Dear Lorie: The Schmutz family name held citizenship (comes from) in 5 different villages in canton BE, 1 in BL, 10 in FR, in Switzerland before 1800. I would use SwissGen's Swiss Surname Directory to get the info on the villages for both the Schick and Schmutz surnames: http://iseli.simplenet.com/ch-names/ However, please read about SSD first at: http://swiss.genealogy.net/surnam-m.htm so you are familiar with what data may be found. The Schick family comes from 3 villages in canton BE from before 1800. I bet you $100 that some of those Schick villages are within walking distance (no cars back then) to the Schmutz villages in canton BE. So, use http://www.geocities.com/swissschmutz/chpostal.html to see which villages are near each other, by using the postal codes. Then use http://www.mapquest.com or other mapping websites to zoom in and physically see where they are. As far as your other names, submit a request to the SSD volunteers to find the info through the SSD query webpage above. best wishes, Dave Schmutz -----Original Message----- From: storbeck [mailto:storbeck@gateway.net] Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2000 11:02 AM To: dschmutz@es.com Subject: Re: [SWITZ] RE: Gutikhausen (or Gutighausen) Hello Dave, I just saw your message on the Switzerland mailing list. Your comments were informative, and I was wishing I knew where in Switzerland my Koetzle(i) and Halzi families were from so I could find more info about them. What really caught my attention, however, was your last name. Schmutz! I have a gg grandmother with that name, but I thought it was a German name. Maybe I've been looking in the wrong country! Can you possibly direct me to where I can find info about the Schmutz family? All I have is - Katherine Schick (b. about 1862) was daughter of Johannes SCHICK and Barbara SCHMUTZ. The Schick family came to the U.S. and settled in Bergen or Passaic County, New Jersey. Any ideas? Thanks for your time, Lorie