Obersaxen Parish, Graubünden, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Obersaxen / Sursaissa Parish, 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 Obersaxen (Romansh: Sursaissa) is in the Rueun sub-district of the Surselva district in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. It is situated on the northern face of the Mundaun mountain chain, on the right side of the Rhine valley. It includes 28 settlements which are divided into five Pirten around the central village of Meierhof.

Obersaxen (as of 2006) has an area of 61.5 km² (23.7 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 54.8% - agricultural purposes
 * 23.4% - forested
 * 2% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 19.8% - non-productive

History
In 765, Obersaxen was first mentioned by the name of Supersaxa. It was mentioned as 956 as Supersaxa and in 1227 as Ubersahse.

Obersaxen merged into the Obersaxen Mundaun municipality on 1 January 2016. Other municipalities merged include:
 * Mundaun

The population history of Obersaxen is: 1850 - 830 inhabitants 1900 - 652 inhabitants 1910 - 636 inhabitants 1950 - 705 inhabitants 2000 - 779 inhabitants 2014 - 838 inhabitants 2020 - 1,164 inhabitants (Obersaxen Mundaun)

St. Peter's Church (Peter and Paul since 1500), in Meierhof, is attested around 840 as a private royal church. Obersaxen passed in 1459 to the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and in 1471, had its own jurisdiction. The interior Pirt had as its place of worship the subsidiary church of Saint-Martin, reformed in 1500.

Church Records
Original church records are held in the local municipal archive or civil registration office. Microfilm copies are available at the Graubünden State Archives.

Catholic
Church records begin in 1629. The following volumes are only available on microfilm at the Graubünden State Archives:
 * Baptisms, burials 1621-1665; marriages 1629-1665
 * Baptisms 1665-1777; burials 1665-1817; confirmations 1665-1759
 * Marriages 1686-1826
 * Baptisms 1777-1826
 * Burials 1817-1826
 * Baptisms, marriages, burials 1827-1837
 * Baptisms, marriages 1837-1875
 * Burials 1837-1874

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

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Obersaxen:
 * 1835
 * 1838
 * 1848
 * 1850
 * 1850, form C

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 Obersaxen 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)