The GAUDEL of MONTIGNY

If you talk to a genealogist about the Gaudels of Montigny, you will be told you are mistaken, as there were never any.

Sorry to disappoint you, dear Gaudel cousins of Montigny, your ancestors name was Claudel.

Claudel is a much more common name than Gaudel, and it is the distortion of this name across centuries and displacements that led to the change into Gaudel.

Let's go back to the beginning with Nicolas CLAUDEL, born around the year 1620, who had at least two sons: Jacques and Etienne. It appears that Nicolas arrived with his family in Montigny around 1684(first birth record), and that he died there in 1706.

His oldest son Jacques Claudel, born in 1658, weds Marie Courtois. They had at least 11 children, and spent their whole life in Montigny, where Jacques died in 1733 at age 69.

Everything is normal till then, and there is a strong presence of these families in Montigny, as one parish register entry out of four mentions one of their members. Most of them can sign their name, the signatures are clear, and there is no distortion of the name.

The descendants of Etienne all keep the name of Claudel, except for one Gerard!

Before we proceed, let's explain the geographical locations involved. Montigny is 9 kilometers North of Baccarat. Moussey is 20 kilometers North of Montigny. Both Montigny and Moussey belong to the Metz diocese at the time.

We find Gérard CLAUDEL living in Moussey in 1737, having just wed Barbe Laurent in 1736. She comes from Hampont, another village about 20 kilometers North West of Moussey. Communications are difficult in those days, these people are from out of town, their names are not familiar to the parish priest, and they most likely speak with a strong accent. And so from then on, written by different priests over the years according to what they hear, the spelling of their name was changed from Claudel to Glaudel, and finally to Gaudel by the priest of Moussey when the couple registers the birth of their children starting in 1737.

One can assume that the priest was influenced by the fact that there had been for 40 years in Moussey the family of François Gaudel, of the Demange Gaudel branch of Orbey .

A new Gaudel branch was therefore born in Moussey, that had originated in Montigny under the name Claudel.

Numerous descendants of this Gerard Gaudel settled in Moussey and the neighboring villages of Maisières les Vic, Azoudange, etc… One of them became a famous movie and television star in America under the name Robert Vaughn.

City of Saint-Claude

Just as the origin of the Surname Gaudel is Gaud, Claudel is a nickname for Claude, a name itself coming from the Latin Claudius, which originally meant lame (claudicate, claudication). There are many more Claudels than Gaudels, especially in the Vosges and Normandy regions.

Saint Claude lived in the seventh century, and gave his name to a city in the Jura region.

Birth certificate dated September 27, 1737 found in Moussey of Charles Gaudel, first child of Gerard Claudel and Barbe Laurent. The godfather is Charles Malet, farmer in Xirxange, and the godmother is Jeanne Gaudel.

The death certificate follows shortly thereafter, as little Charles lived only 12 days.

Death certificate, Montigny, February 2nd, 1742, Anne Bernard, mother of Gerard.

Gerard Gaudel, a resident of Moussey for 6 years is absent.

His brothers Jean , Pierre, and their cousin Nicolas Claudel are present.