Oftringen, Aargau, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Oftringen, 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 municipality of Oftringen is in the district of Zofingen in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It is situated on the eastern side of the lower Wigger river valley. It includes the village of Oftringen and several hamlets and individual houses scattered throughout side valleys. The ruins of Alt-Wartburg castle are located in the northernmost part of Oftringen.

Oftringen (as of 2009) has an area of 12.85 km² (4.96 square miles). The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 35.6% - agricultural purposes
 * 33.9% - forested
 * 30.7% - settled (buildings or roads)
 * 0.1% - non-productive

History
In 924, Oftringen was first mentioned by the name of Ofteringa.

The population history of Oftringen is: 1764 - 884 inhabitants 1850 - 2,584 inhabitants 1900 - 3,247 inhabitants 1950 - 5,350 inhabitants 1970 - 9,189 inhabitants 2000 - 10,305 inhabitants 2020 - 14,455 inhabitants

Per the 2000 census:
 * 29.0% belonged to the Roman Catholic Church
 * 45.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
 * 0.18% belonged to the Christian Catholic faith

In 1528, the Protestant Reformation entered the village. Oftringen was part of the parish of Zofingen until 1920 when its own parish was formed. The parish church was constructed in 1933–34.

Church Records
Oftringen belonged to the parish of Zofingen until 1920, when it became an independent parish. See Zofingen for more information.

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

The following censuses are available from FamilySearch for Oftringen:
 * 1837 (images 445-493)
 * 1850: Form A, households 1-158 (images 735-761)
 * 1850: Form A, households 158-298 (images 5-41)
 * 1850: Form B (images 42-44)

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Oftringen 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)