Sankt Martin, Graubünden, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Sankt Martin / Sogn Martin, Graubünden, 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 and village of Sankt Martin (German: Sankt Martin, Romansh: Sogn Martin) is in the Lugnez sub-district of the district of Surselva in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. It is a scattered settlement located on the steep slopes above both sides of the Valser Rhine canyon. The majority of the village speaks German and marks the language border between German and Romansh in the valley. It includes the hamlets of St. Martin, Lunschania (post office), Bucarischuna, Munt, Gadenstatt, Mariaga and Travisasch. The additional hamlets of Feistenberg, Haspel, and Montaschg are now abandoned.

Sankt Martin (prior to 2015) has an area of 22.9 km² (8.8 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 29%% - agricultural purposes
 * 32.5% - forested
 * 0.3% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 38.2% - non-productive

History
Sankt Martin merged into the Vals municipality on 1 January 2015. Other municipalities merged include:
 * Vals

The population history of Sankt Martin is: 1800 - 139 inhabitants 1880 - 150 inhabitants 1900 - 99 inhabitants 1941 - 83 inhabitants 1950 - 112 inhabitants 2000 - 36 inhabitants 2013 - 35 inhabitants

The Church of Sankt Martin established in 1345 was a branch of St. Vinzenz in Pleif (Vella) before it was added to Tersnaus after 1528. From 1776, Sankt Martin had its own German-speaking beneficiary, but since 1868 it has been part of Tersnaus again.

Church Records
Sankt Martin belonged to the parishes of Tersnaus and Vals. See Tersnaus and Vals for more information.

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

Sankt Martin was established as a municipality in 1878, from the municipalities of Tersnaus and Vals. See these pages for census information.

Civil Registration
Civil registration began in 1876.

Duplicate civil registration registers are located at the Graubünden State Archives. The following records are available:
 * Both A and B registers are available through 1916-1917 and are open without restriction.
 * Family registers are available from at latest 1860 through 1910; these records are viewable but require permission to access. For more information, contact the State Archive.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Sankt Martin prior to 1875:

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

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Graubünden

Societies
Rätische Vereinigung für Familienforschung (RVFF)

Società Genealogica della Svizzera italiana (SGSI)