Alpnach Parish, Obwalden, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Alpnach Parish, Obwalden, 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 village of Alpnach is in the Ticino canton. It includes the villages of Alpnach Dorf, Alpnachstad and Schoried. Alpnach is located above the Large and the Small Schliere streams. Alpnach (as of 2006) had an area of 53.8 km² (20.8 square miles). The land use was divided up as follows:
 * 32.1% - agricultural purposes
 * 54.1% - forested
 * 5.0% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 8.9% - unproductive land

History
Still to be modified for Alpnach

In 1364, Menzonio was first mentioned with the name of Menzone. Until the 15th century, Menzonio was combined with Brontallo, Bignasco and Cavergno. Menzonio is in the Vallemaggia district and the Ticino canton. Menzonio merged into the municipality of Lavizzara on 8 October 2003. Other former municipalities merged include:
 * Broglio
 * Brontallo
 * Fusio
 * Peccia
 * Prato-Sornico

The population history of Menzonio is: 1669 - 315 inhabitants 1795 - 149 inhabitants 1850 - 177 inhabitants 1860 - 198 inhabitants 1870 - 193 inhabitants 1880 - 205 inhabitants 1888 - 209 inhabitants 1900 - 190 inhabitants 1910 - 157 inhabitants 1920 - 128 inhabitants 1930 - 116 inhabitants 1941 - 129 inhabitants 1950 - 128 inhabitants 1960 - 96 inhabitants 1970 - 89 inhabitants 1980 - 104 inhabitants 1990 - 70 inhabitants 2000 - 73 inhabitants 2003 - 87 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 87.7% were Roman Catholic
 * 0.0% were Swiss Reformed Church
 * 4.1% belong to another church

In 1513, the Menzonia church separated from the Cevio parish to form its own parish with Brontallo. In 1655, this combined parish was dissolved. A separate parish for Menzonia was created. In the 15th century, the Saints-Jacques-et-Philippe church e Filippo was first mentioned. In 1585, the current building was built. In 1644, it was rebuilt, and again in 1905.

Surrounding parishes
Ennetmoos (NW) Entlebuch (LU) Hergiswil (NW) Kerns Sarnen Schwarzenberg (LU) Stansstad (NW)

Church Records
Church records for Alpnach are located at the Alpnach parish office. The family registers are located at Alpnach city corporation office.

Genealogies
In the early 1900s, Ephrem Omlin systematically extracted information for Obwalden parishes and compiled these on family group pages organized by surname and parish. These are available onsite at the Obwalden State Archives. Historian Niklaus von Flüe expanded this collection; his notes are also available onsite at the Obwalden State Archives.

The town has put together an interesting overview of the surnames in Alpnach. This surname history includes coats of arms for many families.

Civil Registration
Civil registration began in 1876. Alpnach belongs to the Obwalden civil registration district. Records are only available in Switzerland. For further information, contact the civil registry office at:

Zivilstandsamt Obwalden Brünigstrasse 180a CH - 6060 Sarnen

Tel: +41 666 35 65

email: [mailto:zivilstandsamt@sarnen.ow.ch zivilstandsamt@sarnen.ow.ch]

Duplicate civil registration registers are located at the Obwalden State Archives and are available through 1920. For specific information about duplicate civil registration records, see the archives' online catalog; click the + sign to the left of the folder .02.SCH.Schriften (Zivilstand).

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

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

Libraries and archives
Obwalden State Archives

Societies
Zentralschweizerische Gesellschaft für Familienforschung (in German)