Widen, Aargau, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Widen, 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 former municipality of Widen is in the Bremgarten district and the Aargau canton. It is located on the wooded southern slope of the Heitersberg, near the Mutschellen.

Widen (as of 2006) has an area of 2.6 km² (1.0 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 44.8% - agricultural purposes
 * 17.0% - forested
 * 37.8% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.4% - non-productive

History
In 1248, Widen was first mentioned by the name of Wida. Widen is in the Bremgarten district and the Aargau canton.

The population history of Widen is: 1837 - 387 inhabitants 1850 - 342 inhabitants 1900 - 274 inhabitants 1950 - 398 inhabitants 1970 - 1,277 inhabitants 1975 - 1,851 inhabitants 1980 - 2,715 inhabitants 1990 - 3,918 inhabitants 2000 - 3,636 inhabitants 2020 - 3,845 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 39.7% were Roman Catholic
 * 39.1% were Swiss Reformed Church
 * 0.30% were Christian Catholic Church

In 1843, the Saint-Antoine pilgrimage chapel is mentioned. In 1944, the Saint-Nicolas-de-Flue chapel was built. In 1977, it was transformed into a parish church. In 1968, the Protestant church was built.

Church Records
Widen belonged to the parish of Eggenwil until 1977. See Eggenwil for more information.

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

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Widen:
 * 1837 (images 70-75)
 * 1850: Form A (images 695-704)
 * 1850: Form B (image 705)

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

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

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Aargau

Societies
Central Swiss Society for Family History (ZGF)