Mergoscia Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Mergoscia Parish, Ticino, 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 1997, Mergoscia has an area of 12.14 square kilometers (4.69 sq mi). The municipality is situated in the Locarno district, above Lago di Vogorno in the Verzasca Valley.

The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 3.5% - agricultural purposes
 * 67.3% - forested
 * 2.6% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 5.2% - rivers or lakes
 * 10.3% - unproductive land

History
The first mention of Mergoscia was in 1061 as Mergossia, though this comes from a copy of the original from 1402. Later in 1300, it was mentioned as Mergosia.

The population history of Mergoscia is: 1596 - 316 inhabitants 1790 - 752 inhabitants 1850 - 588 inhabitants 1900 - 351 inhabitants 1950 - 197 inhabitants 1990 - 133 inhabitants 2000 - 181 inhabitants

In 1313, Mergoscia split from the neighborhood of Minusio and Brione, although most of the estates remained undivided until 1952. To avoid paying a tithe to the nobility of Locarno, at the beginning of the 15th Century, the village left Locarno to join the valley community of Verzasca and Valle Maggia. In 1591, the village church, split away from the mother church of Locarno, S. Vittore in Muralto. The parish church of San Gottardo was built in 1597, over a building already erected in 1338, the bell tower dates from 1697.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Mergoscia can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Mergoscia prior to 1875, along with any known soprannomi. For more information about soprannomi, click here.

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

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Ticino

Societies
Società Genealogica della Svizzera Italiana (SGSI)