Alpnach Parish, Obwalden, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Alpnach Parish, Obwalden, 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 village of Alpnach is in the Ticino canton. It includes the villages of Alpnach Dorf, Alpnachstad and Schoried. Alpnach is located above the Large and the Small Schliere streams. Alpnach (as of 2006) had an area of 53.8 km² (20.8 square miles). The land use was divided up as follows:
 * 32.1% - agricultural purposes
 * 54.1% - forested
 * 5.0% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 8.9% - unproductive land

History
In 870, Alpnach was first mentioned with the name of Alpenacho. Alpnach is in the Obwalden canton.

The population history of Alpnach is: 1799 - 1,157 inhabitants 1850 - 1,622 inhabitants 1900 - 1,779 inhabitants 1950 - 3,022 inhabitants 2000 - 4,932 inhabitants 2020 - 6,109 inhabitants

In 1173, the first church of Alpnach was mentioned. It was dedicated to Our Lady. Later, it became Mary Magdalene. In 1821, the current parish church was consecrated. The following chapels are located nearby: In 1872, the first reformed church was established.
 * Saint-Michel church (1501)
 * St. Joseph church in Alpnachstad (1702)
 * St. Theodule church in Schoried (1711)

Surrounding parishes
Ennetmoos (NW) Entlebuch (LU) Hergiswil (NW) Kerns Sarnen Schwarzenberg (LU) Stansstad (NW)

Church Records
Church records for Alpnach are located at the Alpnach parish office. The family registers are located at Alpnach city corporation office.

Genealogies
In the early 1900s, Ephrem Omlin systematically extracted information for Obwalden parishes and compiled these on family group pages organized by surname and parish. These are available onsite at the Obwalden State Archives. Historian Niklaus von Flüe expanded this collection; his notes are also available onsite at the Obwalden State Archives.

The town has put together an interesting overview of the surnames in Alpnach. This surname history includes coats of arms for many families.

Civil Registration
Civil registration began in 1876. Alpnach belongs to the Obwalden civil registration district. Records are only available in Switzerland. For further information, contact the civil registry office at:

Zivilstandsamt Obwalden Brünigstrasse 180a CH - 6060 Sarnen

Tel: +41 666 35 65

email: [mailto:zivilstandsamt@sarnen.ow.ch zivilstandsamt@sarnen.ow.ch]

Duplicate civil registration registers are located at the Obwalden State Archives and are available through 1920. For specific information about duplicate civil registration records, see the archives' online catalog; click the + sign to the left of the folder .02.SCH.Schriften (Zivilstand).

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

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

Libraries and archives
Obwalden State Archives

Societies
Zentralschweizerische Gesellschaft für Familienforschung (in German)