The La Force name derives from a French topographic name. There are several places in France that bear this name and could where the family originate way back when. It is most likely that all of the LaForces and delaforces originated in a village in the Dordogne department in Aquitane in southwestern France, or the LaForce village, current population 210, in the Aude department, Languedoc region in southern France. This village is 70 km from Toulouse. Actually, my hunch is Languedoc! Other sources online say that the Huguenot LA Forces originated in Lille, so who knows at this point.
At any rate, they first appear in the history of Schifferstadt on p.9: ” Interesting perhaps even that in small Schifferstadt Huguenots resident were. 1699 Henry Dewinde Mönchhofsbeständer, his wife is Rachel, born Baillard; 1700 dive the name La Featured (LaVorge) on, a Huguenot family, which at times even lives in the schoolhouse, and later then takes the name Laforce. ” Yes, this is an awkward, google translate account of the original. If you actually speak German, we’d love a better translation 🙂
The LaForce name means one who lives near a fortress.
Our line of La Forces emigrated from Schifferstadt, a city located in the Rhineland Pfalz (or Palatinate) in southwestern Germany’s fabled Black Forest. There are several other lines of La Forces who emigrated to America, however, this is our line! You can read about our 2014 trip to this city of about 20,000 in the Rheinland-Palatinate by clicking on the name.
If you would like to discover the direct line of LaForce ancestors, as far back as we have thus far discovered, please click on LaForce ancestors.
I’ve compiled a list of all of the 4th great grandparents of Mike…these are going up from Gramma Laura Barbara LaForce here
And if you’d like to delve a bit into the life of Laura LAForce Grady, just click on her name!
To learn more about our immigrant forefather, the stone mason of Dansville, Bartholomeus LaForce, please click his name. To learn how Bartholomaeus fits in the line, read the aforementioned Direct Line of LaForce Ancestors post.
If you have LaForces in your family lineage and you would like me to do a look up, I do have the books of Schifferstadt and am happy to help you.