Dietwil Parish, Aargau, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Dietwil Parish, Aargau, 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 Dietwil is in the district of Muri in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It is located on the Reuss river. It includes the haufendorf village (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) of Dietwil and the hamlets of Eien and Gumpelsfahr. The cantons of Zug and Lucerne borders Dietwil and it is the southernmost village of that canton.

Dietwil (as of 2009) has an area of 5.5 km² (2.1 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 72.5% - agricultural purposes
 * 17.1% - forested
 * 8.9% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 1.6% - either rivers or lakes
 * 0.2% - non-productive

History
In 1236, Dietwil was first mentioned by the name of Tuetwile.

The population history of Dietwil is: 1850 - 794 inhabitants 1900 - 560 inhabitants 1950 - 624 inhabitants 1980 - 633 inhabitants 2000 - 1,023 inhabitants 2020 - 1,355 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 77.6% were Roman Catholic
 * 11.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church

The Catholic parish church of St. James the elder was dedicated in 1145. It was replaced in 1780 by the current church. Between 1370-1806, the Knights of Malta house at Hohenrain possessed the right of patronage.

Church Records
The parish of Dietwil was first mentioned in 1145. Records for the parish, named St. Barbara, begin in 1581.

Original church records are located onsite at the Dietwil parish church office. Microfilm copies of the following church records are available onsite at the Aargau State Archives:
 * Baptisms 1581-1663; marriages 1615-1661; burials 1628-1663; confirmations 1616-1662
 * Baptisms 1666-1699; marriages, burials 1663-1699; confirmations 1667-1684
 * Baptisms, marriages, burials 1700-1748; confirmations 1701-1731, 1742-1745
 * Baptisms 1746-1875; marriages 1746-1840; burials 1745-1840; confirmations 1753-1874

The following church records are only available onsite at the Dietwil municipal archive:
 * Baptisms 1817-1875
 * Marriages 1817-1852
 * Marriages 1853-1875
 * Marriages non-resident citizens 1817-1875
 * Burials 1817-1875

Post-1875 church records, as well as the following church records, are found onsite at the Dietwil parish church office:
 * Baptisms 1841-1849
 * Burials 1827-1848
 * Family book 1730-1850
 * Family book 1868-1932

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

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Dietwil:
 * 1837 (images 585-600)
 * 1850: Form A (images 674-691)
 * 1850: Form B (image 692)

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Dietwil prior to 1875:

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

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Aargau

Societies
Central Swiss Society for Family History (ZGF)