Matt Parish, Glarus, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Matt Parish, Glarus, Switzerland, ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, parish census, civil census, family history, area history, and military records.



Geography
Matt is located on the right bank of the Sernf river. Its elevation is 831 m (2,726 ft). Matt is on the road between Schwanden and Elm. The village of Elm is to the south (upstream) and Engi to the north (downstream). The hamlet of Weissenberge is found on the eastern slopes above Matt.

Matt has an area of 41.3 km² (15.9 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 32.4% - forested
 * 39.6% - agricultural purposes
 * 0.8% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 27.2% - non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains)

History
The first mention of Matt was in 1273 using the name of Mattun. Matt became part of the Glarus Süd municipality on 1 January 2011. Other localities merged include:
 * Betschwanden
 * Braunwald
 * Elm
 * Engi
 * Haslen (GL)
 * Linthal
 * Luchsingen
 * Mitlödi
 * Rüti (GL)
 * Schwanden (GL)
 * Schwändi
 * Sool

The population history of Matt is: 1777 - 257 male citizens 1850 - 659 inhabitants 1900 - 690 inhabitants 1950 - 622 inhabitants 2000 - 381 inhabitants 2010 - 361 inhabitants

The Swiss Northeastern Railway line from Weesen to Linthal opened in 1879 but Matt remained unserved because it is in the side valley of the Sernf river. Eventually, Matt and other communities in the valley of the Sernf river were connected to Schwanden with the Sernftal tramway between 1905 and 1969.

In 1261, a chapel was built with permission of the Säckingen Abbey and then raised to a parish church in 1273. Today, it is known as the Reformation Church for Matt and Engi villages. In 1528, iconoclasm broke out.

Church Records
Baptism, marriage, and burial records for the parish of Matt began in 1595. Information from the church records was extracted by Johann Jakob Kubly-Müller and organized into families. The Glarus Family Tree has made much of this data available online.

Original church records for Canton Glarus are only accessible at the Glarus State Archives.

Civil Registration
Civil registration began in 1849. Matt belongs to the Glarus civil registration district. Records are only available in Switzerland. For further information, contact the civil registry office at:

Zivilstandskreis Glarus Postgasse 29 8750 Glarus Tel: +41 55 646 69 50 email: [mailto:zivilstandsamt@gl.ch zivilstandsamt@gl.ch]

Genealogies
(Click here for an article describing Swiss compiled genealogies.)

The Glarus Family Tree is a project which shows the family links between about 200 original families from Glarus. The source of most of this information is the 30-year, 36-volume genealogical masterpiece by Johann Jakob Kubly-Müller. The tree has more than 270,000 individuals can be found online at Geneal-Tree, MyHeritage, Geneanet, and Ancestry.

Related sources
In 2011, Canton Glarus was reorganized into three municipalities. Matt is now part of the Glarus Süd municipality. The municipality website can be accessed here.

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Glarus