Reinach Parish, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Reinach 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 Reinach (Swiss German: Rynach) is in the Arlesheim district and the Basel-Landschaft canton. It is located at the crossing of the Basel-Aesch-Birstal and Dornach-Therwil-Leimental lines.

Reinach (as of 2009) has an area of 7.0 km² (2.7 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 26.3% - agricultural purposes
 * 16.6% - forested
 * 55.3% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.9% - rivers or lakes
 * 0.6% - non-productive

History
In 1168, Reinach was first mentioned by the name of Rinacho. Reinach (Swiss German: Rynach) is in the Arlesheim district and the Basel-Landschaft canton.

The population history of Reinach is: 1581 - 45 homes 1722 - 64 inhabitants 1815 - 558 inhabitants 1850 - 816 inhabitants 1860 - 829 inhabitants 1870 - 911 inhabitants 1880 - 951 inhabitants 1888 - 992 inhabitants 1900 - 1,213 inhabitants 1910 - 1,463 inhabitants 1920 - 1,817 inhabitants 1930 - 2,558 inhabitants 1941 - 2,813 inhabitants 1950 - 3,475 inhabitants 1960 - 6,152 inhabitants 1970 - 13,419 inhabitants 1980 - 17,813 inhabitants 1990 - 17,905 inhabitants 2000 - 18,323 inhabitants 2021 - 19,260 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 37.2% were Roman Catholic
 * 33.4% were Swiss Reformed Church
 * 1.0% were Orthodox Church
 * 0.32% were Christian Catholic Church
 * 2.7% were Other Christian Church

Spiritually, Reinach belonged to the Pfeffingen parish. In 1336, the Saint-Nicolas chapel was mentioned. In 1511, Reinach became a parish and built a church. In 1525, Reinach adopted the Reformation. In 1595, Reinach was brought back to Catholicism and became part of the Arlesheim parish. In 1631, Reinach became independent.

Church Records
Originally part of Pfeffingen, Reinach became and independent parish in 1511. In 1525, the area became Reformed; in 1595, it was recatholicized and moved to the parish of Arlesheim. For earlier records, see Arlesheim.

In 1611, it again became an independent parish. Parish records for Arisdorf are available online from the Basel-Landschaft State Archive. The 28 volumes of digitized records include:
 * 1633-1922 Baptisms at Basel-Landschaft State Archive - with gaps
 * 1634-1919 Marriages at Basel-Landschaft State Archive - with gaps
 * 1634-1913 Burials at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1641-1901 Confirmations at Basel-Landschaft State Archive - with gaps
 * 1634-1854 Family Book at Basel-Landschaft State Archive

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

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Reinach 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)