Betschwanden Parish, Glarus, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Betschwanden 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
Betschwanden is located on the east bank of the Linth river valley. Its elevation is 600 m (2,000 ft). To the north is the village of Diesbach. To the south is the village of Rüti. The mountain of Kärpf (2,794 m or 9,167 ft) is located above Betschwanden to the east.

Betschwanden has an area of 9.7 km² (3.7 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 29.8% - forested
 * 36.0% - agricultural purposes
 * 1.1% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 33.1% - non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains)

History
The first mention of Betschwanden was in 1240 using the name of in Beswando. Betschwanden became part of the Glarus Süd municipality on 1 January 2011. Other localities merged include:
 * Braunwald
 * Elm
 * Engi
 * Haslen (GL)
 * Linthal
 * Luchsingen
 * Matt
 * Mitlödi
 * Rüti (GL)
 * Schwanden (GL)
 * Schwändi
 * Sool

The population history of Betschwanden is: 1692 - 123 inhabitants 1850 - 254 inhabitants 1900 - 255 inhabitants 1950 - 282 inhabitants 1980 - 132 inhabitants 2000 - 172 inhabitants 2010 - 182 inhabitants

In 1879, the Schweizerische Nordostbahn (Swiss North-East Railway) opened a station in the village of Betschwanden.

Betschwanden paid tithes and taxes to Säckingen Abbey until 1395 while it was part of the parish of Glarus. The Romanesque style church built in the 14th century was rebuilt several times. In 1915, Art Nouveau and Gothic Revival elements were added and later restored in 1975-1977. In 2001, the exterior of the church was rebuilt. Betschwanden adopted a new faith when the Protestant Reformation arrived in Glarus. In 1528, it joined a Reformed parish with other nearby villages. In 1942, Betschwanden separated to form an independent parish.

Church Records
For the parish of Betschwanden, baptism records began in 1598, marriages in 1606, and burials in 1771. 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. Betschwanden 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. Betschwanden is now part of the Glarus Süd municipality. The municipality website can be accessed here.

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Glarus