Switzerland Genealogy

Guide to Swiss ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

Country Information
Switzerland is a landlocked country in Western and Central Europe surrounded by France, Austria, Germany, Italy, and Liechtenstein. Switzerland's east and central cantons are primarily German speakers, western areas include many French speakers, and Italian speakers are found in southern Switzerland. The Swiss Republic is now over 715 years old, making it the oldest republic in the world.

Finding Your Ancestors' Town in Switzerland

 * Genealogical records are organized by geographical locality. Civil registration (government birth, marriage, and death records) and church records (christenings/baptisms, marriages, and burials) were kept at the local level.
 * If you do not know your ancestors' town, follow the advice in the Wiki article Switzerland Finding Town of Origin to search a variety of records that might provide that information.

The Register of Swiss Surnames
Switzerland has one unique feature that can speed up your search for your ancestor's town. Citizenship was held by specific town. The Register of Swiss Surnames is an online tool, based on the reference book, Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz, which lists for every surname the towns where that family held citizenship. Here are the [[Media:1-Register of Swiss Surnames-Instruction.pdf|Instructions]] for using the register. Also, watch the online class '''The Register of Swiss Surnames

Switzerland Clickable Map
Genealogical records are kept at the local level in Switzerland. Cantons:

FamilySearch Resources
Below are FamilySearch resources that can assist you in researching your family:
 * Switzerland Genealogy Research Community on FamilySearch
 * Central Europe Genealogy Research Community (Facebook)
 * Switzerland Course in the Learning Center
 * FamilySearch Historical Records
 * FamilySearch Center locator map

Research Tutorials

 * Introduction to Swiss Research
 * Beginning Swiss Research Part 1 & 2 class handout
 * Switzerland Research Strategies
 * Swiss Census Records
 * Swiss Chorgericht Records
 * Swiss Names and Places
 * Switzerland Records Online: Resources for Swiss Genealogy
 * Calendar Changes in France, Germany, Switzerland, and the Low Countries
 * Switzerland Compiled Genealogies
 * Reading German Handwritten Records
 * Kurrent Font Help
 * German Genealogical Word List
 * Old German Script
 * Part 1
 * Part 2
 * Part 3 (German Church and Civil Records)
 * Help for reading French records:
 * French Genealogical Word List
 * French Handwriting.
 * BYU Script French Tutorial
 * French Records Extraction Manual. The full manual or individual lesson chapters are downloadable from this webpage. A number of helpful lessons are available here, but the first five lessons are especially useful.
 * Chapter 1: Old Records
 * Chapter 2: Christening, Marriage, and Other Entries
 * Chapter 3: Marriage
 * Chapter 4: Other Entries
 * Chapter 5: French Handwriting and Spelling


 * Help for reading Italian records:
 * BYU Script Italian Tutorial
 * Italian Genealogical Word List
 * Italian Birth Document Translation
 * Italian Marriage Document Translations
 * Italian Civil Death Document Translation