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Schlatter Family Registers
From Switzerland

In the course of researching my Schlatter family history, I discovered that Switzerland maintains "Familienschien" -- family registers.  The register lists families by names of spouses and their children.  The registers include dates of birth, date of confirmation, date of marriage, and date of death.

On 18 March 2010 I wrote to the Staatsarchiv Des Kanton Zurich – State Archives for Zurich Kanton – asking if they could provide me with information about the family of my grandfather Adolph Schlatter and his father Josef Schlatter.  I received a reply on 12 April 2010.  Their reply consisted of: 

• A letter from an individual at the archives.
• Two pages copied from microfilm:
  • Family register of Josef Schlatter, father of Adolph.
  • Family register of Josef Schlatter, grandfather of Adolph.

 I did the best I could to translate the letter and the family registers.  The family registers are old handwritten documents, written in somewhat flowery script.  While the copies are good quality, I cannot read most of the handwriting.

 Below are scanned copies of the two family registers along with charts that I developed to translate what I could read and translate. 

Note that many of the birthdates have two dates.  For example, Josef Schlatter’s birthdate is listed as 20.25.Dec.1830.  I don’t know what this means but I suspect it means he was born on 20 Dec 1830 and the birth was entered in the family register (or at the church) on 25 Dec 1830, or, he was christened on the second date.  Most other birthdates are listed in the same format; there is no regularity in the spacing of the days – that is, Josef is listed as 20.25.Dec 1830 – five days – while Reinhold is listed as 13.27.Sep 1866 – fourteen days.

Note that several of these folks have a date of confirmation entered, all in April.  I guess confirmations must have taken place around Easter.  Note, too, that they were in their late teens when confirmed; most appear to be 17 or 18.

Here are photos of the two family registers.

Josef Schlatter and Ana Früh, my great-grandparents; parents of my grandfather, Adolf (Adolph) Schlatter

From Adolph’s father’s family register I discovered: 

• Josef, Adolph’s father, was born 20/25 Dec 1830; died 24 March 1904; married Anna Früh of Ganterschwil, Saint Gallen Kanton, on 1 Sep 1862.
  • Adolf's father's parents are Josef Schlatter and Regula Bauer.  Their hometowns are listed on the register but I cannot read them.
  •  Adolf's mother's parents are Jos. Früh and Juliana Wigat
• Josef and Anna had five children:
  • The three sons that we know about – Adolph, Reinhold, and Alfred.
  • Two sons who died as children:
    • Johann Alfred, born 13 Jan/4 Feb 1869; died 13 Jan 1870 (one year old)
    • (Illegible name); born 5 June 1876; died 8 June 1876 (three days old)
• Adolph’s marriage to Luise Kleiner from the town of Egliswil is recorded as having occurred in “1906 Amerika.”

Josef Schlatter and Regula Bauer; Jos?? Früh and Juliana Wigat; my great-great-grandparents 

The parents of my grandfather Adolph Schlatter are Josef Schlatter and Ana Früh -- my great-grandparents.  Their parents are my great-great-grandparents:  Josef Schlatter's parents are Josef Schlatter and Regula Bauer; Ana Früh 's parents are Jos?? Früh and Juliana Wigat. 

As for Adolph’s grandparents, Josef Schlatter and Regula Bauer, you can read the data on the chart below the photo.  They had ten children; note that children number 5, 6, 7, and 10 died young – one at five years old, the others at a few weeks or months of age. 

There is an intriguing entry on this registry.  Note child #9, Anna Magdalena, born 15 July/7 August 1842, married 1 August 1876, apparently to “Joh. Rudolf.”  Down the page is a notation that reads “Anna Magdalena (and a lot of illegible stuff then the name) Joh. Rudolf” and an entry next to the name Joh. Rudolf in the “Born” column 19 May 1876. 

Now, if Anna Magdalena married Joh. Rudolf on 1 August 1876, what is the second entry?  Did she and Joh. Rudolf have a child born on 19 May 1876, several months before their marriage?  Or, were they married in a civil ceremony in May and a church ceremony in August, or vice-versa?

Two more generations:  Great-Great- and Great-Great-Great-Grandparents

Josef Schlatter and Regula Bauer -- are my grandfather's grandparents, my great-great-grandparents.  This family register lists them and their parents, thereby adding another generation, my great-great-great-grandparents.

•  Josef Schlatter is my great-great-grandfather.  His parents, Jakob Schlatter and (illegible), are my great-great-great-grandparents.

• Regula Bauer is my great-great-grandmother.  Her parents, Jakob Bauer and Anna Buflam, are my great-great-great-grandparents.