Description of Swiss Genealogical Sources.xlsx

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1	A Description of Swiss Genealogical Sources
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3	Type of Record	Period Covered	Type of Information Given	Availability
4	Census Records (Volkszӓhlungslisten; Recensements; Censimenti)	1764 for the City of Bern; 1798 for Geneva	Names of family members and servants, ages, occupations, places of residence, and often towns or parishes of birth	Canton and city archives
5	Records of Foreigners	18th century to the present	Censuses of foreigners; letters and certificates of origin; data pertaining to marriages and inheritances, giving names, places of residence, family relationships, dates and places of birth, extracts or marriage records; permits to stay in the Canton; naturalizations	Canton and city archives
6	Family Registers (Familien Register; Registri di Famigilia) kept by Catholic and Protestant clergy	Some since the latter part of the 1600s; most start around 1750 or later	Vary from town to town. Data in family group form. Some early ones give birth dates, but may omit similar information about one’s parents. Family Registers may also list unbaptized children, stillborn children, and children born outside the parish boundaries.	Those made by Protestant clergy are normally kept in civil registration offices. Those made by Catholic clergy are normally kept in church archives.
7	Church Censuses (Bevölkerungsverzeichnisse)	About 1634 to about 1725; some parishes conducted them as late as 1760. They usually cover the following years: 1634, 1637, 1640, 1643, 1647, 1649, 1650, 1670, 1678, 1682, 1683, 1689, 1690, 1691, 1695, 1709, 1710, 1722, 1723, 1724, and 1725	Names and ages of parents and children living at the time of the census, names of servants, type of religious training and religious books available in the home; sometimes the occupation of the father, apprenticeships of the children, and names of children away from home, family members who emigrated to a foreign country, and those fighting in foreign wars. By about 1670, they often give complete Baptism dates; similar to the Family Registers, they are given in family group form. It is not uncommon to find two or three generations listed together.	Cantons of Zürich and Thurgau; parts of the Cantons of Aargau, Sankt Gallen, and Schaffhausen. Note: Aside from the parish registers, these church censuses are the most important early genealogical records in northeastern Switzerland.
8	Records of Protestant Refugees (see also citizenship records for records of Protestants arriving in Geneva from 1549 to 1587)	1549 to 1850	Letters of origin in notarial and court records, Protestant parish registers containing names of places of origin of the refugees, censuses of refugees, records of financial relief (bourses and corporations) to Protestant refugees and their descendants, giving names, places of origin, spouses, parents, descendants, places of residence, and birth, marriage, and death dates. For Italian Protestant refugees, see the records of the Italian Church of Geneva.	Canton and city archives, especially in the Cantons of Bern, Geneva, Neuchâtel, Vaud, and Zürich
9	Guild Records (Zunftbücher, Lehrlingsvertrӓge, Gesellfreibriefe; Apprentis et Hommes Libres; Apprendiste e Homini Liberi)	16th to 19th centuries	Apprentices and Freemen: Names, ages or birth dates, places of residence and of origin, names of parents, town in which the family has citizenship.	Canton and city archives
10	Parish Registers (Pfarrbücher; Registres Paroissiaux; Registri Parrocchiali) Note: A person may be referred to as a Citizen of a town, even though he was not born there. He may hold citizenship there because an ancestor lived there and held citizenship.	Protestant parish reigsters begin in 1525; Catholic parish registers begin in 1580	Baptism Records (Taufbücher): Date and place of Baptism; names of child, parents, and sometimes grandparents; names of godparents and sometimes their relationship to the child. Mothers are sometimes not named in the earliest records. Confirmation Records (Konfirmationsbücher, Firmungsbücher): Name of person receiving Confirmation, usually between 12 and 17 years old, and the name of the father. Marriage Records (Ehebücher): Names of couple and the date and place of the marriage. After 1700, often the names of fathers and sometimes mothers of the bride and groom are sometimes mentioned. Burial Records (Beerdigungen, Sépultures, Sepolture): Name of deceased, date of death and burial, place of death, sometimes the name of the spouse, especially of women, and the names of the parents in the cases of deceased children.	Accessibility of Swiss parish registers can be broken down into three categories: 1) Full remote access at home via the Cantonal Archives website or FamilySearch. 2) Remote access via a Family History Center or a FamilySearch Affiliate Library. 3) No remote access. Parish registers can only be consulted in-person at the Cantonal Archives or at the parish office itself. For further guidance about studying and accessing the parish registers of a particular Canton, please, consult “Swiss Cantonal Research Chart.”
11	Military Records (Militӓr Akten; Registres de Conscription, Dossiers d’Exemptions, Listes des Déserteurs; Registri Militari)	15th to 18th centuries	Name and residence of soldiers; later, age and rank were included	Canton archives
12	University Records	Basel: 1460 to 1666; Geneva: 1559 to 1878: Lausanne: 16th century to present	Student Matriculation: Names of students, places of origin, sometimes includes the names of parents and ages, and birthplaces of students from other countries.	Older records are in Canton archives; more recent records are in university archives
13	Tithing Books (Zehntenbücher; Registres de la Dime; Registi della Decima)	15th to 19th centuries	Names of persons who paid tithes, date of payment, place of residence, and sometimes places of origin and of family citizenship.	Catholic records are kept in diocesan and parish archives; Lutheran and Reformed records are kept in Canton archives.
14	Canton and City Genealogical Records (Genealogische Stadt-Register; Livres d’Or; Libri d’Oro)	15th to 19th centuries	Pedigrees, descent charts, family histories of old and prominent families.	Canton and city archives
15	Emigration Records (Abschiedebücher; Rôles de Citoyens Absents du Pays)	14th to 18th centuries	Lists of citizens absent from the Canton with names, towns of origin, and sometimes places of residence outside of the area; often given place migrating to, amount of emigration tax owed or paid, and family relationship.	Canton archives in Basel, Bern, Freiburg, Lucerne, and Zürich
16	Donations for Masses for the Dead (Jahrzeitbücher und Calendarium; Messes pour les Morts)	14th to early 19th centuries	Names of persons who paid for the Masses to be offered for the repose of the soul of the deceased, names of the deceased, some family relationships, and places of residence are usually mentioned. Sometimes the deceased’s date of death can be inferred from this information.	Some in Catholic diocesan or parish archives; some in Cantonal and city archives; some older lists have been published.
17	Declarations of Lands Possessed (Katasterbücher; Terriers ou Cadastres; Catasti)	Around 1290 to the 18th century (Lists were made once or twice per century.)	Lists of landholders and renters, usually with the names of fathers and sometimes with the names of several generations of ancestors, and often the date and mode of land acquisition, such as, through a dowry, inheritance, etc. These documents pertain primarily to rural people and sometimes to city dwellers who owned rural property.	Canton and city archives. From 1290 to 1320, records of this nature pertaining to the Canton of Freiburg are found in the State Archives of Turin, Italy. Those pertaining to the Bernese Jura are in the Archives of the former Prince-Bishop of Basel in Porrentruy.
18	Court Records (Testamente und Hinterlassenschaften; Ancienne Justice Civile; Registri Delle Corti)	Around 1290 to the present, but these records usually begin around the 16th century.	Orphan records, marriage contracts, property divisions among heirs, and wills used as evidence; records of disputes between persons, containing names, dates, occupations, some family relationships, places of residence, and sometimes places of origin.	Canton and city archives; court and Amtsgericht archives. The Geneva Cantonal Archives has a collection of probated wills from 1293 to 1900.
19	Notarial Records (Registres Notariales; Registri dei Notai) Note: Aside from parish registers, these are the most important genealogical records in French-speaking and Italian-speaking areas of Switzerland.	Around 1275 to the present, but these records usually begin in the 15th century.	Marriage Contracts (Contrats de Mariage; Contratti di Nozze): Names of couples, dates and places of contract, names of notaries, often names of fathers or both parents, places of residence and sometimes places of origin, ages, and occupations. Property Divisions (Partages; Spartizioni): Names of former owners and of heirs, places of residence, and family relationships. Testaments and Donations Contracts for Sale of Property, Mortgages, and Loans: Names of parties involved, often with the names of their fathers, occupations, places of residence, and sometimes places of origin.	Available chiefly in French-speaking and Italian-speaking Cantons in the Canton’s archives and in the individual records of particular notaries. Similar records in German-speaking Cantons were generated by the courts and legal officers.
20	Citizenship Records (Bürger Register; Lettres de Bourgeoisie; Registri di Cittodinanza) Note: From 1634 to around 1725 in the Canton of Zürich, these records were called Bevölkerungs-verzeichnisse. From around 1725 to 1800, these records were called Haushaltungs Register.	11th century to the present, but these records usually begin in the 14th century.	Names, dates, places of origin, and sometimes the names of the citizen’s parents and in-laws. After the 17th century, additional details were usually included, such as the citizen’s date and place of birth, the name of his wife, the date and place of their marriage, details about his father’s life, and sometimes some information about other family members and ancestors.	City archives of Basel, Bern, Geneva, Sankt Gallen, Sissach, Thun, Winterthur, Zofingen, and Zürich
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