Were John Henry Lamotte & Lafayette Related? You Decide.
The definition of lore is: [n] knowledge gained through tradition or anecdote.
The following is text I received in an email from Dr. Chas. Mawhinney on Nov. 5, 2000. I'm sorry to say that Dr. Mawhinney joined his ancestors in Glory on May 27, 2001. You can view his obituary on the Lamotte Obits page.
He stated, "The story seems to be: Johannes Heinrich LaMotte was born in France in 1705 and came to America in 1741 at the age of 36 years leaving France because of religious persecution. He arrived in Phila., Pa. on the ship Phoenix (documented).
"He embraced the Menonite faith after arriving in Pa. He was a man of peace. (This supports the Menonite faith). He registered his oath of Allegiance in Maryland as a non-combatant (documented) which means he would not fight for the colonies but gave his allegiance to the colonies and not the crown of England.
"He apparently traveled after arriving in the country and went to Charleston, S.C. where he joined a Hugenot colony. He returned to Maryland/Pa. area where he met and married widow Bollinger who had three sons.
"We think he married in 1750 as his first child, Henry was born in 1751 in York Co., Pa. The Marquis de LaFayette was a first cousin of Johannes Heinrich LaMotte and when he came to America to fight for the colonies, one of his staff officers was Nicolas de LaMotte.
"Nicholas was an uncle of Johannes Heinrich and he called upon him with other officers. On this visit they, Nicolas and Johanne Heinrich spoke in fluent French and the family was stunned.
"They did not know their father could speak French and were also stunned at the high respect he was shown by the other French officers accompanying Nicolas. Apparently Johannes H. did not talk about his family with his children.
"J.H. was a Hugenot protestant when he came to this country and then embraced the Menonite religion ... later he returned to the German Lutheran religion and his family seemed to all resume their religious faith with the German Lutherans as the records show many baptisms in the Lutheran churches. ...
"Also found a publication in Phila., Pa. on the Hugenots immigration to Pa. and it reported J.H. was born in Provence, France; could speak German and French fluently, immigrated to Pa. with the Palatines and Swiss. He settled down in Hanover, Pa. in 1754. He was visited by a relative, Captain Nickolas de La Motte in 1785, of the French Army who came to America with Rochambeau to fight in the Amer. Revolution with Marquis de LaFayette.
(Chas' Note:"More and more information seems to support the family story of LaFayette)
"A Mrs. Knapp who lived in York, Pa. in 1825 is the one who passed the LaFayette story down in the Lamott family. So far my research seems to indicate Mrs. Knapp was the granddaughter of Johannes Henry Lamott and the daughter of Henry Lamott (1751-1798) who lived and died in Hardford Co., Md. on the family genealogy.
"This Henry Lamott is the father of Jacob Lamott(Charles' line) and Mrs. Knapp should be Mary Lamott, the only daughter in this family and a sister of Jacob Lammott (1774-1845)
"Who'd a thunk that the LaFayette family rumor would be true?" [End of Charles' Email]
BJ Peters' Assorted Scraps of Info. Re: Lafayette
It's rather difficult to stay focused, and not be tempted to go down this rabbit trail or that. These are the bits that perhaps someone else can expound upon, or research further. In Memoirs of General Lafayette: With an Account of His Visit to America, and of his reception by the people of the United States; from His arrival, August 15 to the celebration at Yorktown, October 19, 1824", by Samuel Lorenzo Knapp, pub. 1824, it states on page 14, "It must be acknowledged, however, that there was a peculiar disinterestedness in the services and sacrifices of the Marquis La Fayette in defence of American Independence. It was from a noble and enthusiastic love of liberty, that he was induced to cherish and advocate our case. It was for strangers and in a foreign land, that he went forth to defend the rights of man, assailed by the hand of artitrary power. He was not a desperate adventurer, without fortune, or friends, or honors. He was surrounded with all these in his own country. He belonged to a very antient and noble family, and inherited a large estate. The original family name was Motier; but for several generations back had assumed the addition of La Fayette."
The surname of LA MOTTE was a locational name 'the dweller at the moat' from residence nearby. The name is also spelled MOTTE, MOTHE, DELAMOTTE, MOTTIER and MOTE. Local names usually denoted where a man held his land, and indicated where he actually lived. Early records of the name mention Motte (without surname) County Buckinghamshire, 1273. Elena Mott of Yorkshire, was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. John Pain and Mary Mott were married at St. George's, Hanover Square, London in the year 1786. In many parts of central and western Europe, hereditary surnames began to become fixed at around the 12th century, and have developed and changed slowly over the years. As society became more complex, and such matters as the management of tenure, and in particular the collection of taxes were delegated to special functionaries, it became imperative to distinguish a more complex system of nomenclature to differentiate one individual from another. ... Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) was of this family, the French aristocrat who played a leading part in both the French and the American Revolutions, came of a family who had owned the estate of Layfayette in the Auvergne since the 13th century. My source for the info. directly above is one of the many family crest websites in which I usually don't put too much faith, but because of the mention of Motier, I decided to do a search and found what you see below from the Library of Congress.
Biographical Notes on Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette. He was born at Château de Chavaniac, Auvergne, France on 6 Sep 1757. He moved to Paris, France in 1768. He attended the Collège du Plessis, Paris, France from 1768 to 1772. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the Royal Guard in 1771, and moved to Versailles, France in 1773. In 1774 he married Marie Adrienne Françoise de Noailles, who died in 1807. In 1776 he volunteered to serve in the American army in the War for American Independence. He arrived in Charleston, S.C. in 1777, and went to Philadelphia, Pa., the seat of the Continental Congress. He was appointed to the rank of Major Gen'l. in the Continental Army. Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Reel number, Marquis de Lafayette Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Source: Library of Congress' Page Re: Marquis de Lafayette Papers
