Dear David, I just hope that this discussion is not disturbing you too much : I feel it's useful on this list (that's why I cc'ed them) - should prevent such misunderstandings (?) at least in some cases in the future. > ---------- > Von: david kester[SMTP:dck516@yahoo.com] > Gesendet: Donnerstag, 27. Januar 2000 21:54 > An: Seelentag Wolfhart Dr. KSSG_RO > Betreff: Re: [SWITZ] Familenschein fees (was: Some Advice Please) > > Sir, > Never in a million years would I have thought that my > question about someone helping me to explain this > letter would turn into this. > > No, I never applied for anything. All I did was write > to the Zivilstandsamt in Hallau and asked them how I > could find out about who the other children were of my > g,g,great-grandparents. > Can't comment on this without knowing the exact text : the Zivilstandsamt obviously interpreted it as an application for a Familienschein, and sent you the Familienschein. Now - if this was clearly a mis-interpretation on their behalf, you could refuse to pay the fee : no need to pay for anything you haven't ordered - just return the piece of paper ;-). Depending on the wording, however, an application could have been implicit, and then the situation would be quite different. As I recommended in my last posting to the list a few minutes ago : whenever you ask for info, describe exactly what you want, and ask for the fee - if there is no fee, you'll just get the info, if there's a fee, you'll be told how much. > I gave them my > g,g,great-grandparent's names and dates of birth and > death that I obtained last year after writing to a > Mario Von Moos and he forwarded my letter to the > Zivilstandsamt in Hallau (in Feb. 1999) The > Zivilstandsamt in Hallau sent me a page which shows > some information on my great-grandmother, Anna GASSER, > and her brother and sister, August and Bertha GASSER > being the children of Jakob GASSER and Barbara > SCHNEIDER. It also lists Jakob's and Barbara's dates > of birth, marriage and when they immigrated to the > USA. It also goes on to show the parent's of Jakob > GASSER, and the parent's of Barbara SCHNEIDER. Barbara > SCHNEIDER had a brother and sister who also immigrated > to the US. > Thank you for a good example what to expect on a Familienschein ;-) ! > I wrote to the Zivilstandsamt and asked how > I could find out if there were other siblings other > than Barbara's brother, John and sister, Anna. That is > when I received this Familienschein from the > Zivilstandsamt in Beringen. > > This paper shows: The father, Heinrich SCHNEIDER, and > the mother, Anna SCHLATTER. It also lists their dates > of birth, marriage and death (Which I already had from > the info from Feb. 1999). > Yes - there is overlapping information : the Familienschein usually covers 3 generations (if info is known) - this makes sure you can run a line from one generation to the next. If you go from one Familienschein to the father's document, you'll be given an additional generation further back, plus more information on brothers and sisters in the same generation. Best regards - Wolf > It also tells who the > parent's of Heinrich and Anna are also. Turn the paper > over and it lists the 14 children of Heinrich and Anna > SCHLATTER SCHNEIDER. It gives the dates of birth, > marriage and death for the children, if, the info is > known. > > All I wanted to know was if someone could help me with > the coverletter that came with the Familienschein. > That's all. I just didn't know what they > (Zivilstandsamt) were asking for. > > David > > --- "Seelentag Wolfhart Dr. KSSG_RO" > <wolf.seelentag@kssg.ch> wrote: > > Dear Swiss Rooters, > > > > after the fairly recent discussion about the > > cumbersome procedure to get any > > data from Swiss Civil Registry Offices, we now have > > a discussion about their > > fees. ......... >