Muri Parish, Aargau, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Muri Parish, 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 municipality of Muri, formerly known as Muri (Freiamt), is in the southeastern Swiss Canton Aargau and is the capital of same district. The extensive village is situated on a terrace of the Bünztal between the Reusstal and the Lindenberg. It consists of the village parts and former village communities Muri-Dorf, Egg and Wey, which only grew together in the course of the 20th century to form a closed settlement, as well as the hamlets of Langenmatt, Wili and Hasli.

Muri (as of 2009) has an area of 12.34 km² (4.76 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 58.1% - agricultural purposes
 * 20.8% - forested
 * 20.2% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.3% - either rivers or lakes
 * 0.2% - non-productive

History
In 924, Muri was first mentioned by the name of Murahe. It was also mentioned in the 11th century as Mure.

In 1816, the present municipality of Muri was created from the merging of the four municipalities Langdorf, Egg, Hasli, and Wey.

The population history of Muri is: 1755 - 1,966 inhabitants 1799 - 1,397 inhabitants 1850 - 1,966 inhabitants 1900 - 2,073 inhabitants 1950 - 3,680 inhabitants 1970 - 4,853 inhabitants 2000 - 6,545 inhabitants 2020 - 8,244 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 63.7% belonged to the Roman Catholic Church
 * 16.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
 * 0.12% belonged to the Christian Catholic faith
 * 6.9% belonged to the Muslim faith

After the beginning of the Benedictine abbey, its church assumed the role of parish instead of that of Saint-Goar which, rebuilt in Kilchbühl (bell tower of around 1335, raised in 1584, choir built between 1660 and 1664, nave of 1935-1936), was reduced to a branch church. In 1244, the Bishop of Constance confirmed the merger of the parish into the monastery, which had been carried out in 1242. In 1816, did Muri become an independent parish. A Protestant community was founded in 1894 (parish in 1961); the Reformed Church dates from 1954-1955.

Catholic
The parish of Muri is ancient, in association with the abbey that was founded there in 1027; the parish church is called St. Goar. It includes the municipalities of Buttwil and Geltwil. Aristau belonged to Muri until 1942, when it became an independent parish.

The following church records are available onsite in the Muri Abbey office:
 * Baptisms, marriages, burials 1597-1611 (with gaps)
 * Baptisms 1614-1663; marriages, burials 1611-1663; confirmations 1621-1642
 * Baptisms, marriages, burials 1663-1693; confirmations 1667-1693
 * Baptisms, marriages, burials 1694-1715; confirmations 1701-1753
 * Baptisms, marriages, burials 1716-1763; confirmations 1723-1742
 * Baptisms, marriages, burials 1764-1803; confirmations 1768-1797
 * Baptisms, marriages, burials, confirmations 1804-1839
 * Baptisms 1840-1875; marriages, burials 1840-1842; confirmations 1846-1865
 * Baptisms 1817-1845
 * Baptisms 1846-1869
 * Baptisms 1870-1875
 * Marriages 1817-1852
 * Marriages 1853-1875
 * Marriages non-citizens 1830-1872
 * Burials 1817-1853
 * Burials 1854-1875
 * Family book 1613-1787
 * Family book 1663-1706
 * Family book 1683-1730
 * Family book 1773-1799
 * Family book 1795-1833
 * Family book 1795-1833
 * Family book 1821-1899
 * Family book 1822-1891
 * Family book 1831-1842
 * Family book A-H 1837-1874
 * Family book I-O 1837-1874
 * Family book P-Sto 1837-1874
 * Family book Str-Z 1837-1874
 * Family book non-resident citizens 1837-1872
 * Family book non-citizen residents 1840-1880
 * Family book 1874-1916
 * Strebel family 1626-1726

Post-1875 church records are found onsite at the Muri Abbey office.

Reformed
The Reformed parish was established in 1938, though records begin earlier. Original church records are located onsite at the Muri parish church office. Microfilm copies of the following church records are available onsite at the Aargau State Archives:
 * Baptisms 1894-1914; burials 1896-1910; confirmations 1899-1905
 * Baptisms, burials, confirmations 1914-1937; marriages 1914-1932
 * Baptisms 1938-1960

Other church records are found onsite at the Muri parish church office.

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

The 1837 census in Muri is out of order. The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Muri:
 * 1837: Households 1-19 (images 407-408)
 * 1837: Households 19-37 (images 418-419)
 * 1837: Households 37-83 (images 404-407)
 * 1837: Households 83-327 (images 419-433)
 * 1850: Form A (images 5-53)
 * 1850: Form B (images 54-55)

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Muri 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)