Oberwil Parish, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Oberwil 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 municipality of Oberwil is in the Arlesheim district and the Basel-Landschaft canton. It is located in the middle Leimen valley.

Oberwil (as of 2009) has an area of 7.88 km² (3.04 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 44.0% - agricultural purposes
 * 19.5% - forested
 * 35.8% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.4% - rivers or lakes
 * 0.3% - non-productive

History
In 1102, Oberwil was first mentioned by the name of Oberuuilre. Oberwil is in the Arlesheim district and the Basel-Landschaft canton.

The population history of Oberwil is: 1722 - 109 homes 1850 - 794 inhabitants 1860 - 854 inhabitants 1870 - 884 inhabitants 1880 - 1,007 inhabitants 1888 - 1,140 inhabitants 1900 - 1,516 inhabitants 1910 - 1,687 inhabitants 1920 - 1,993 inhabitants 1930 - 2,210 inhabitants 1941 - 2,128 inhabitants 1950 - 2,540 inhabitants 1960 - 3,873 inhabitants 1970 - 6,678 inhabitants 1980 - 7,646 inhabitants 1990 - 8,626 inhabitants 2000 - 9,363 inhabitants 2021 - 11,167 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * PERCENT% were Roman Catholic
 * PERCENT% were Swiss Reformed Church
 * PERCENT% were Orthodox Church
 * PERCENT% were Other Christian Church

CHURCHHISTORY

Church Records
Traditionally Catholic, Oberwil became Reformed in 1525 until it was recatholicized in 1598. Parish records for Oberwil are available online from the Basel-Landschaft State Archive. The 21 volumes of digitized records include:
 * 1657-1912 Baptisms at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1658-1908 Marriages at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1659-1904 Burials at Basel-Landschaft State Archive
 * 1662-1902 Confirmations at Basel-Landschaft State Archive - with gaps
 * 1805-1875 Family books at Basel-Landschaft State Archive

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

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

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

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Basel-Landschaft

Societies
Genealogical-Heraldic Society of Region Basel (GHGRB)