About the Mansbach-Levyim Family

Chances are you are reading this because your last name is, or was, MANSBACH, MANCBACH, or MANZBACH. In all likelihood, you have never met anyone with that name other than the people in your immediate family. Perhaps you would like to know more about your ancestry or the derivation of this unusual name. Or possibly some middle school teacher gave you an assignment about your family tree, and you’re here to get your homework underway. You may even have bright red hair!

This website will concentrate on seven interrelated “families” of MANSBACHs, whose common paternal ancestor can be traced to the area of Tarnow circa 1800, in what is now Poland but was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. These “Polish” MANSBACHs have one thing in common other than their common surname and geographical origination. All the MANSBACHs that trace their origin to Poland are Levites, a Jewish priestly class who comprise approximately 4% of Ashkenazi Jews. If your MANSBACH family came from Poland, you will find your ancestors here. But you will also find information on MANSBACHS whose families seem to originate in Sweden, Germany, and other parts of Europe as well.

HINT: If your Ashkenazi Levite Polish MANSBACH family has roots in Ashland, Kentucky, you are from the family of Jacob the Scribe; if your family today has roots in Israel and South America, you're from the Joseph David MANSBACH family. Roots in Mexico? You're in the family of Jacob the Scribe. If your family was originally from NYC, try the Shlomo Peretz family first, and, if the family was based in New Jersey circa 1900, try the Jacob the Scribe family first.