I came across a 1972 document of the Montz Coat Of Arms estimation.  See these two pages: Montz Coat of Arms Page 1 and Page 2.   I have emailed Dwayne Montz to let him know about the discovery.  I wish Monty Michael Montz was still alive so that I could share it with him also. 

Last Name solidified

From other emails, conversations with many Montzes, documents and publications, regarding the landing by Joseph and the first generation of Montzes, there are different hand written, church and legal documents with last name as Manz, Mantz, Monts, Monce, etc before eventually being solidified as Montz.  When looking at the documents:

• The exact same first name with last name spelt differentially when referring to someone owning a piece of property, attending a church, getting married, recording a birth will establish they are the same person.
• When looking at the different spellings on a document, they all are pronounced similarly as "Montz" which is explainable with many people coming from European countries with their native language of English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish to account for the spelling interpretation based on pronouncing of the last name.   In other words, if Joseph Montz was asked for his name to record a land deed, then the person would have spelt it upon interpretation of what was heard.
• We do not have any documentation on the literacy of the Montz ancestors to possibly infer that someone would recognize spelling differences or mistakes in a handwritten note or document.  In practically, it was possibly more important for the people in the 1700s to have a document proving or stating something where spelling problems were not necessarily a major consideration or easily recognized.

Jewish Ancestry?

In my parents travels to Germany, Switzerland and Austria along with knowledge from their parents, they know the name Manz in German is pronounced "Montz" or "Muntz".  Both my Dad, Mom and Aunt Mary Lee Francis have met Manz(es) in Europe.  Mary Lee has also told me about the Hotel Manz she visited in Austria.  Another interesting point on her vacation, was she discovered that one of the Manz she met was Jewish.  Here in Houston, one of the team doctors for the Houston Rocket's Basketball team, in the year 2000, is named James Muntz.  I have chosen him as my doctor in my medical plan, (in 2000) and I have got a chance to talk to him, which was quite fun when I scheduled my appointment under my name, James Montz (even though I go by my middle name of Keith.)   After we spoke for a few minutes, I discovered he is Jewish, but he was not sure of his family's origins.  

In 2008, I did some research into the origins of Montz that suggest a high probability that the Montz history at some point was Jewish before coming to America.  I did not keep screen captures of the websites and I have unfortunately lost the original documentation.  Note that many historical books have stated many Jewish people in the Middle Ages of Europe (500s through 1500s), were given a choice to convert to Christianity, leave the country or they were killed.  This is not meant as offensive, bring up a discussion of anti-Semitism, but it was just how Jewish people were treated in many of the countries in Europe at the time of  discovery of the new world. 

As an example, see information on Spain history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Spain.  An excerpt "This period ended definitively with the anti-Jewish riots of 1391 and the Alhambra Decree of 1492, as a result of which the majority of Jews in Spain (around 300,000) converted to Catholicism and those who continued to practice Judaism (between 40,000 and 80,000) were forced into exile, although many thousands returned in the years following the expulsion."

When I was taking the notes on the research sites, mentioned above, a few web sites pointed to the Montz name's early origins of "Manz" and "Mans" as coming of the tribe of Gad or Manasseh.  When viewing this from a Christian standpoint, there are some beneficial blessing, which might apply to the Montz descendant's life.

• Regarding Gad, there are two scriptures that have prophetic information that the tribe and people will be attacked, but then Gad would turn on them in return, where Gad will prevail righteously.  The Tribe of Gad will also have have good fortune.

  Genesis 49:19	19 Gad will be attacked by raiders, but he will attack their heels.
  Deuteronomy 33:20-21	20 Of Gad he said, "Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad; He lies down as a lion, And tears the arm, also the crown of the head. 21 "Then he provided the first part for himself, For there the ruler's portion was reserved; And he came with the leaders of the people; He executed the justice of the LORD, And His ordinances with Israel."

• Regarding Manasseh the tribal name means "Making to forget".  The tribe was renowned for its valor.  Judges 6:15-16; Judges 11:1 (Jephthah is from tribe of Manasseh and is mentioned in Hall of Faith in the New Testament).