Uri Canton, Switzerland Genealogy

Guide to Uri canton ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

History
Uri, along with Central Switzerland as a whole, resisted the Swiss Reformation and remained stauchly Catholic. After the Battle at Kappel of 1531, the peace treaty after the war established that each canton would choose which religion to follow, but peace between Catholic and Protestant cantons remained testy. The government of Uri spoke out against the ideals of the French Revolution and opposed any attempt to institute changes in Switzerland. In January 1798, French revolutionary forces invaded Switzerland and on the 11th of April the victorious French announced the creation of the Helvetic Republic and gave the cantons twelve days to accept the new constitution. To protect their traditional religion and power structure, the seven conservative, catholic cantons formed a separate alliance or Sonderbund in 1843. In 1847, the Sonderbund broke with the Federal Government and the Sonderbund War broke out. During the conflict, Uri sent troops to participate in the fighting. After the defeat of the Sonderbund troops in Gisikon on 23 November 1847 Uri withdrew from the alliance and surrendered on 28 November 1847. Two days later federal troops moved into Uri. Uri supported the new Swiss Federal Constitution and freedom of worship was now available for other faiths. The new Federal Constitution of 1874, which was rejected by the voters of Uri, led to a total revision of the cantonal constitution in 1888. Uri is a German speaking canton.