Finding your Swiss ancestors

First, find the place of origin (Heimatort)

In Switzerland the key place is not always where your ancestor was born. Every Swiss citizen belongs to a commune, the place of origin (Heimatort or Bürgerort in German, lieu d'origine in French, luogo di attinenza in Italian). The Swiss embassy in Washington explains that it is the commune where Swiss citizens obtain their citizenship rights, and that passports and identity cards show it instead of the place of birth. Once you know it, you know which civil registry office to write to and where to start in the parish registers.

Use the surname. The Register of Swiss Surnames (Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz) lists all the families holding citizenship in a Swiss commune in 1962, with the commune, the date or period when they acquired it, and where they came from. Search by name and canton to see which communes a surname belongs to; the FamilySearch Wiki suggests using it to narrow the list of possible towns. It is hosted by the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland and has an English interface.

Place of origin, not place of birth. A Swiss family could live for generations away from its place of origin and still be citizens there. Before 1929, events that happened in another commune were copied into a separate register kept at the place of origin, so the place of origin often has the whole family on file even when the events happened elsewhere (see below).

Women changed place of origin. The Bern civil registry service warns that tracing women's lines is harder because every woman changed her home commune when she married. A wife's maiden-name family must be looked for in her father's place of origin.

Which office. The federal register office finder (linked from ch.ch) gives the civil registry office responsible for a place of origin. Many small communes share one office, and the office's name is often that of a larger town.

Languages. Records are in German, French, Italian or Romansh depending on the canton; the Fribourg state archive notes that civil registers are kept in the official language of the locality, and that older parish registers are in Latin.

Before 1876: parish registers in the cantonal archives

The Swiss embassy pages say it plainly: civil status was officially registered only after 1876, and before that the religious communities recorded births, marriages and deaths in their registers. Old church records are kept in the archives of the parishes and communes, and the cantonal state archives (Staatsarchiv, archives cantonales, archivio di Stato) keep a directory of them and of the copies on microfilm. In practice, many cantons now hold the registers themselves. Each canton is different: here are some that we checked.

Earlier civil registers in some cantons. According to the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, many cantons replaced the pastors with civil officials from 1830 on; Vaud kept cantonal civil registers from 1821. Bern's collective registers of citizens (Sammelregister) have been kept at the place of origin since 1822.

Do the reading yourself. Archives help you start but do not research for you: the Bern State Archive's staff 'cannot carry out research for private individuals', and Zurich's say that further research is up to you. Most registers are handwritten in old German script (Kurrent), French or Latin.

From 1876: federal civil registers, the family register and Infostar

1876 to 1928. Under the federal civil status law, every commune had to set up a civil registry office by 1 January 1876. The Federal Office of Justice describes two sets of registers: register A, at the place of the event, recorded all births, marriages and deaths in the district; register B, at the place of origin, recorded the events that concerned the commune's own citizens elsewhere. So an ancestor born in Basel with a place of origin in Glarus appears in both.

1929 to 2004: the family register. From 1 January 1929 the B registers were abolished and replaced by the family register (Familienregister, registre des familles, registro delle famiglie), kept at the place of origin. It recorded, on one family sheet, all the civil status events of a person and their family. The cantons' older citizens' registers were its forerunners. A copy of a family sheet is called a Familienschein.

Since 2005: Infostar. Until the end of 2004 all events were recorded in paper registers. Since January 2005 they have been recorded only electronically, in the federal register Infostar; a modernised version went live on 11 November 2024. People who died before Infostar are usually not in it: their records are in the paper registers.

Asking the civil registry office (Zivilstandsamt, état civil)

The Swiss embassy pages say that questions about Swiss ancestors should go to the competent civil registry office (Zivilstandsamt, office de l'état civil, ufficio dello stato civile), and that its answers are charged for. Write to the office of the place of origin; for a single event you can also ask the office of the place of birth, marriage or death.

Protection periods. Under the federal civil status ordinance (article 92a), registers are not freely open for:

• Births: 110 years
• Marriages: 80 years
• Deaths: 50 years

Older registers can be researched without a permit; several cantons have moved them to the state archive (Vaud puts its own online). Within these periods, data are given out only as extracts, and researchers need a permit from the cantonal supervisory authority (Aufsichtsbehörde im Zivilstandswesen), which Zurich and Aargau charge at least 75 francs for. The family registers kept from 1929 are generally closed: Bern allows no inspection, and Fribourg only at the local office with prior permission. No office gives researchers information about living people.

Your own direct ancestors. You do not need a permit for data about yourself and your direct line: Aargau names parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents and so on. In Bern a written confirmation is limited to your own deceased ancestors in the direct line, and costs 30 francs plus postage; a search costs 75 francs per half hour. Say that you are a descendant and attach the birth and marriage certificates that link you to the ancestor.

Certificates. ch.ch lists the official certificates (birth, family, death and others). Anyone may order certificates concerning themselves, and for someone else you need their power of attorney. A standard certificate costs 30 francs plus postage, and many can be ordered online. These rules are written for living people; for an ancestor, write to the office as described below.

From abroad. The Swiss embassy pages direct genealogical questions to the civil registry offices and the state archives; they do not say that the embassy forwards requests. Write to the office directly.

Emigrants: records of departure and where they went

How many left. The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland counts more than 90,000 overseas emigrants in the decade 1881 to 1890, and says that by the end of the 19th century North America was the goal of almost 90% of them. A federal law that came into force in 1880 put the emigration agencies under federal supervision. Lucerne's state archive shows the earlier wave too: the Lucerne emigration to Nova Friburgo in Brazil in 1819, and letters home from Chicago (1847) and Wheeling (1871).

Passport registers. Emigrants often took out a passport in their canton. Zurich's state archive has published a list of passports issued for America and Australia, 1848 to 1870, giving the name, place of origin, residence, occupation, age, companions and destination; 1854 was a peak year. Its introduction warns that not every emigrant took a passport. Lucerne's passport registers run from 1798 to 1915, with large gaps; ask the state archive of the canton of origin what survives.

Overseas emigration index, 1910 to 1953. Lucerne's state archive says that the index of overseas emigration from Switzerland, 1910 to 1953, with about 142,000 names, is in the Swiss Federal Archives (reference E2175-2), and that it can be partly searched online, partly for a fee. Search the Federal Archives' online access; the Archives hold files on private people only when they came into contact with the federal administration.

The official tables shown on this site's map count:

Figures: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Yearbook of Immigration Statistics 2019, table 2; INSEE, retrospective census tables; Argentina, Dirección General de Inmigración, Resumen estadístico 1857–1924; Australian Department of Home Affairs, Historical Migration Statistics; Quebec immigration ministry (MIFI). Each country counts in its own way: compare with care. The Brazilian table (IBGE, 1884–1958) has no separate line for the Swiss, who are counted with all other nationalities.

Switzerland also received many immigrants: the map's Switzerland layer shows the foreigners living in Switzerland at each federal census from 1850 to 1990.

Look first for the arrival record in the country where your ancestor landed: naturalization and other records often name the place of origin.

Writing to the Zivilstandsamt or a state archive

For an event from 1876 on, write to the civil registry office of the ancestor's place of origin (or of the place of the event). Give the full name, the date and place, the parents' names and the place of origin, say that you are a direct descendant of the deceased person and enclose copies of the certificates that prove the line. Ask for an extract from the civil status registers or a written confirmation of the entry, ask whether a permit from the cantonal supervisory authority is needed, and ask the fee and how to pay it from abroad. Do not ask about living relatives: offices may not give that information. For entries older than 110 years (births), 80 (marriages) or 50 (deaths), and for parish registers before 1876, first check the state archive's portal, then write to the archive with the parish, book and page. Write in German to offices in German-speaking cantons, in French to those in French-speaking cantons (such as Vaud, Geneva, Neuchâtel, Jura) and in Italian in Ticino. Write your letter in German with our free generator.

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