Herznach Parish, Aargau, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Herznach 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 Herznach is in the district of Laufenburg in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It is situated in the upper Fricktal (Frick river valley). It is located on the old road over the Staffelegg to Aarau. It includes the linear village of Herznach and, until 1852, the hamlet of Oberzeihen (now part of Zeihen).

Herznach (as of 2009) has an area of 6.28 km² (2.42 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 63.2% - agricultural purposes
 * 24.5% - forested
 * 11.5% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.3% - non-productive (either rivers or lakes)

History
In 1097, Herznach was first mentioned by the name of Hercenahc.

Herznach merged into the new municipality of Herznach-Ueken On 1 January 2023. Other municipalities merged include:
 * Ueken

The population history of Herznach is: 1768 - 478 inhabitants 1850 - 898 inhabitants 1860 - 711 inhabitants 1900 - 639 inhabitants 1950 - 665 inhabitants 2000 - 1,059 inhabitants 2020 - 1,568 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 58.5% belonged to the Roman Catholic Church
 * 31.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
 * 0.57% belonged to the Christian Catholic faith

First mentioned in 1180 was the Church of St. Nicholas, probably a Homburger family church. In 1651, the nave and tower were expanded and refurbished, while in 1718-19 the choir was completely reconstructed. The Chapel of Saint Verena was constructed in 1516 on the foundation of the Early and High Middle Ages manor chapel. Currently, Herznach and Ueken form a parish. Until the Protestant Reformation this parish consisted of Densbüren and the village of Asp and until 1852 it included Zeihen.

Church Records
The parish of Herznach was first mentioned in 1180; the parish church is St. Niklaus. It includes the municipality of Ueken. The villages of Oberzeihen and Niederzeihen were part of Herznach until 1852, when the newly-created parish of Zeihen was established.

Original church records are located onsite at the Herznach parish church office. Microfilm copies of the following church records are available onsite at the Aargau State Archives:
 * Baptisms 1606-1683
 * Baptisms 1684-1810
 * Baptisms 1817-1861
 * Baptisms 1862-1875
 * Marriages 1606-1683
 * Marriages 1684-1784
 * Marriages 1785-1839 (organized by location)
 * Marriages 1817-1852
 * Marriages 1853-1875
 * Marriages non-resident citizens 1817-1852
 * Burials 1607-1683
 * Burials 1784-1840 (organized by location
 * Burials 1817-1875

Post-1875 church records, as well as the following church records, are found onsite at the Aarau parish church office:
 * Baptisms 1784-1844 (organized by location)
 * Burials 1684-1794

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

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Herznach:
 * 1837 (images 755-767)
 * 1850: Form A (images 405-426)
 * 1850: Form B (images 427-430)

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Herznach 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 Region Basel (GHGRB)