The Old Mentz Heritage Center Family Project has been created by merging previously existing projects from the Montezuma Historical Society and Lock 52 Historical Society who merged in 2024. Because these projects were created on different platforms, merging them sometimes created duplicates, conflicting information and incomplete sources. With over 25k individuals involved, it was impossible to review each person, so errors will exist and facts may not be validated. This should only be used as a tool to guide future research. However, an attempt was made to attach at least one source to each fact as they were reviewed. Often this may be someone else's family tree research or Find a Grave, but these sources may contain clues to finding additional information.
Prior to 1859. the towns of Montezuma and Mentz were combined as Mentz. The focus of this project is to identify each person who was living in Mentz in the 1855 census, in either ED1 (Port Byron and Centerport) or ED3 (Montezuma). ED2 was Throop, so excluded from this project. Families have been connected and traced to homes prior to and after leaving Mentz.
Knowing the evolution of the counties and towns in New York State is important in identifying vital record event locations for the people found in the 1855 census. At various times both the Towns of Montezuma and Mentz were part of the larger Town of Brutus. Cayuga County was part of Onondaga County, and prior to that, part of Montgomery County. Someone who was over 50 years old in 1855 and gave a place of birth as Montgomery County, may have actually been born in Port Byron. Using the Timelines included here can help clarify when the townships existed , and the interactive map (first item under the map button at the top of this page) can dispay the county names and county borders for every year by clicking on the year or county name, after scrolling down the page..
As time goes by, many links cited as sources in this project, may become obsolete. Most "dead" links can be accessed by going to Way Back Machine Archive Website and entering the entire web address and searching. It will reveal a page with many dates to be viewed. Choose the most recent date and the page should open.
Our goal is to provide a historical look at the residents of our community through the years, There will never be a charge for accessing our database, but as we are a small organization, wth limited resources, if you find it helpful and would like to make a financial donation, it is always appreciated.. You may become a member of OMHC, or just make a contribution by using the following link, printing the form and returning it by mail. Old Mentz Heritage Center