In 1981, the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society responded to a request by Bob Mottice for information on early Mottices in Pennsylvania. Subsequent research by him and others has failed to convincingly associate any of these names with Mottice ancestors. The LMHS researcher was looking for Peter, but we subsequently know that Peter went from Morris County, NJ to the area around Washington, PA as a member of the militia during the Whiskey Rebellion. So it is unlikely that any of the Peters she found were our Peter Mottice.
Nevertheless, if Peter had brothers it would not be surprising if they moved west from NJ into PA. The only hint of the existence of a brother to Peter comes from Lynn Mottice's letter where he describes Jean-Marie Motice as a brother who changed his name to John Motice after the Revolution.
In responding to Bob Mottice, the LMHS researcher enclosed a copy of a page of the 1790 PA census for Northumberland County that showed a "John Motes". The name "Motes" could be a derivative of "Motice" if the census taker were spelling phonetically. Northumberland County is about 40-50 miles north of Harrisburg and west of Morris County, NJ, so if we hypothesize the John Motes and Jean-Marie/John Motice are the same person, at least the geography is consistent. This will take a lot more research, however.
The following is a transcript of the letter sent to Bob Mottice:
"Dear Mr. Mottice:
Thank you for your letter on the Mottice family. Mrs. Mast referred your letter to me because she is on vacation and because for the past several months we have been unexpectedly flooded with requests as more researchers are finding out about our facilities and services. We are attempting to revamp staff workloads and to develop a more efficient system to handle this backlog and to keep on top of it in the future. Thus I sincerely and regretfully apologize to you for this long delay in answering your letter, for this has not been typical of our service in the past. You have been most patient. Consequently, I have spent about twice as much time on your letter as we ordinarily would.
"You did not give an approximate time period for your Peter. I find one spelled Mots in the 1800 census in Northumberland County if that is the same name and a Peter Motz in District Township, Berks County, in 1810. In 1850 a Joseph Mottis is listed for Frederick Township in Montgomery County, and a John Mottes in Lausanne Township in Carbon County. (These did not photocopy well because of being too close to the spine.) You can see that there are various spellings that could be the same name such as Motts, Motz, and Motes.
Under Mattis/Mattes there was a Peter in Bucks County in 1790; one in Montgomery County in 1800; two in Montgomery County (one in Worcester Township and one in Plymouth Township) in 1810; one in Worcester Township of Montgomery County in 1820; two Peters in Plymouth Township of Montgomery County in 1830; and one in Buckingham Township of Bucks County in 1850.
There seems to be no trace of this name in our Lancaster County records such as our card file, books, archives, and will and deed abstracts. Strassburger's Pennsylvania German Pioneers lists Mattes as a variation of Matthaus but gives no Mottis/Mottice immigrant.
You may wish to write to the following sources for more detailed research:
Historical Society of Montgomery County 1654 DeKalb Street
Norristown, PA 19401
Northumberland County Historical Society 1019 Susquehanna Avenue
Sunbury, PA 17801
Historical Society of Berks County 940 Centre Avenue
Reading, PA 19601
Bucks County Historical Society Mercer Museum and Fonthill Museum Pine Street
Doylestown, PA 18981
If we can be of further service to you in the future, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Carolyn C. Wenger, Director
Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society"