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The Mathey Family

Standing: Emilie and Alexander Mathey, Sitting: Rosalie and Joseph Mathey



Standing: Lucy, Louisa, Josephine, Joseph, Catherine, Mary Antionette. Sitting: Joseph and Marie Rosalie.

The Mathey family were my Swiss ancestors who immigrated to Manitowoc, Wisconsin before the Civil War.  One of Mathey's granddaughters, Louisa Greenwood, recalled what she knew of the Mathey family history.  

"Joseph Antoine Mathey was a young soldier in France who, while on duty, met and fell in love with Maria Rosalie Teraze, a Swiss girl who tended sheep on the mountainside. When his father heard about it, he told him to go to his Swiss girl and not to ever bring her near him. They married and then came over here with a bunch of Swiss friends" It's not clear if Joseph was a French soldier or a Swiss soldier, but he identified himself as Swiss in all his records in the U.S. 

from the New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists, Ship Brother Jonathan, Le Havre, France              

"They were on the water for over three months and grandfather was from the beginning their leader, he being a still well-educated man and very fair in his dealings with everyone. Their first child was born on the water (they had 8 children, 2 boys and 6 girls). When they landed, they came to Two Rivers and followed the East Twin River north, settling about 6 miles northwest of Mishicot Indian Village, just a few Indian huts."

The Mathey family is shown above in the Passenger list for the ship Brother Jonathan, which sailed from Havre, France and arrived in New York on June 6, 1854.  The roster shows Joseph, age 29; Marie, age 29; Catherine, age 4; Marie, age 2; and Joseph, age 3 months.  If the trip did indeed take over three months, then baby Joseph would have been born on the boat, like Mrs. Greenwood states.  However, the baby was their third child, not the first child.  The family did settle in Mishicot, as we can see from the 1860 Census.  The Matheys (spelled Matti) are shown as all having been born in Switzerland, except the youngest daughter at the time, Jane Josephine, born in Wisconsin. 

1860 Federal Census, Mishicot, Wisconsin, page 116


"When the Civil War broke out, grandfather was one of the first to have to go.  He left his family to the poor Swiss people to care for them till he got back. They worked, men and women alike, to grow things to eat and keep alive, and all worked together helping one another when need be. When the war was over, grandfather was almost blind from powder burns and from on till he was ninety, blind.  During this time his mother, then his father in France died and he got quite a large amount of money, so he could do things to their home and get things they needed, then too he was getting a nice large pension from the U.S. for getting blind in the war."

Civil War Draft Records, Wisconsin, District 5, Vol. 3

1890 Veterans Schedule of federal Census, Mishicot, Wisconsin, page 11

Joseph Antoine Mathey joined the 27th Wisconsin Infantry, Company C in 1864.  He served for 9 months 18 days.  Joseph is listed on line 33 of the 1890 Veterans schedule, and in section 11, Disability Incurred, we see that Joseph had "weakly eyes" and "the Government is paying him for all".  By this time, the Mathey's had 8 children, Mary Catherine (1848), Mary Antionette (1850), Joseph (1853), Jane Josephine (1858), Louise (1861), Alexander (1862), Emilie (1867), and Lucy (1868).

Mary Catherine Mathey married John Joseph Perrodin in 1869 and had five children together, settling in Mishicot.  After his death she married John Wood in 1889 and they had one child together.   
Mary Antionette Mathey married Peter Isaac Courtion in 1875 and they had five children. They and their children settled in Washington State. 
Son Joseph Mathey never married and lived with his parents until their deaths in Mishicot.
Jane Jospehine Mathey married John Morris Cretton in 1877 and they had seven children together.  They also settled in Mishicot.
Louise Mathey married William Greenwood in 1883 and they had one child.   They lived in the next town of Gibson. 
Alexander Mathey married Bertha Pries in 1884 and they had four children together.  They settled in Taylor County, Wisc. 
Emilie Mathey married Louis Ferdinand Abbet in 1885 and they had three children.  They stayed nearby in Manitowac County.  
Lucy Mathey married John Robinson in 1889 and they had one child.  They ended up in Oconto County, Wisc.

1905 Census, DePere Wisc.


 "In 1896 they sold their farm and moved to West DePere where they bought a house, at the time a nice brick house. They had moved there as some of their friends had moved there to work on or around the Fox River. I remember their home quite well. In 1895 grandmother died of heart failure, grandfather lived there with a housekeeper until 1905 where he too died.  I could tell of hardships they had that would fill a book, but in those days all and every one helped one another, even in our time we helped one another to make things easier."

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