Rheinfelden Parish, Aargau, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Rheinfelden Parish, Aargau, 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 Rheinfelden (Alemannic German: Rhyfälde) is in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland, seat of the district of Rheinfelden. It is situated 15 kilometres east of Basel located on the High Rhine. The city is across the river from Rheinfelden in Baden-Württemberg; the two cities were joined until Napoleon Bonaparte set the Germany–Switzerland border on the Rhine in 1802 and are still socially and economically tied.

Rheinfelden (as of 2004/09) has an area of 16.02 km² (6.19 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 20.7% - agricultural purposes
 * 50.0% - forested
 * 22.6% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 6.7% - non-productive

History
In 851, Rheinfelden was first mentioned by the name of Rifelt. In the first half of the 12th century, it was called by the name Rinfelden.

The population history of Rheinfelden is: 1788 - 1,226 inhabitants 1850 - 1,910 inhabitants 1900 - 3,349 inhabitants 1950 - 4,550 inhabitants 1970 - 6,866 inhabitants 2000 - 10,637 inhabitants 2020 - 13,551 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 36.1% belonged to the Roman Catholic Church
 * 33.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
 * 2.67% belonged to the Christian Catholic faith

The parish church of St. Martin, which dates back to the 11th century, was probably constructed as a church owned by the Counts of Rheinfelden. In 1769-1772, the church was extensively refurbished and redesigned in the baroque style. In 1873, the parish adopted the Christian Catholic faith. In 1876, the first Christian Catholic bishop in Switzerland was ordained in St. Martin. At the beginning of the 21st century, just under 3% of the population still believed in Christian Catholicism.

Catholic
The parish of Rheinfelden was first mentioned in the tenth century. The parish church is called St. Josef.

The following church records are available onsite in the Rheinfelden city archive:
 * Baptisms 1579-1677
 * Baptisms 1678-1779
 * Baptisms 1780-1855
 * Baptisms 1817-1856
 * Baptisms 1856-1875
 * Marriages 1579-1784
 * Marriages 1784-1855
 * Marriages 1817-1853
 * Marriages 1853-1875
 * Marriages non-resident citizens 1817-1875
 * Burials 1784-1714
 * Burials 1714-1784
 * Burials 1785-1855
 * Burials 1817-1867
 * Burials 1868-1875

Post-1875 church records are found onsite at the Rheinfelden Catholic parish church office.

Reformed
A Reformed parish was created in 1900, with records first being kept in 1865. The following church records are only available onsite at the Rheinfelden city archive:
 * Baptisms 1865-1875
 * Marriages 1865-1875; marriages non-resident citizens 1865-1875
 * Burials 1865-1875

Post-1875 church records are found onsite at the Rheinfelden Reformed parish church office.

Census
(See here for information regarding Aargau census records.)

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Rheinfelden:
 * 1837 (images 612-640)
 * 1850: Form A (images 264-310)
 * 1850: Form B (images 311-312)

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

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

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Aargau

Societies
Genealogical-Heraldic Society of Region Basel (GHGRB)