GENEAL-FORUM

Hello
My great grandfather was William Otto Mority Mathis born 1857 in Switzerland, I do not know which Canton. He was a Stonemason in London in 1888 according to one of his son’s birth certificate. His wife was Ellen Jane Gough an English woman and they had nine children, one Moritz Otto Mathis was born in 1885 in Paris, France. Can anyone help in tracing his family or know anything about Stonemasons in Switzerland.
Thank you

Unfortunately Mathis (and related spellings) are quite common in Switzerland - see Vorkommen Mathis / Mathiss / Mathys / Matthis / Matthys in der Schweiz. As a consequence your chances are dim to find your ancestor without additional information about his origin.

Hello Charles,

As Wolf already stated, without knowing the origin of Wilhelm Mathis it's practically not possible to continue a reasonable research in Switzerland.

The additional difficulty in your case is that neither the English certificate of birth nor the certificate of marriage contain the origin or even the nationality of the persons or their parents. However, the certificate of death in England should show date and place of birth. Could you already find Wilhelm's death certificate?

Similarly, the acte de naissance in Paris won't reveal origin and nationality since the child born in France automatically received the French nationality.

Peter

Hi Peter

Thanks for your interest, William Mathis died 10th May 1911 in Battersea London, unfortunately early English death certificates do not show date and place of birth.

Do you know if there is a Society or Guild of Stonemasons in Switzerland that has records of apprenticeships or a register for Stonemasons?

Thank you.

Hi Charles,

You can't expect such records at that time, and certainly not at national level!
I suggest you first contact the Swiss Federal Archives in Bern and ask them if they kept the registration records (Immatrikulations-Register) or passport control of the Swiss embassy in London of that time and can find William Mathis:
http://www.bar.admin.ch/org/00453/index.html?lang=en

If not, the next step would be to find out if the French administration in Paris has kept his registration files in the district (arrondissement) he lived when Moritz Mathis was born.

Peter

Charles I believe I am a relative. My Great Granddad was William Mathis born 1881. His father and mother both match the names of yours and dates they both died. I'm really new to tracing my tree and have just started.

Moritz, also known as Morris. I believe Ellen & William had 14 children, but have only found some details on 9 so far, with some great support from members on Genesreunited.

I have Moritz as marrying a Emily and having two daughters. And that both his daughters had a son each that I have come across.

As William Mathis born 1857/8 I have Switzerland, but then I have also seen Germany.

Hope you are a relative, that would be amazing.