Peiden, Graubünden, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Peiden, Graubünden, 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 former municipality of Peiden is in the Lugnez sub-district of the Surselva district and the Graubünden canton. It is located along the road traveling from the bottom to the top of the Lumnezia valley. In 1963, Peiden merged with Uors to create the municipality of Uors-Peiden. In 2002, Uors-Peiden merged with other municipalities to form the municipality of Suraua.

Suraua (as of 2006) has an area of 24.2 km² (9.3 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 29.1% - agricultural purposes
 * 52.0% - forested
 * 2.0% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 16.9% - non-productive

History
In 1345, Peiden was first mentioned by the name of Pedens. Peiden is in the Surselva district and the Graubünden canton.

Peiden merged with Uors to form the Uors-Peiden municipality in 1963. Uors-Peiden merged into the Suraua municipality on 1 January 2002. Other municipalities merged include:
 * Camuns
 * Surcasti
 * Tersnaus

The population history of Peiden is: 1850 - 91 inhabitants 1900 - 129 inhabitants 1910 - 147 inhabitants 1950 - 87 inhabitants 1960 - 67 inhabitants

Peiden belonged to the Saint-Vincent Church in Pleif. in 1345, a chapel dedicated to Saint Sigismund (later to Saint Lucius) was first mentioned. In 1745, Peiden was instituted as the Sainte-Trinité chapel. From 1910 to 1963, Peiden constituted a parish.

Church Records
Peiden belonged to the parish of Vella. See Vella for more information.

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

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Peiden:
 * 1835
 * 1838
 * 1848
 * 1850
 * 1850, form C

Civil Registration
Civil registration began in 1876.

Duplicate civil registration registers are located at the Graubünden State Archives. The following records are available:
 * Both A and B registers are available through 1916-1917 and are open without restriction.
 * Family registers are available from at latest 1860 through 1910; these records are viewable but require permission to access. For more information, contact the State Archive.

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

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

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Graubünden

Societies
Rätische Vereinigung für Familienforschung (RVFF)

Società Genealogica della Svizzera italiana (SGSI)