Sarnen Parish, Obwalden, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Sarnen Parish, Obwalden, Switzerland, ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, parish census, civil census, family history, area history, and military records.



Geography
Sarnen is in the Obwalden canton. It is a municipality, a historic town, and the capital of the canton. It is located on the northern shores of Samen Lake at an elevation of 471 m (1,545 ft). It is made up of five sections - Samen, Stalden, Wilen, Kägiswil, and Ramersberg. Sarnen (as of 2004/09) had an area of 73.12 km² (28.23 square miles). The land use was divided up as follows:
 * 39.0% - agricultural purposes
 * 50.7% - forested
 * 6.0% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 4.3% - unproductive land

History
The Sarnen valley has been inhabited from the earliest times. It became an important trading center over the years.

The population history of Sarnen is: 1850 - 3,402 inhabitants 1870 - 3,723 inhabitants 1888 - 3,906 inhabitants 1900 - 3,949 inhabitants 1910 - 4,661 inhabitants 1930 - 5,282 inhabitants 1945 - 5,723 inhabitants 1950 - 6,199 inhabitants 1955 - 6,336 inhabitants 1965 - 6,686 inhabitants 1970 - 6,952 inhabitants 1975 - 7,015 inhabitants 1985 - 7,956 inhabitants 1990 - 8,398 inhabitants 1995 - 8,858 inhabitants 2000 - 9,145 inhabitants 2005 - 9,472 inhabitants 2006 - 9,512 inhabitants 2007 - 9,617 inhabitants 2008 - 9,798 inhabitants

Per the 2008 census:
 * 74.7% were Roman Catholic
 * 7.9% were Swiss Reformed Church
 * 0.4% were Christian Catholic
 * 17.0% belong to another church

In 1036, the Saints-Pierre-et-Paul church in Kirchhofen was first mentioned. It was rebuilt in the middle 12th century. Samen today includes three churches -- Ossuary of St. Michael (1501), parish church of St. Peter and Paul, and Church of St. Martin (1964).

Surrounding parishes
Alpnach Entlebuch (LU) Flühli (LU Giswil Hasle (LU) Kerns Sachseln

Church Records
The church records and family registers for Sarnen are located at the Obwalden State Archives. Records begin in 1592.

Genealogies
In the early 1900s, Ephrem Omlin systematically extracted information for Obwalden parishes and compiled these on family group pages organized by surname and parish. These are available onsite at the Obwalden State Archives. Historian Niklaus von Flüe expanded this collection; his notes are also available onsite at the Obwalden State Archives.

Civil Registration
Civil registration began in 1876. Sarnen belongs to the Obwalden civil registration district. Records are only available in Switzerland. For further information, contact the civil registry office at:

Zivilstandsamt Obwalden Brünigstrasse 180a CH - 6060 Sarnen

Tel: +41 666 35 65

email: [mailto:zivilstandsamt@sarnen.ow.ch zivilstandsamt@sarnen.ow.ch]

Duplicate civil registration registers are located at the Obwalden State Archives and are available through 1920. For specific information about duplicate civil registration records, see the archives' online catalog; click the + sign to the left of the folder .02.SCH.Schriften (Zivilstand).

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

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

Libraries and archives
Obwalden State Archives

Societies
Zentralschweizerische Gesellschaft für Familienforschung (in German)