Three Donche families from the Haute Savoy
In the course of my investigation I have gathered information of three Donche families. All three of these families descend from the Haute Savoy, as far as traceable in archives. In those archives no connection between these families can be found, but recently executed DNA-research has shown, that they positively must have had one common ancestor. Since the earliest records go back till about 1560 that common ancestor must have lived before 1560.

I have made descendants reports of those three branches wherein all descendants of the earliest known ancestor are given, both in the male and in the female line. To protect privacy no information is given of individuals that are still alive, they are indicated as N.N. By clicking the name of the branch-ancestor the report is shown.

The three branch-ancestors are:

• Pierre Donchoz dit Reybaz, born about 1560. This branch originates from Viuz en Sallaz and the 'Danz' family, that was brought to Cologne by Joseph Donche in 1763 springs from this branch. In Cologne the name was germanized, first to Dantz, later it turned into Danz. From this branch many descendants live in Germany and the Netherlands, in France this line has almost run out, at least in the male line.
• Estienne Donche Reybaz, born in 1595. This branch originates from St. André de Boëge, where descendants still can be found nowadays, mainly in the hamlet named 'Chez les Reybaz'. Elsewhere in France descendants appear as well.
• Joseph Donche dit Baron, born in 1695. This branch originates from St. Jean de Tholome, about three miles south of Viuz en Sallaz. Here again is a hamlet, of which the name 'Chez Baron' recalls those earliest times and where still today the building enterprise 'Donche SARL ís located. Descendants live both in and outside St. Jean de Tholome.

I shall be glad to receive new input, corrections and comments to these reports.

Gouda, The Netherlands, April 2011
Peter Danz