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Contact Information for James Mathia: mx00787@deere.com 3646 N. Townline Road West Bend, Wisconsin 53095 (262) 677-4864

7 February 2000 Dear Bob, I received a letter in the mail from Karen Matthia Aland and thought I'd take a look at your family tree site. I was immediately stunned that you had a lineage from Berlin, WI. where my dad is from. I've done some preliminary work on our family tree, interviewing John Mathias (some of the brothers added an "s" to the Mathia name), other aunts and uncles. Also looked at records in sources below. This is from memory alone, but will fill in some of the facts as I get them from my records. Hope to hear from you soon. James F. Mathia

Included in the above email, was the following "family story" as told by Jim to Bob.

Joseph was one of three brothers that came over from Prussia. The three were lumberjacks in the area north of Berlin, WI. Joseph, Frank & John were the brothers. Frank died in the woods while logging and was buried there. The project they worked on was the clearing of northern Wisconsin for the railroad, and helped open up transportation to northern Wisconsin. There also are stories told to me that Joseph was a whaler and carpenter on a whaling ship in his earlier days. My Dad also told me stories that when his grandfather retired, he became a fisherman in Berlin. He told me that he caught large catfish and sold them in town. I used to think this was just a "big" fish story, but my Uncle Johnny showed me pictures of the large catfish (75 lbs and greater) he caught. What I need to do is write down these stories for future generations. The most noted fact you will find with the personnel from Berlin, WI. is that many died during "The Spanish Lady"; the flu epidemic of 1918-1919. Both my great grand parents and grand parents died during this epidemic. It should be noted that about 20-30% of the population of Berlin died in that epidemic. Joseph married Mary (Slomionka -- there are 3-4 spellings to this name in the death records, baptism, census records of 1900, death records of Joseph, Mary, Frank, Mary Machol). Franz (Frank) Mathia (Matyja, Mathias) married Mary Machol (one of 14 children, 12 of which died of diphtheria in the old country. Parents immigrated to USA because of this). Mary's parents were Frank & Mary Machol. Franz & Mary Mathia had the following children: Florian Isadore Mathia (my Dad) (Milwaukee, WI), Roman Mathia (Chicago), John Mathia (Johnny the plumber in Berlin, WI.), Edward Mathia (Chicago), Balbino (Bobby) Mathias (Chicago), Margaret (Maggie) Mathias (Chicago), Anton (Al) Mathias (Chicago), Lorraine Mathia (Chicago), Augusta Mathias (Chicago), and a stillborn child at the time Mary died of the flu epidemic. (All of the children that moved to Chicago added an "s" to their names).