This name comes from the function of Abbot, or Father. By extension, this name was given to countryfolk living by an Abbey, hence its frequency. One old line lived in Rouffach and in Colmar, from where a branch emigrated to Délémont right at the beginning of the 18th century. (Refer to the Record Book of the Families in the Jura)

In Soultz the Apt name is known since 1569 (Record Book of Soultz township). In the upper Masevaux Valley, and more precisely at Oberbruck and Dolleren, several ABT families were already present in 1515 (Bergha reference).

The house built in 1784 at Ballersdorf by Joseph Abt & Françoise Eberlin

The large ABT family presently living in Mulhouse and district is a very old Mulhouse family, known through the work carried out by Ernest MEININGER.

Ernest Meininger published a fine family tree in the Journal of the Mulhouse History museum in 1895, as an Appendix to his paper on the murder of Barthélemy ABT in 1562.

This tree begins with Guntz Abt, a farmer at Mulhouse before 1442. A great-great grandson of Cuntz Mathias ABT lived in Riedisheim and his son will be part of that branch of the ABTs we speak about later. From this Mulhouse branch, Jean ULRICH who was born in 1661 left to live in Basel.

In 1746, Jean Jacques ABT, a clockmaker living in Albany "50 leagues from New York" wrote to Mulhouse to find out if his mother was still alive.

He was the son of Elias ABT, a butcher who died in Mulhouse in 1740 and of his second wife Marguerite SISSON (Mulhouse City Archives). Elias (perhaps the brother of Jean Jacques who lived in Albany) and Médard (probably his son) joined the Swiss Regiment of Waldner in 1767 and 1777 respectively.

The fact that the Republic of Mulhouse was then allied to the Swiss Cantons allowed this to happen. Signing up for the Army often took place in the local Inn and was organised by recruiting agents, who made sure any objections were overcome with liberal jugs of local wine! The contract signed was valid for a duration of 3 to 5 years and the sum paid to recruits depended on their size.

Mathias ABT born in 1612, a baker by trade, first married Catharina HOFMANN and secondly Anna SUTTER of Heimsbrunn. He had several children, one of which, Leonard, who started the Riedisheim branch, had a daughter called Maria, who was confirmed in 1695 at Landser with the children from Brunstatt (ref. BERGHA)

Certain meadows (Schlossmatten, Hirtzbachmatten, etc.) situated near the river Doller outside Pfastatt,were irrigated by this river. A toll for "pouring expenditure" was levied on the owners of the fields. Amongst these, in the list of dues for the year 1732, we find Joseph and Johannes ABT, both from Riedisheim.

The record of marriages under the pre-revolutionary regime at Riedisheim, carried out by André KIENER, contains numerous genealogical mentions on this family. The work done recently by the same author, using the registers from Rixheim, shows the movement of a branch of the ABT family from Riedisheim to Rixheim in 1736. Also, in Brunstatt, a Joseph ABT originally from Riedisheim married in 1759 a Schulz family lady (work by Michel SCHMITT).

At Luemschwiiler, from 1504, we find Heinrich APPT (research by the Mulhouse Terriers). In Pfastatt Jean ABT's (son of Leonard) family is in the Census of about 1827, living at hous number 94.

From Lutterbach came Appolinaire ABT who, in 1601, was part of the Lure Garrison. His monthly pay was 5 florins. At Illfurth, Bernhardt ABT was fined two pounds and ten pence in a legal dispute with the Church Manufacturing Council.

At Habsheim in 1650 lived Claus ABT, a butcher by trade. In 1685, at the marriage of his daughter Anne-Marie to Jean-Jacques NANSE (research by Patrick MADENANPACHER, he was the farmer in charge of lands belonging to St. Ursane's Abbey in the village of Habsheim. In 1689, Georg Friedrich ABT from Habsheim married at Blodelsheim the daughter of the Provost WEGBECHER (research by Emile DECKER).

Christina ABT from Bartenheim was miraculously cured of hydropisia while pregnant and in danger of losing her life (ref. Miracles of Mariastein 1687). In Hochstatt, Michel ABT possessed a horse in 1698, while at the same time Thiebaud ABT of the same locality only possessed an ox.

The ABT family is recorded at Ballersdorf in 1609, when we know of Anthoni and Conrad ABBT. Already in 1577 the ABTs wre present at Willer where they possessed the half of a pond. In 1657, two of the three sisters Jacobée, Elisabeth and Anna APT, daughters of Polleron APT of Ballersdorf, were shown in a certificate of succession to belong to Lutterbach.

The 1698 Census shows Leonard ABT from Ballersdorf, Ulrich ABT from Dannemarie and Christophe ABT from Gommersdorf. Finally, Hans ABT, whose father had the same given name and who lived in Ballersdorf, married by contract on February 2 1705 the widow Magdien DIETRICH of the same locality.