There are names that cause me stress in my tree. Most of these names are the boring ones. I have Jones, Smith, AND Brown. It’s the trifecta of bland.
There is, however, one name that causes me the most stress. You’d think that the fact that it is a strange and unique name that it would be SO easy to work with. You’d be wrong. The name is….
Motzenbacher or…
Motsenbocker or Mottsenbacher or Matzenbocker, or Matsenbacher
Honestly, I could go on. I have found like 10 different spellings for this one name and they’re ALL used for the same family.
My M_______er family comes from Pennsylvania, the Scranton area. If anyone has any information on these folks, please let me know. They’re killing me. Slowly.
My great grandmother was Cora Motzenbacher who married Lewis Smith. Her father was Sylvester Motzenbacher (who I have decent info from in his later life). He was married to a Catherine Griffith, who was a Welsh immigrant. I believe that HIS father was a Charles Motzenbacher, also married to a Catherine. But this is where I get hazy.
Oh, German immigrants….how you plague me.
This made me laugh b/c my sister-in-law just went from Smith to the dreaded Cokain. Poor girl!!
I really hope you’re still active and this reply will reach you…
I have been researching the name Cunningham for years, but kept hitting a brick wall. In the past few years another researcher discovered our Cunningham ancestor living in Scranton under the name George Matzenbacher/Motsenbacher. His mother was Catherine Gearhart Cunningham Matzenbacher. Her first husband was George Cunningham, second was Charles Matzenbacher. Catherine was from Hunterdon County, NJ. I have no idea how she ended up in Scranton. I’m in contact with two other researchers who may be able to give you better info.