Russo Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Russo 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
The municipality of Russo is in the Locarno district and the Ticino canton. It is located at an elevation of 801 meters along the Onsernone valley road.

History
In 1231, Russo was first mentioned by the name of de Ruxi. In 1277 as Rusio. Russo is in the Locarno district and the Ticino canton. Russo merged into the municipality of Onsernone on 27 June 1994. Other former municipalities merged include:
 * Comologno
 * Crana

The population history of Russo is: 1795 - 206 inhabitants 1808 - 239 inhabitants 1850 - 302 inhabitants 1900 - 248 inhabitants 1950 - 121 inhabitants 1970 - 84 inhabitants 1990 - 136 inhabitants

In 1656, the parish of Russo was created when it broke off from the Loco parish. It included the Comologno parish (until 1715), the Vergeletto parish (until 1757), and the Crana parish (until 1787). In 1365, the parish church of S. Maria Assunta (Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption) was first mentioned. It was renovated between 1995 and 2002.

Russo split away from the parish of Loco in about 1656. Besides Russo itself, it originally also contained the villages of Comologno, Corbella, Crana, Spruga, Vocaglia, and Vergeletto/Gresso. Two of the earliest mentions of the modern village of Russo are in 1231, when it was called de Ruxi; and 1277 as Russio. Russo was part of the Squadra of Russo, one of the five Squadre that made up the medieval community of Onsernone.

Locations within Russo
These are the primary locations within the original parish of Russo, along with the date they left to establish their own parish or became absorbed into a different parish.

Surrounding parishes
Auressio Berzona Comologno Crana Loco Vergeletto

Church Records
The following parish registers are available on microfilm:

Persons researching families from these locations will need to consult both the Russo parish records for earlier dates, and the appropriate registers for municipalities that split off from Russo as needed.

Parish records are mostly written in the Latin language, with some Italian. Help with translating the Latin records can be found here

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Russo can be accessed here.

There is a large gap (1769-1841) in the Russo baptism records, and this 1808 census can be helpful in bridging that gap.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Russo 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)

Periodicals
La Voce Onsernonese

La Voce Onsernonese is a locally produced and published Italian language periodical which contains a wealth of valuable information about the people, culture, history, and landscape of the Onsernone Valley area. Most of the issues from its inception in 1972 through 2012 are archived and viewable online.