Menziken, Aargau, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Menziken, 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 former municipality of Menziken is in the Kulm district and the Aargau canton. It is located in the upper Wyna River valley.

Menziken (as of 2009) has an area of 6.39 km² (2.47 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 47.6% - agricultural purposes
 * 23.3% - forested
 * 29.3% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.2% - rivers or lakes
 * 0.2% - non-productive

History
In 1045, Menziken was first mentioned by the name of Manzinchouen. In 1295 as Menzchon. Menziken is in the Kulm district and the Aargau canton.

On 1 January 2023, the municipality of Burg merged to form the municipality of Menziken.

The population history of Menziken is: 1589 - 36 inhabitants 1764 - 864 inhabitants 1850 - 1,921 inhabitants 1900 - 2,333 inhabitants 1950 - 3,377 inhabitants 2000 - 5,511 inhabitants 2020 - 6,518 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 30.4% were Roman Catholic
 * 39.6% were Swiss Reformed Church
 * 0.09% were Christian Catholic Church

During the Middle Ages, Menziken was part of the Catholic parish of Pfeffikon. In 1528, Menziken was introducted to the Reformation. In 1528, Menziken was part of Gontenschwil parish. Later, it belonged to the Reinach parish. In 1889, Menziken was part of the parish of Menziken-Burg parish and built its own church. In 1906, the Catholic Menziken-Reinach Diaspora parish was created. The St Anne's Church was built in Menziken.

Catholic
The parish of Menziken was created in 1951, though it has records from earlier. The parish church is called St. Anna.

Post-1875 church records, as well as the following church records, are found onsite at the Menziken parish church office:
 * Baptisms 1862-1947
 * Marriages 1869-1949
 * Burials 1862-1974

Reformed
Menziken belonged to the parish of Reinach until 1890. See Reinach for earlier records.

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

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Menziken:
 * 1837 (images 546-565)
 * 1850: Form A (images 32-77)
 * 1850: Form B (images 78-79)

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Menziken 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 Bern (GHGB)