Bosco/Gurin Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Bosco/Gurin Parish, Ticino, Switzerland, ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, parish census, civil census, family history, area history, and military records.



Geography
As of 1997, Bosco/Gurin has an area of 22.04 square kilometers (8.51 sq mi). Bosco is situated in the Vallemaggia district, and the highest municipality in Ticino at an elevation of 1,504 m (4,934 ft). The village is located near the end of the valley of Bosco Gurin, near the Italian border.

The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 3.1% - agricultural purposes
 * 27.9% - forested
 * 0.9% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 1.3% - rivers or lakes
 * 42.1% - unproductive land

History
The first mention of Bosco/Gurin was in 1244 as als Buscho de Quarinobis. Until 1934, it was known as Bosco-Vallemaggia, and in German as Gurin.

The population history of Bosco/Gurin is: 1354 - 32 fireplaces 1567 - 50 fireplaces 1602 - 201 inhabitants 1745 - 323 inhabitants 1850 - 362 inhabitants 1880 - 420 inhabitants 1900 - 356 inhabitants 1950 - 935 inhabitants 1980 - 1477 inhabitants 2000 - 1058 inhabitants 2010 - 980 inhabitants

The village was started during Walser migration in the 13th century, with the first settlers arriving in 1244. Today the Walser German dialect is being abandoned in favor of the Italian language, and Italian speakers make up the majority in the village, which today has the fifth highest proportion of German speakers. Given the aforementioned, Bosco/Gurin is the only municipality in Ticino where German is a co-official language.[4]

The Walser emigrated from the Val Formazza Walser around 1240 at the request of the Lombardy rulers and the Capitanei of Locarno who needed a band of mercenaries. In 1244, a noble family from Locarno and the villagers of Losone leased from the pastures around the village. Later these pastures passed fully into their possession. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the Walser colony survived almost totally isolated. The rare contacts with the outside world were more with the Val Formazza or Valais than from the rest of Ticino. The geographic isolation strengthened the independent living habits and traditions of the village. The town was frequently buried by avalanches.[3]

The parish church of St. James and St. Christopher was consecrated in 1253, probably at the same time that the village separated from the parish of Cevio. It was expanded and rebuilt in the 15th and 16th centuries. The chapel of Madonna della Neve is from the early 18th century.[3]

The area was briefly part of the Canton of Lugano, before the canton was unified with Bellinzona to form Ticino.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Bosco/Gurin can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Bosco/Gurin prior to 1875, along with any known soprannomi. For more information about soprannomi, click here.

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

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Ticino

Societies
Società Genealogica della Svizzera Italiana (SGSI)