Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland Genealogy

Guide to Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

Getting Started
If you are new to Swiss research, you should watch this introductory course. Then study the articles on church records and civil registration, as almost all of your research will be in those two record groups.
 * Introduction to Swiss Research
 * Switzerland Civil Registration
 * Switzerland Church Records

History
Settlement in Appenzell started in the 7th and the 8th century alongside the river Glatt. The monastery of St. Gallen was of great influence on the local population. Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden (Wikipedia)
 * The name Appenzell means cell or estate of the abbot. This refers to the Abbey of St. Gallen, which exerted a great influence on the area. By the middle of the 11th century the abbots of St. Gallen had established their power in the land later called Appenzell.
 * Appenzell Ausserrhoden is a German speaking canton and it joined the Swiss confederation in 1513. It has 20 communities.
 * Women's right to vote was introduced in 1972 on a local level, but only in 1989 on a canton-wide level.

Civil Registration
Civil registration began in Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden in 1876. To understand the records available, read the Wiki article, Switzerland Civil Registration.

The Appenzell Ausserrhoden canton archive has the duplicate civil registration registers; these records are public after 120 years from the creation of the record.

To find the civil registration office for any current or former municipality (back to 1962), the address can be accessed from the Swiss federal government website by clicking here. The top box, Wohnort/Ereignisort (residence or event location) is for the municipality where the event took place. The second box, Heimatort (place of citizenship) is for the municipality where the person holds citizenship. As you type in the name of your municipality in either box, a list of options will appear. Click on the town of interest, and the office will appear under Suchresultat (search results), along with the address and email.

The Appenzell Ausserrhoden State Archives has duplicate copies of civil registration records. For individual birth, marriage, and death records, see the FamilySearch Wiki page for the municipality where the event took place. The archive also has the following records associated with civil registration:
 * Addenda 1899-1963 (21 volumes; includes legitimations, divorces, name changes)

Church Records
The Appenzell Ausserrhoden archive has digitized church records of all twenty Appenzell-Ausserrhoden parishes online. The records are in color and can be accessed at this Kirchenbücher Appenzell Ausserrhoden. [[Media:Appenzell_Online_Records.pdf|Instructions.]] See the parish pages within Appenzell Ausserrhoden for more information.

FamilySearch also has digitized records for the entire canton. These records can be accessed from the FamilySearch Catalog (click on Places within Switzerland, Appenzell Ausserrhoden to select the parish). There may be restrictions on viewing these records. See the parish pages within Appenzell Ausserrhoden for more information.

There are no indexes of church records.

For information on the coverage and content of church records, read Switzerland Church Records.

Reading the Records

 * German Genealogical Word List
 * [[Media:Swiss_Genealogical_Word_List_approved.pdf|Swiss Dialect Genealogical Word List]]
 * German Paleography Seminar - Lessons on German Handwriting
 * Old German Script
 * Part 1
 * Part 2
 * Part 3 (German Church and Civil Records)

Search Strategy
This search strategy will help you determine what to write for. Limit tour requests to just one of these steps at a time. Once you have established that the parish is cooperative and perhaps more willing to do more extensive research (for a fee), you might be able to ask them for more at a time.
 * Search for the relative or ancestor you selected.
 * When you find his birth record, search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
 * Next, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents.
 * You can estimate the ages of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records.
 * Search the death registers for all known family members.
 * Repeat this process for both the father and the mother, starting with their birth records, then their siblings' births, then their parents' marriages, and so on.
 * If earlier generations (parents, grandparents, etc.) do not appear in the records, search neighboring parishes.