Name ‘Mantooth’ – Thomas Monteith
The story goes that a son of old Henry Monteith, father of James of Anderston had sons who went to America. It would appear that one of them married a Cherokee Indian causing his brothers to disown him.
The name ‘Mantooth’ is derived from the Scottish name Monteith. Thomas Monteith was born in Scotland about 1694 and was in Virginia by 1714. Thomas was a large landholder in Virginia and was known as Gentleman Thomas the Merchant.
The Monteith / Mantooth Family
The story goes that a son of old Henry Monteith, father of James of Anderston had sons who went to America. It would appear that one of them married a Cherokee Indian causing his brothers to disown him. This then prompted a name change from Monteith to Mantooth. The other brothers returned to Scotland, never to speak of it again.
The name ‘Mantooth’ is therefore derived from the Scottish name Monteith. Thomas Monteith was born in Scotland about 1694 and records show that he was in Virginia by 1714, in those early, pioneering years and still 80 years before other family members would form the Blantyre Mills.
Thomas was a large landholder in Virginia and was known as Gentleman Thomas the Merchant. Thomas had four children. Magdaline, Elizabeth, James and John.
This was a notable family. Magdaline married Anderson Doniphan and is the Great, great Grandmother of Harry Shipp Truman. John married a Cherokee Indian and at this time the two brothers disowned each other. Marrying a cherokee Indian was clearly frowned upon by the rest of the family. In Thomas Monteith’s Last Will and Testament, John was not mentioned as the other three children were.
It was at this time that the name changed. The Monteiths stayed in Virginia until later years and descendants of Thomas (Cherokee Tom) Mantooth migrated south into North Carolina. In the late 1700’s and early 1800’s the Mantooths came across the mountain from an area west of Asheville, North Carolina known as Sandy Mush to East Tennessee. Cocke County has had a population of Mantooths for many years with some Mantooths migrating west over a period of time.
Conducting good business was clearly in the Monteith genes. Thomas Mantooth with his family, his oldest daughter being married to Austin Vinson, settled in Lufkin Texas in 1857. Thomas was a probate judge in Lufkin for some time. Thomas’ son Edwin J. Mantooth attended Cumberland University, Lebanon Tennessee and studied law, graduating with the class of 1879 before returning to Texas to set up office.
Edwin J. Mantooth was one of two people that founded the Lufkin Telephone Company that is the 16th largest in the United States. The Mantooth and Vinson names are well established in East Texas.
– James Mantooth, Cocke County.
