Bretzwil Parish, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland Genealogy

Guide to Bretzwil Parish, Basel-Landschaft, 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 Bretzwil is in the district of Waldenburg in the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland. It is located at the base of the Jura Mountains.

Bretzwil (as of 2009) has an area of 7.33 km² (2.83 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 56.9% - agricultural purposes
 * 38.6% - forested
 * 4.8% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.1% - non-productive (either rivers or lakes)

History
In 1194, Bretzwil was first mentioned by the name of Braswilere. It was also mentioned in 1247 as Brezwilr.

The population history of Bretzwil is: 1698 - 267 inhabitants 1850 - 683 inhabitants 1860 - 732 inhabitants 1870 - 797 inhabitants 1880 - 804 inhabitants 1888 - 787 inhabitants 1900 - 732 inhabitants 1910 - 695 inhabitants 1920 - 691 inhabitants 1930 - 665 inhabitants 1941 - 591 inhabitants 1950 - 592 inhabitants 1960 - 580 inhabitants 1970 - 628 inhabitants 1980 - 637 inhabitants 1990 - 661 inhabitants 2000 - 712 inhabitants 2021 - 748 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 12.6% belonged to the Roman Catholic Church
 * 68.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
 * 0.42% belonged to an Orthodox church
 * 0.84% belonged to another Christian church
 * 2.95% belonged to the Islamic faith

Spiritually, it initially came under Oberkirch, but soon Bretzwil received its own chapel, dedicated to Our Lady, mentioned in 1239 at the current location. This became a Protestant church, that was rebuilt in 1786 and refurbished in 1953. Bretzwil parish also includes Lauwil.

Church Records
Bretzwil became a parish during the Reformation. It includes the municipality of Lauwil, and included the village of Reigoldswil until 1765. Parish records for Arlesheim are available online from the Basel-Landschaft State Archive. The 32 volumes of digitized records include:
 * 1607-1920 Baptisms at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1608-1907 Marriages at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1607-1942 Burials at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1666-1915 Confirmations at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1850-1911 Family books at Basel-Landschaft State Archive

Census
(See here for information regarding Basel-Landschaft census records.)

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Bretzwil:
 * 1815 (images 351-364)

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

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

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Basel-Landschaft

Societies
Genealogical-Heraldic Society of Region Basel (GHGRB)