Portein, Graubünden, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Portein / Purtagn, 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 of Portein (Romansh: Purtagn) was in the district of Hinterrhein in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. It is situated on a ridge between the Porteiner Tobel and the Val da la Malanotg at an altitude of 1,178 m (3,865 ft). It includes the hamlet-like Haufendorf (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) village of Portein.

Portein (as of 2006) has an area of 3.4 km² (1.3 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 58.8% - agricultural purposes
 * 31% - forested
 * 2% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 8.2% - non-productive

History
In 1378, Portein was first mentioned by the name of Purteyn.

Portein merged into the Cazis municipality on 1 January 2010. Other municipalities merged include:
 * Cazis
 * Präz
 * Sarn
 * Tartar

The population history of Portein is: 1808 - 48 inhabitants 1850 - 65 inhabitants 1900 - 30 inhabitants 1950 - 37 inhabitants 2000 - 26 inhabitants 2007 - 22 inhabitants

Spiritually, Portein initially belonged to St. Johannes Baptista on Hohenraetia. In 1505, St. Gallus is mentioned in the village as the parish church of the whole Heinzenberg except for Masein. The Reformation was adopted in 1530-40.

Church Records
Portein is part of the parish of Sarn. See Sarn for more information.

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

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Portein:
 * 1835
 * 1838
 * 1848
 * 1850
 * 1850, form C (apparently enumerated with Cazis)

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 Portein 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)