Why a Montin site?

There are presently about 1000 Internet sites devoted to genealogical research. This is probably a sign that there is still a strong interest in the search for family roots. Access to new technology opens mor powerful research tools, and facilitates communication with people sharing the same interest, wherever their residence may be.

But this site is not only genealogical. It aims at promoting international friendship contacts, by bringing together people from different countries, but sharing a unique and symbolic resource, their family name (patronym).

Lastly, if the site extends and lasts, it may become also a memory site, where members of our family who have passed on may be remembered. See the "In memoriam" page, which is under construction.

Such is the basis for the projected Montin association. Some of us are connected via Internet, and will be able to contribute on-line. They will have to relay the information to those who do not have acess to the technology.

Operating guidelines

The project is centrered not on a person (a common ancestor) or a group of people, who would be seeking to list their ancestors, but around a name, our own, to find its origin, make out its extension and draw up the map of its present distribution, in France as well as abroad. Accessorily, it purports to promote international exchanges between holders of the patronym, to track down remnants of family traditions which may have survived oblivion.

This project is facilitated by the limited distribution of the name, and hence its originality. If we stick to the Montins of French origin, that is to those whose ancestors were living in Auvergne in the XVIth century (and perhaps before that date), there are perhaps no more than a hundred people. It is therefore a very exclusive club. If we go far enough in the past, we may find a connection with the numerically more important branch, that of the Italian Montins.

Organisation of the Registry

1. A set of general rules.: This is a sort of statute of the registry, which is a federation of national associations. The text is available in French and in English, though, because of the origin of the familly, the French text is more authentic. The Registry is a non-profit organisation, with no officers, no subscription, and it operates virtually, thanks to the Internet. It is a new type of association.

2. The Web site. A Web site has been intalled on the Internet, thanks to the free hosting of a commercial server. It collects all the information available related to common interests of the members of the federation. Information is at present published on the site by Charles Montin.A general table of contents of the site is located on the site's Homepage. On the homepage there is short study of the origin of the name and a summary of its present world distribution, as determined by Halbert's Family Heritage in 1995. It is now up to the members to keep it up-to-date.

3. Association des Montin de France

Alongside the International Registry, there is a French association, hosted on the same site. A list of Montins of France has been established as well as a genealogical "bush", listing, from the tradition centrered around Teyssieu (in the Lot) the presently known family connections. One of the objectives of the association could be the link genealogically all the Montins living in France, at least those who have a common Auvergne origin.

A network of correspondents

Mentioned in the "statute", it is being set up (* indicates confirmation pending):

Correspondents are supposed to establish and update lists of Montins in their area and answer queries from Montins from other countries or areas.