Bilten Parish, Glarus, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Bilten Parish, 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
As of 2006, Bilten's area is 15.9 km2 (6.1 sq mi). Bilten is situated on the south end of the Linth river. It is the northernmost municipality in Glarus. It contains the village of Bilten, with village sections Ober-, Unterbilten, Rufi, and the hamlet of Ussbühl (on the border with the Canton of Schwyz). 37.8% of the land is used for agricultural purposes and 50.1% is forested. 8.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remaining 3.8% is rivers, glaciers or mountains.

History
The first reference of this municipality was in 1050 with the place name, Billitun. Around the middle of the 11th century, parts of Bilten belonged to the landlordship of the Schänis monastery and church. Bilton was part of the canton of Gaster until it was incorporated into Glarus in the early 1400s. In the 16th-18th Century, the use of the alps increased, likely for breeding and exporting cattle. Later, the emphasis shifted to dairy farming. The first school was built in 1839. Bilten was connected to the Northeast Railway network in 1875. In 1850, there were 681 inhabitants; in 1900, 555 inhabitants; in 1950, 706 inhabitants; in 2000, 1882 inhabitants; and in 2010, 2001 inhabitants.

Church Records
Baptism, marriage, and burial records for the parish of Bilten began in 1607. Before 1607, Bilten belonged to the parish of Niederurnen. 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. Bilten 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. Bilten is now part of the Glarus Nord municipality. The municipality website can be accessed here.

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Glarus