Gontenschwil Parish, Aargau, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Gontenschwil 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 Gontenschwil is in the district of Kulm in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It is situated hinter der Egg or behind the left-hand side moraine that was left behind after the Reuss glacier retreated from the upper Wyne valley at the end of the last ice age. It includes the village of Gontenschwil and the hamlets of Geisshof (that transferred from Reinach to Gontenschwil in 1901) and Hasel.

Gontenschwil (as of 2009) has an area of 9.74 km² (3.76 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 60.3% - agricultural purposes
 * 26.0% - forested
 * 13.6% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.5% - either rivers or lakes

History
In 1173, Gontenschwil was first mentioned by the name of Gundoltswilre.

The population history of Gontenschwil is: 1653 - 545 inhabitants 1850 - 2,297 inhabitants 1900 - 1,646 inhabitants 1950 - 2,102 inhabitants 2000 - 2,055 inhabitants 2020 - 2,130 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 15.9% were Roman Catholic
 * 65.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church

The church, first mentioned in 1340, was a subsidiary of the parish church in nearby Pfeffikon. After a long struggle (1488-1498) between Bern and Lucerne, they became independent even before the Reformation, which was enforced by Bern. The currently existing church was constructed in 1622.

Church Records
The parish of Gontenschwil was established during the Reformation in the 1520s. It has included the municipality of Zetzwil since 1636.

Original church records are located onsite at the Gontenschwil municipal archive or at the Gontenschwil-Zetzwil parish church office. Microfilm copies of the following church records are available onsite at the Aargau State Archives:


 * Baptisms 1558-1580; marriages 1559-1591
 * Baptisms 1580-1640; marriages 1597-1599
 * Baptisms 1672-1704; marriages, burials 1684-1704; confirmations 1702-1709
 * Baptisms Baptisms 1705-1729; marriages, burials 1705-1723; confirmations 1710-1721
 * Baptisms, marriages, burials 1727-1761; confirmations 1728-1761
 * Baptisms 1762-1804
 * Baptisms 1805-1816; baptisms non-resident citizens 1803-1875
 * Baptisms 1836-1871
 * Baptisms 1872-1875; burials 1811 1816, 1874-1875
 * Baptisms 1872-1944; baptisms non-resident citizens 1928-1940
 * Marriages 1762-1810
 * Marriages 1811-1816; marriages non-resident citizens 1817-1838
 * Marriages 1817-1852
 * Marriages non-resident citizens 1817-1860
 * Banns 1839-1852
 * Marriages, banns 1853-1875
 * Burials 1762-1810
 * Burials 1817-1850
 * Burials 1851-1873
 * Burials 1874-1944
 * Confirmations 1762-1810
 * Confirmations 1811-1907

The following volume is located onsite at the Gontenschwil municipal archive.
 * Baptisms 1817-1835

Other post-1875 church records are found onsite at the Gontenschwil-Zetzwil parish church office.

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

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Gontenschwil:
 * 1837 (images 503-530)
 * 1850: Form A (images 630-684)
 * 1850: Form B (image 685)

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Gontenschwil 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 Bern (GHGB)