Aesch Parish, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland Genealogy

Guide to Aesch Parish, Basel-Landschaft, 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 village and municipality of Aesch (sometimes written as Aesch BL in order to distinguish it from other "Aesches"; Swiss German: Ääsch) is in the Arlesheim district and the Basel-Landschaft canton. It is situated almost exclusively on the left bank of the Birs. Today, it is part of the collection of Basel. It includes the linear village of Aesch along the road between Birseck and the Laufen valley.

Aesch (as of 2009) has an area of 7.39 km² (2.85 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 47.0% - agricultural purposes
 * 16.4% - forested
 * 36.0% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.7% - either rivers or lakes
 * 0.1% - non-productive

History
In 1252, Aesch was first mentioned by the name of Esch.

The population history of Aesch is: 1586 - 48 hearths 1771 - 655 inhabitants 1815 - 787 inhabitants 1850 - 998 inhabitants 1860 - 1,148 inhabitants 1870 - 1,365 inhabitants 1880 - 1,459 inhabitants 1888 - 1,555 inhabitants 1900 - 1,867 inhabitants 1910 - 2,069 inhabitants 1920 - 2,559 inhabitants 1930 - 2,809 inhabitants 1941 - 2,829 inhabitants 1950 - 3,149 inhabitants 1960 - 3,981 inhabitants 1970 - 6,060 inhabitants 1980 - 7,954 inhabitants 1990 - 9,560 inhabitants 2000 - 9,735 inhabitants 2021 - 10,368 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 44.1% belonged to the Roman Catholic Church
 * 28.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
 * 1.92% belonged to an Orthodox church
 * 0.21% belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
 * 2.22% belonged to another Christian church
 * 0.03% belonged to the Jewish faith
 * 5.10% belonged to the Islamic faith

Originally, Aesch was part of the parish of Pfeffingen. It adopted the Reformed faith around 1529. Aesch became a separate parish in 1803. The parish church of St. Joseph was constructed in 1819-20 and refurbished in 1938–39.

Church Records
The Catholic parish of Aesch was established in 1803 from the parish of Pfeffingen. For earlier records, see Pfeffingen.

Parish records for Aesch are available online from the Basel-Landschaft State Archive. The 25 volumes of digitized records include:
 * 1803-1921 Baptisms at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1803-1950 Marriages at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1803-1944 Burials at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1828-1896 Confirmations at Basel-Landschaft State Archive - with gaps

Census
(See here for information regarding Basel-Landschaft census records.)

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

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

Libraries and archives
Basel-Landschaft State Archive

Societies
Genealogical-Heraldic Society of Region Basel (GHGRB)