(Deutsch folgt weiter unten)My name is Karen Sischo Fleischmann. I am doing my husband's family history research. His great-grandfather is Casper Marti, son of Mattheus and Katharina Marti who emigrated to the United States from Switzerland. They are from Engi, Glarus, Switzerland.
My question is are there any relatives of this family still in Switzerland? I would love to get in touch with them. [...]
Karen,
Marti have indeed been citizens of Engi since before 1800. You'll find some information on the family on http://kunden.eye.ch/swissgen/kantGL/pdf/glbamart.pdf and http://kunden.eye.ch/swissgen/kantGL/pdf/glhemart.pdf. Furthermore, Marti of Engi have been researched by Billeter.
Unfortunately it is much more difficult to find information on people living today, as compared to information on people living hundreds of years ago
. Whilst the Civil Registry Office will have the data you are looking for, the Civil Registry Ordinance prevents them from giving it to anyone but direct descendants - and your husband is not a descendant of, let's say, his uncle. What to do next?1. Give us some dates: when was Casper Marti born, and when did he emigrate? Only with this type of detailed information on this forum there is a chance at all that a Marti of Engi, visiting this forum, will pick your enquiry up and respond.
2. Contact the Civil Registry Office responsible for Engi, the one in Glarus and enquire whether they can identify your husband's great-grandfather in their register (give them all the info you have to make live easier for them!) - and, if yes, if they would be willing to forward a letter to descendants still living in Switzerland.
3. Whilst not all Martis living in Engi will be citizens of Engi (as Marti is a fairly common name), some Martis living in Engi might actually be citizens there - your potential relatives. The telephone directory lists 65 Marti (incl. women with a different name after getting married) in Engi: write a letter (preferably get someone to translate it into German) to some of them and ask whether they are interested in genealogy - or know someone who is.
Karen Fleischmann aus den USA erforscht die Familie ihres Ehemannes. Sein Urgrossvater war Casper Marti von Engi, Sohn von Mattheus und seiner Ehefrau Katharina. Lebensdaten wird sie hoffentlich noch nachliefern - ich habe oben danach gefragt.Insbesondere wäre sie an Kontakten zu heute noch in der Schweiz lebenden Verwandten interessiert. Da solche Informationen von den Zivilstandsämtern nicht zu bekommen sind, wäre es wichtig, dass Marti von Engi, die das Forum lesen, oder Leser, die Marti von Engi kennen, hier helfen, einen Kontakt herzustellen.