Oberurnen Parish, Glarus, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Oberurnen Parish, Glarus, 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 2006, Oberurnen has an area of 12.8 km2 (4.9 sq mi). Oberurnen is an industrial village of the Glarus Unterland with the oldest part located on the dejection cone of the Rüfirunse.

The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 45.2% is used for agricultural purposes
 * 40.6% is forested
 * 4.1% is settled (buildings or roads)
 * 10.2% is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains)

History
The first mention of Oberurnen was in 1340 as Obern Urannen. Oberurnen became part of the municipality of Glarus Nord on 1 January 2011.

Other localities that merged to form Glarus Nord municipality include:


 * Bilten
 * Filzbach
 * Mollis
 * Mühlehorn
 * Näfels
 * Niederurnen
 * Obstalden

The population history of Oberurnen is: 1850 - 691 inhabitants 1900 - 862 inhabitants 1950 - 1181 inhabitants 2000 - 1811 inhabitants 2010 - 1963 inhabitants

Oberurnen belonged, with Niederurnen, to Schänis Abbey and paid taxes to Säckingen Abbey during the middle ages. After 1280, the village took part in the construction of the Mollis chapel, which in 1319 was elevated to the status of a church for Oberurnen and Näfels. Oberurnen and Näfels rejected the Reformation in 1532. In 1592, the Catholic parish was endowed with a richly decorated chapel, dedicated to the Trinity. In 1868, Oberurnen separated from the parish of Näfels and erected its own church, St. George.

In 1875, the town was connected to the Northeast Railway.

Church Records
Baptism, marriage, and burial records for the parish of Oberurnen began in 1868. Before 1868, Oberurnen belonged to the parish of Näfels. Information from the church records was extracted by Johann Jakob Kubly-Müller and organized into families. The Glarus Family Tree has made much of this data available online.

Original church records for Canton Glarus are only accessible at the Glarus State Archives.

Civil Registration
Civil registration began in 1849. Oberurnen belongs to the Glarus civil registration district. Records are only available in Switzerland. For further information, contact the civil registry office at:

Zivilstandskreis Glarus Postgasse 29 8750 Glarus Tel: +41 55 646 69 50 email: [mailto:zivilstandsamt@gl.ch zivilstandsamt@gl.ch]

Genealogies
(Click here for an article describing Swiss compiled genealogies.)

The Glarus Family Tree is a project which shows the family links between about 200 original families from Glarus. The source of most of this information is the 30-year, 36-volume genealogical masterpiece by Johann Jakob Kubly-Müller. The tree has more than 270,000 individuals can be found online at Geneal-Tree, MyHeritage, Geneanet, and Ancestry.

Related sources
In 2011, Canton Glarus was reorganized into three municipalities. Oberurnen is now part of the Glarus Nord municipality. The municipality website can be accessed here.

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Glarus