Olsberg Parish, Aargau, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Olsberg Parish, Aargau, Switzerland, ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, parish census, civil census, family history, area history, and military records.



Geography
The municipality of Olsberg is in the district of Rheinfelden in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It is located in the lower Fricktal (Frick river valley). In 1882, Olsberg merged with Arisdorf.

Olsberg (as of 2009) has an area of 4.62 km² (1.78 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 34.2% - agricultural purposes
 * 60.0% - forested
 * 5.4% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.2% - non-productive (either rivers or lakes)

History
In 1236, Olsberg was first mentioned by the name of Olsperg.

In 1882, Olsberg merged with Arisdorf.

The population history of Olsberg is: 1768 - 128 inhabitants 1850 - 248 inhabitants 1900 - 259 inhabitants 1950 - 230 inhabitants 1990 - 300 inhabitants 2000 - 375 inhabitants 2020 - 356 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 22.9% belonged to the Roman Catholic Church
 * 44.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
 * 10.93% belonged to the Christian Catholic faith

The Abbey Church was refurbished between 1670-1707. and was originally a branch church of the parish church in Kaiseraugst. After 1786, it became the parish church of its own independent parish. It became the first Christian Catholic parish church in Switzerland in 1872.

Church Records
The parish of Olsberg became an independent parish in 1786. Before 1786, Olsberg belonged to the parish of Kaiseraugst. In 1872, it became part of the parish of Rheinfelden. See Kaiseraugst for earlier records and Rheinfelden for later records.

Census
(See here for information regarding Aargau census records.)

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Olsberg:
 * 1837 (images 640-644)
 * 1850: Form A (images 257-262)
 * 1850: Form B (image 263)

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Olsberg prior to 1875:

Related sources
The town's website (in German) can be found here.

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Aargau

Societies
Genealogical-Heraldic Society of Region Basel (GHGRB)