Oberwil Parish, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Oberwil 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 Oberwil is in the Arlesheim district and the Basel-Landschaft canton. It is located in the middle Leimen valley.

Oberwil (as of 2009) has an area of 7.88 km² (3.04 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 44.0% - agricultural purposes
 * 19.5% - forested
 * 35.8% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.4% - rivers or lakes
 * 0.3% - non-productive

History
In 1102, Oberwil was first mentioned by the name of Oberuuilre. Oberwil is in the Arlesheim district and the Basel-Landschaft canton.

The population history of Oberwil is: 1722 - 109 homes 1850 - 794 inhabitants 1860 - 854 inhabitants 1870 - 884 inhabitants 1880 - 1,007 inhabitants 1888 - 1,140 inhabitants 1900 - 1,516 inhabitants 1910 - 1,687 inhabitants 1920 - 1,993 inhabitants 1930 - 2,210 inhabitants 1941 - 2,128 inhabitants 1950 - 2,540 inhabitants 1960 - 3,873 inhabitants 1970 - 6,678 inhabitants 1980 - 7,646 inhabitants 1990 - 8,626 inhabitants 2000 - 9,363 inhabitants 2021 - 11,167 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 34.2% were Roman Catholic
 * 36.3% were Swiss Reformed Church
 * 1.34% were Orthodox Church
 * 0.41% were Christian Catholic Church
 * 2.27% were Other Christian Church

Prior to Reformation, Oberwil belonged to the chapel of St. John at Basel. Later, Oberwil belonged to the Leimental parish. Oberwil adopted the Reformation but returned to Catholicism around 1598.

Church Records
Traditionally Catholic, Oberwil became Reformed in 1525 until it was recatholicized in 1598. Parish records for Oberwil are available online from the Basel-Landschaft State Archive. The 21 volumes of digitized records include:
 * 1657-1912 Baptisms at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1658-1908 Marriages at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1659-1904 Burials at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1662-1902 Confirmations at Basel-Landschaft State Archive - with gaps
 * 1805-1875 Family books at Basel-Landschaft State Archive

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

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Oberwil 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)