Dittingen Parish, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Dittingen 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 Dittingen is in the district of Laufen in the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland. It is located in a side valley off the Birs river valley.

Dittingen (as of 2009) has an area of 6.75 km² (2.61 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 29.5% - agricultural purposes
 * 62.2% - forested
 * 7.3% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.4% - either rivers or lakes
 * 0.4% - non-productive

History
Before 1300, Dittingen was first mentioned by the name of Tittingen.

The population history of Dittingen is: 1771 - 151 inhabitants 1850 - 326 inhabitants 1860 - 372 inhabitants 1870 - 355 inhabitants 1880 - 326 inhabitants 1888 - 340 inhabitants 1900 - 356 inhabitants 1910 - 392 inhabitants 1920 - 416 inhabitants 1930 - 455 inhabitants 1941 - 516 inhabitants 1950 - 557 inhabitants 1960 - 560 inhabitants 1970 - 709 inhabitants 1980 - 630 inhabitants 1990 - 612 inhabitants 2000 - 686 inhabitants 2021 - 738 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 76.8% belonged to the Roman Catholic Church
 * 10.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
 * 0.73% belonged to an Orthodox church
 * 0.29% belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
 * 0.58% belonged to another Christian church
 * 1.75% belonged to the Islamic faith

The Church of St. Nicholas was constructed before 1400 (tower and chancel 1506). During 1529-80, Dittingen adopted the Reformation. Before 1802, Dittingen was part of the St. Martin's parish in Laufen and then formed an independent parish. Dittingen was ecclesiastically united with Blauen from 1874-1935.

Church Records
Dittingen's church, St. Nikolaus, was built before 1400 as a chapel. The area became Reformed in 1529, but was re-Catholicized in 1580. It belonged to the parish of Laufen until 1802, when it became an independent parish. Between 1874 and 1935, Dittingen was united with Blauen. For earlier records, see Laufen and Blauen.

Parish records for Dittingen are available online from the Basel-Landschaft State Archive. The 6 volumes of digitized records include:
 * 1792-1875 Baptisms at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1796-1875 Marriages at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1795-1875 Burials at Basel-Landschaft State Archive

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

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Dittingen 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)