Abtwil Parish, Aargau, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Abtwil 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 Abtwil is in the district of Muri in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It is located on the south foot of the Lindenberg. It includes the haufendorf village (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) of Abtwil.

Abtwil (as of 2009) has an area of 4.14 km² (1.60 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 69.8% - agricultural purposes
 * 22.2% - forested
 * 8.2% - settled (buildings or roads)

History
In 1256, Abtwil was first mentioned by the name of Apwiler.

The population history of Abtwil is: 1836 - 392 inhabitants 1900 - 325 inhabitants 1950 - 342 inhabitants 1970 - 297 inhabitants 2000 - 674 inhabitants 2020 - 954 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 72.8% were Roman Catholic
 * 11.7% were Swiss Reformed Church

The church of St. Germanus, attested in 1370 as the daughter of the Hohenrain Comrade, was ceded to the community of Abtwil in 1740. After its demolition and the creation of the new church (1742), Abtwil became a parish in 1748. Engelberg conventuals supplied the pastor until 1865.

Church Records
Abtwil belonged to Sins until 1749, when its church, St. German, became an independent parish. See Sins for earlier records.

The following church records are only available onsite at the Abtwil parish church office:
 * Baptisms 1749-1875; marriages 1749-1853; burials 1748-1855; communions 1749-1830; confirmations 1753-1865

The following church records are only available onsite at the Abtwil municipal archive:
 * Baptisms 1817-1875
 * Marriages 1854-1875
 * Burials 1817-1875

Post-1875 church records are found onsite at the Abtwil parish church office.

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

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Abtwil:
 * 1837 (images 577-585)
 * 1850: Form A (images 506-514)
 * 1850: Form B (image 515)

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Abtwil 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)