Arboldswil, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland Genealogy

Guide to Arboldswil, 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 Arboldswil is in the district of Waldenburg in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. It is situated on a plateau in the Jura Mountains between the Waldenburger and Reigoldswiler valleys.

Arboldswil (as of 2009) has an area of 3.48 km² (1.34 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 51.1% - agricultural purposes
 * 41.4% - forested
 * 6.3% - settled (buildings or roads)

History
In 1226, Arboldswil was first mentioned by the name of Arboldswilre.

The population history of Arboldswil is: 1497 - 25 inhabitants 1680 - 178 inhabitants 1770 - 280 inhabitants 1850 - 474 inhabitants 1860 - 489 inhabitants 1870 - 503 inhabitants 1880 - 421 inhabitants 1888 - 457 inhabitants 1900 - 405 inhabitants 1910 - 371 inhabitants 1920 - 356 inhabitants 1930 - 320 inhabitants 1941 - 303 inhabitants 1950 - 341 inhabitants 1960 - 327 inhabitants 1970 - 381 inhabitants 1980 - 396 inhabitants 1990 - 396 inhabitants 2000 - 493 inhabitants 2021 - 580 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 9.7% belonged to the Roman Catholic Church
 * 69.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
 * 0.41% belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
 * 2.03% belonged to the Islamic faith

Originally, Arboldswil depended on the parish of St. Peter in the Waldenburg Valley. It possessed from the 13th century to the Reformation (1529) a chapel dedicated to Saint Catherine. Since then the village has belonged ecclesiastically to Ziefen (united with that of Bubendorf from 1535 to 1810).

Church Records
Anwil belonged to the parish of Bubendorf until 1810, when it became part of the newly-established parish of Ziefen. For church records, see Bubendorf and Ziefen.

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

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Arboldswil:
 * 1815(*) at FamilySearch - images 328-337

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

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

Libraries and archives
Basel-Landschaft State Archive

Societies
Genealogical-Heraldic Society of Region Basel (GHGRB)