The Fortineux family lived in the Palatinate in the 17th century and descendants include persons living in North America today with the surnames Fortney, Fortna, Furtney, and Fordney. The earliest known ancestor was Jonas Fortineux of Otterberg and his wife, Sara Menton. It seems reasonable that the family was Huguenot based on their attendance in the French Reformed Church in Otterberg. "Huguenot" was the name given in France to French Protestants (Reformists) from about 1550 to 1700. By the time the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685, Jonas Fortineux had lived in the Palatinate for at least 11 years. The Palatinate became a major battlesite for the War of the League of Augsburg (1688-1697) which left the Palatinate in a state of physical destruction and in religious upheaval due to the Catholic influence imposed by the invading French army.
With the development of the colonies in America, the Fortineux family followed the migration of some 100,000 Palatines who left Germany between 1730 and 1755 for the German colony of Pennsylvania. One of the first Palatines to make the voyage was Jean Henry Fortineux who arrived in Philadelphia on August 29, 1730 on the Thistle of Glasgow. The remainder of the family arrived in Philadelphia on the Samuel on August 30, 1737; the Loyal Judith on September 3, 1739; the Snow Thane of Fife on November 7, 1741; and the Loyal Judith again on September 3, 1742.
Soon after arriving in America, the family split between the Frederick Co., MD and Lancaster Co., PA areas. Most of the Frederick Co., MD family migrated to the Preston Co., WV area. Another branch of the family moved to NJ. The early geographical split appears to have isolated each state's families from each other. Indeed, there is no evidence indicating that cousins in each state ever saw each other after arriving in America. As a result, the Americanized version of the name took on many forms in each state and the common heritage of the family was lost until the early 1980's during the research for the 1989 book, "The Fortineux - Fortinet Family (Fortney, Fortna, Fordney, Furtney) in America" which was written by the Fortney - Fortna Genealogy Family, Inc. ("FFGF").
If you want to see detailed information about the first four generations of the Fortineux family, click here . This is a small sampling of the material in the Fortineux book.
FFGF is not-for-profit organization dedicated to researching and disseminating information on the history of the Fortineux family. Additional information on the FFGF, Inc. organization can be obtained by sending an email to: FFGF-President@Fortney.email
This web site was originally designed by David R. Goff, Director.