Läufelfingen Parish, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Läufelfingen Parish, Basel-Landschaft, 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 Läufelfingen is in the district of Sissach in the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland. It is situated along the Homburger stream and along the road over the pass at Unteren Hauenstein. It includes the haufendorf village (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) of Läufelfingen.

Läufelfingen (as of 2009) has an area of 8.15 km² (3.15 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 49.1% - agricultural purposes
 * 41.2% - forested
 * 9.7% - settled (buildings or roads)

History
In 1226, Läufelfingen was first mentioned by the name of Leinvolvingen. It was mentioned again in 1481 as Leiffeldingen.

The population history of Läufelfingen is: 1680 - 246 inhabitants 1798 - 344 inhabitants 1837 - 522 inhabitants 1850 - 704 inhabitants 1860 - 718 inhabitants 1870 - 749 inhabitants 1880 - 726 inhabitants 1888 - 758 inhabitants 1900 - 889 inhabitants 1910 - 951 inhabitants 1920 - 990 inhabitants 1930 - 1,027 inhabitants 1941 - 1,003 inhabitants 1950 - 1,093 inhabitants 1960 - 1,176 inhabitants 1970 - 1,243 inhabitants 1980 - 1,126 inhabitants 1990 - 1,211 inhabitants 2000 - 1,251 inhabitants 2021 - 1,252 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 17.2% belonged to the Roman Catholic Church
 * 59.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
 * 0.40% belonged to an Orthodox church
 * 3.28% belonged to another Christian church
 * 4.64% belonged to the Islamic faith

The church on the eastern slope of the valley most likely dates from the 10th/11th century. It was consecrated as a church for the Frobourgs, mentioned in Läufelfingen from 1050, was open to people from the village and those from the hamlet of Wisen (SO). Its reconstruction in late Gothic style dates back to 1485, when the new building for the vicarage burned down in 1445, and was completed in 1491. During the Reformation (1529-1530), the Anabaptist movement came into conflict with the first pastors of the village. Because of these riots, Wisen separated from Läufelfingen in 1538 and joined the Catholic parish of Trimbach.

Church Records
Läufelfingen became Reformed in 1529-1530; the church dates from approximately the 10th century. Parish records for Läufelfingen are available online from the Basel-Landschaft State Archive. The 20 volumes of digitized records include:
 * 1566-1921 Baptisms at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1566-1940 Marriages at Basel-Landschaft State Archive - with gaps
 * 1628-1962 Burials at Basel-Landschaft State Archive - with gaps
 * 1711-1897 Confirmations at Basel-Landschaft State Archive - with gaps

Census
(See here for information regarding Basel-Landschaft census records.)

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Läufelfingen:
 * 1815 (images 156-168)

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

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

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Basel-Landschaft

Societies
Genealogical-Heraldic Society of Region Basel (GHGRB)