Braunwald, Glarus, Switzerland Genealogy

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



Geography
Braunwald is located in the Glarus Alps above the Linth valley, at about 1,256 meters (4,121 ft) elevation. It overlooks the valley below which have the villages of Linthal and Rüti. The mountains of Ortstock (2,717 m or 8,914 ft), Höch Turm (2,666 m or 8,747 ft), Eggstock (2,455 m or 8,054 ft) and Bös Fulen (2,802 m or 9,193 ft) overlook it. Braunwald has an area of about 10.1 km2 (3.9 sq mi). In this area, 43.7% is used for agriculture, 28.5% is forested, 3.2% is settled with buildings or roads, and the remainder (24.6%) includes rivers, glaciers or mountains.

History
In 1421, Braunwald was first mentioned as Brunwald. There was summer occupation between the 12th and 15th centuries and, by 1725, a few families were living there year-round. As of the year 200 the population was 408. In 1841, a school was first held, and then in 1857 moved into its own building. One famous hotel, The Niederschlacht inn, was built in 1856. Several other hotels are located in the town, and ski lifts and gondolas give access to the ski slopes above the village. Before 1939, Braunwald was part of the municipality of Rüti, but in 1939 it split off to form its own municipality. On 1 January 2011, both municipalities came together as part of the new municipality of Glarus Süd.

Church Records
Braunwald belonged to the parishes of Betschwanden and Linthal. Information from the church records was extracted by Johann Jakob Kubly-Müller and organized into families. The Glarus Family Tree has made much of this data available online.

Original church records for Canton Glarus are only accessible at the Glarus State Archives.

Civil Registration
Civil registration began in 1849. Braunwald belongs to the Glarus civil registration district. Records are only available in Switzerland. For further information, contact the civil registry office at:

Zivilstandskreis Glarus Postgasse 29 8750 Glarus Tel: +41 55 646 69 50 email: [mailto:zivilstandsamt@gl.ch zivilstandsamt@gl.ch]

Genealogies
(Click here for an article describing Swiss compiled genealogies.)

The Glarus Family Tree is a project which shows the family links between about 200 original families from Glarus. The source of most of this information is the 30-year, 36-volume genealogical masterpiece by Johann Jakob Kubly-Müller. The tree has more than 270,000 individuals can be found online at Geneal-Tree, MyHeritage, Geneanet, and Ancestry.

Related sources
In 2011, Canton Glarus was reorganized into three municipalities. Braunwald is now part of the Glarus Süd municipality. The municipality website can be accessed here.

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Glarus