The materials presented in this document were assembled to provide current generations of Dondanville descendants a better appreciation and understanding of their grandparents and great-grandparents and to stimulate their interest in providing further vital statistics and biographical input to the Dondanville family history

The lives of early generations of Dondanvilles and their spouses were deeply entwined in the history of the United States. They were farmers, fishermen, merchants, bankers, educators, doctors and nurses, engineers, and lawyers. They were politicians and public servants, catholic priests, nuns and protestant ministers, and they were soldiers.

They have defended this country in every war since the Civil War.During World War II they marched in the Bataan Death March in the Pacific, they were Prisoners of War in Europe, they died in battle. Dondanvilles panned for gold in Colorado. They built the railroads, homesteaded in Montana, speculated in land in Florida,and ranched in California. They are America.

This compilation includes biographical sketches of Ludwig, the first Dondanville to come to America, his brother Michel Dontenville, and their children.Considerable data has been assembled on other Dondanvilles and their families. The ultimate plan is to prepare a biographical sketch comparable to those presented here for each descendant of those early Dontenvilles who came to America.