Bennwil Parish, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland Genealogy

Guide to Bennwil 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 Bennwil is in the district of Waldenburg in the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland. It is situated in the Bennwilerbach or Walibach valley. It includes the linear village of Bennwil and about 24 individual farm houses.

Bennwil (as of 2009) has an area of 6.51 km² (2.51 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 53.3% - agricultural purposes
 * 40.9% - forested
 * 5.5% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.5% - either rivers or lakes

History
In 1218, Bennwil was first mentioned by the name of Bendewilere.

The population history of Bennwil is: 1698 - 250 inhabitants 1798 - 355 inhabitants 1850 - 615 inhabitants 1860 - 634 inhabitants 1870 - 595 inhabitants 1880 - 528 inhabitants 1888 - 550 inhabitants 1900 - 545 inhabitants 1910 - 519 inhabitants 1920 - 510 inhabitants 1930 - 445 inhabitants 1941 - 427 inhabitants 1950 - 456 inhabitants 1960 - 431 inhabitants 1970 - 408 inhabitants 1980 - 444 inhabitants 1990 - 542 inhabitants 2000 - 603 inhabitants 2021 - 673 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 11.4% belonged to the Roman Catholic Church
 * 73.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
 * 1.49% belonged to an Orthodox church
 * 0.33% belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
 * 2.65% belonged to another Christian church

The Reformation was adopted in 1535. In 1617, a fire demolished the church (foundations from the 8th to 10th centuries). The building of the Reformed Church was completed in 1649 (Renaissance pulpit 1649).

Church Records
The ancient parish of Bennwil became Reformed in 1535; the church was destroyed in a fire in 1617. It includes the municipalities of Hölstein and Lampenberg.

Parish records for Bennwil are available online from the Basel-Landschaft State Archive. The 36 volumes of digitized records include:
 * 1563-1931 Baptisms at Basel-Landschaft State Archive - with gaps
 * 1571-1946 Marriages at Basel-Landschaft State Archive - with gaps
 * 1613-1928 Burials at Basel-Landschaft State Archive - with gaps
 * 1721-1914 Confirmations at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1753-1911 Family books at Basel-Landschaft State Archive - organized by community

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

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Bennwil:
 * 1815 (images 338-350)

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Bennwil 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)