Allschwil Parish, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland Genealogy

Guide to Allschwil 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 town and municipality of Allschwil is in the district of Arlesheim in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. It is located on the edge of the Sundgauer Hill Country along the Upper Rhine valley. Allschwil is a suburb of Basel on the west and has a boundary with France on two sides.

Allschwil (as of 2009) has an area of 8.92 km² (3.44 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 29.4% - agricultural purposes
 * 27.0% - forested
 * 43.0% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.2% - either rivers or lakes
 * 0.3% - non-productive

History
In 1118, Allschwil was first mentioned by the name of Almswilre.

The population history of Allschwil is: 1578 - 341 inhabitants 1771 - 754 inhabitants 1850 - 1,007 inhabitants 1860 - 1,215 inhabitants 1870 - 1,270 inhabitants 1880 - 1,823 inhabitants 1888 - 2,402 inhabitants 1900 - 3,096 inhabitants 1910 - 3,911 inhabitants 1920 - 4,583 inhabitants 1930 - 7,157 inhabitants 1941 - 7,315 inhabitants 1950 - 7,900 inhabitants 1960 - 12,875 inhabitants 1970 - 17,638 inhabitants 1980 - 17,952 inhabitants 1990 - 18,802 inhabitants 2000 - 18,131 inhabitants 2021 - 21,563 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 35.2% belonged to the Roman Catholic Church
 * 32.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
 * 1.05% belonged to an Orthodox church
 * 1.38% belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
 * 2.29% belonged to another Christian church
 * 0.31% belonged to the Jewish faith
 * 2.56% belonged to the Islamic faith

The village Church of St. Peter and Paul was constructed in the 12th century and was under the patronage of the Basel cathedral. The lower part of the church tower is from the 12th/13th century, but the rest of the church was totally reconstructed in 1698–99. The parish of Allschwil also consisted of Schönbuch, Hésingue (now in France) and until 1611, Hégenheim (also in France). In 1878, the Allschwil Reformed Church, who had previously been in charge of Basel and Binningen, began the Allschwil-Schönenbuch parish.

Catholic
The Catholic parish of Allschwil is ancient. During the Reformation, it became reformed; the Bishop of Basel recatholicized the parish in 1627. Schönenbuch belonged to Allschwil until 1837 when it became an independent parish.

Catholic parish records for Allschwil are available online from the Basel-Landschaft State Archive. The 18 volumes of digitized records include:
 * 1655-1793, 1806-1875 Baptisms at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1655-1793, 1806-1876 Marriages at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1655-1793, 1806-1876 Burials at Basel-Landschaft State Archive

Reformed
A Reformed parish was established in Allschwil in 1878. Reformed parish records for Allschwil are available online from the Basel-Landschaft State Archive. The 3 volumes of digitized records include:
 * 1878-1897 Baptisms at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1879-1929 Burials at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1847-1906 Family book at Basel-Landschaft State Archive

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

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

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

Libraries and archives
Basel-Landschaft State Archive

Societies
Genealogical-Heraldic Society of Region Basel (GHGRB)