Zürich Sankt Peter Parish, Zürich, Switzerland Genealogy

Guide to Sankt Peter Parish, Zürich, Switzerland ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and military records.

Geography
The parish of Sankt Peter served portions of the city of Zürich, as well as the civil parishes of Aussersihl, Enge, Leimbach, and Wiedikon. In 1529, Altstetten, which had belonged to the church parish of Sankt Peter, was established as an independent Protestant parish. In 1702, Sankt Peter obtained the civil parish of Wollishofen, which became independent in 1854.

Surrounding Parishes
Albisrieden Altstetten Höngg Kilchberg Neumünster Predigern Stallikon Uitikon am Albis Wipkingen Wollishofen Zürich

Church Records
The church of Sankt Peter is located in Zürich, but serviced many surrounding municipalities. Some of those municipalities were considered affiliate churches, and kept their own records; others did not. Some municipalities became affiliates later on, and as such books were created for those affiliates with extracted entries from the Sankt Peter church records. The following list contains the name of each affiliate of the parish, with a description of what record types are available for that affiliate.

Sankt Peter
Sankt Peter baptism records are available from 1553, marriage records from 1554, and burial records from 1660. These records are available online in color through 1875 from the Zürich city archive. The following volumes are available:


 * Baptisms 1553-1690
 * Baptisms 1691-1776
 * Baptisms 1777-1817
 * Baptisms 1817-1846
 * Baptisms 1847-1875

Originally, most marriages for non-residents who married in Zürich took place in Grossmünster. Due to the fire and subsequent rebuilding that broke out in Grossmünster in 1763, most of these marriages took place in Sankt Peter.


 * Marriages 1554-1803 Generally, before 1779 it only includes marriages where one spouse was a citizen or resident of the parish. All entries recorded after 1799.
 * Marriages 1554-1778 Transcript of original volume, dated 1805, but does not totally match the original.
 * Marriages 1778-1802 Primarily for non-residents who married in Zürich.
 * Marriages 1803-1813
 * Marriages 1813-1830
 * Marriages 1831-1850
 * Marriages 1851-1875

These burial records are for the cemeteries for St. Peter and St. Anna (established 1568). After 1788, the new cemeteries of Enge, Wiedikon, and St. Jakob in Aussersihl were included.


 * Burials 1660-1778
 * Burials 1779-1838
 * Burials 1839-1875
 * Burials 1854-1875 (overlap)

These records are also available on FamilySearch. Click here to access the FamilySearch Catalog information for Sankt Peter.

Wiedikon
Wiedikon was first mentioned in 889, and belonged to various noble families before being purchased by the city of Zürich in 1490. It became its own municipality in 1784; in 1787, Aussersihl was detached and became its own municipality. A church was built in 1791, but it did not become an independent parish until 1887. Some records were extracted from the Sankt Peter records and can be found here and here.

Census Records
(see here for article describing the Zürich census records)

Some censuses are listed under the filial parishes that belonged to Sankt Peter. The following censuses are available for the entire church parish of Sankt Peter:

Additionally, the chapelry of Sankt Jakob, part of the civil parish of Wiedikon and the church parish of Sankt Peter, has available censuses for the following years:

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

Societies and Libraries
Cantonal Archive of Zürich