Würenlos Parish, Aargau, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Würenlos 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 former municipality of Würenlos is in the Baden district and the Aargau canton. It is located at the mouth of the Furttal in the Limmat valley. The municipality includes the village of Würenlos and the communities of Kempfhof and Oetlikon, plus the convent of Fahr.

Würenlos (as of 2006) has an area of 9.0 km² (3.5 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 43.1% - agricultural purposes
 * 34.1% - forested
 * 20.7% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 2.1% - rivers or lakes

History
In 870, Würenlos was first mentioned by the name of Wirchilleozha. Würenlos is in the Baden district and the Aargau canton.

The population history of Würenlos is: 1634 - 428 inhabitants 1780 - 647 inhabitants 1850 - 1,047 inhabitants 1900 - 945 inhabitants 1950 - 1,805 inhabitants 1970 - 2,653 inhabitants 1975 - 3,087 inhabitants 1980 - 3,250 inhabitants 1990 - 4,151 inhabitants 2000 - 4,806 inhabitants 2020 - 6,511 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 44.6% were Roman Catholic
 * 36.5% were Swiss Reformed Church
 * 0.15% were Christian Catholic Church

In 1275, the vast parish of Würenlos was mentioned. There were branches of the parish in Otelfingen, Boppelsen and Unteroetwil. After 1500, the Notre-Dame and Saint Antoine church was enlarged. Since 1937, the Catholics and Protestants had separate places of worship.

Catholic
The Catholic parish of Würenlos was first mentioned in 1275; the parish church is called Mariä Himmelfahrt. It includes the former municipalities of Kempfhof and Oetlikon.

The following church records are only available onsite at the Würenlos church parish office:
 * Baptisms, marriages, burials 1619-1702; confirmations 1669-1702
 * Baptisms, burials 1702-1780; marriages 1702-1781; confirmations 1723-1797; first communions 1702-1838
 * Baptisms 1780-1829; marriages, burials 1782-1828; confirmations 1808-1829
 * Baptisms 1831; marriages 1828-1838; burials 1828-1836
 * Marriages non-resident citizens 1829-1858
 * Baptisms, burials 1829-1858; marriages 1829-1852; confirmations 1830-1865
 * Family book 1785-1799
 * Family book 1835-1871

The following church records are only available onsite at the Würenlos municipal archive:
 * Baptisms 1817-1875
 * Marriages 1817-1858
 * Marriages 1853-1875
 * Burials 1817-1875

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

Reformed
Reformed residents belonged to the parish of Otelfingen until 1868, when it was looked after by surrounding pastors until its creation as an independent parish in 1885. Some earlier church records were created. See Otelfingen for more information.

The following church records are available onsite in the Würenlos municipal archive:
 * Baptisms 1817-1875
 * Marriages 1853-1875
 * Burials 1817-1875

The following church records are available onsite in the Würenlos Raiffeisenbank Depot:
 * Residents 1740
 * Residents 1745
 * Residents 1753
 * Family book Würenlos, Oetlikon, and Kempfhof 1840-1935

Post-1881 church records are found onsite at the Würenlos Raiffeisenbank Depot or the Würenlos parish church office.

Census
Two different types of censuses were taken in Würenlos at different times.

Religious Censuses
See here for article describing the Zürich census records.

Reformed residents of Würenlos belonged to the parish of Otelfingen. See Otelfingen for more information. The following censuses are available for Reformed residents of Würenlos:

Residential Censuses
(See here for information regarding Aargau census records.)

Kempfhof and Oetlikon were separate municipalities until 1900, when they became part of Würenlos. During these censuses, all three were enumerated separately. The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Würenlos, Kempfhof, and Oetlikon:

Würenlos

 * 1837 (images 612-627)
 * 1850: Form A (images 268-289)
 * 1850: Form B (image 290)

Kempfhof

 * 1837 (images 471-473)
 * 1850: Form A (images 764-767)
 * 1850: Form B (image 768)

Oetlikon

 * 1837 (images 505-507)
 * 1850: Form A (images 51-53)
 * 1850: Form B (image 54)

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Würenlos prior to 1875:

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

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Aargau

Societies
Genealogical-Heraldic Society of Zürich (GHGZ)