Gelterkinden Parish, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Gelterkinden 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 Gelterkinden is in the district of Sissach in the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland. The main village is situated in the upper Ergolz valley at the junction of the Ergolz and Eibach. It includes the village of Gelterkinden and more than 20 other settlements along with Sommerau, which has its own train station.

Gelterkinden (as of 2009) has an area of 9.79 km² (3.78 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 34.2% - agricultural purposes
 * 47.4% - forested
 * 18.2% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.3% - either rivers or lakes
 * 0.2% - non-productive

History
In 1101–03, Gelterkinden was first mentioned by the name of Gelterkingen.

The population history of Gelterkinden is: 1497 - 38 inhabitants 1680 - 518 hearths 1770 - 662 inhabitants 1850 - 1,406 inhabitants 1860 - 1,673 inhabitants 1870 - 1,797 inhabitants 1880 - 1,801 inhabitants 1888 - 1,803 inhabitants 1900 - 2,031 inhabitants 1910 - 2,194 inhabitants 1920 - 2,398 inhabitants 1930 - 2,528 inhabitants 1941 - 2,707 inhabitants 1950 - 3,113 inhabitants 1960 - 3,870 inhabitants 1970 - 5,157 inhabitants 1980 - 4,954 inhabitants 1990 - 5,158 inhabitants 2000 - 5,476 inhabitants 2021 - 6,252 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 22.8% belonged to the Roman Catholic Church
 * 53.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
 * 1.59% belonged to an Orthodox church
 * 0.29% belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
 * 2.61% belonged to another Christian church
 * 6.88% belonged to the Islamic faith

The church dedicated to the Apostle Peter has existed since the 9th or 10th century. The original parish of Gelterkinden consisted of Ormalingen as well as Tecknau and Rickenbach.

Church Records
The church in Gelterkinden is ancient, dating from the 9th or 10th centuries. The area became Reformed during the 1520s. The parish of Gelterkinden includes the communities of Rickenbach and Tecknau; it included Ormalingen until 1740.

Parish records for Gelterkinden are available online from the Basel-Landschaft State Archive. The 41 volumes of digitized records include:
 * 1595-1918 Baptisms at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1594-1953 Marriages at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1703-1932 Burials at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1690-1935 Confirmations at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1857-1928 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 Gelterkinden:
 * 1815 (images 96-120)

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Gelterkinden 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)