St. Gallen Canton, Switzerland Genealogy

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

History
In 1526 the Protestant Reformation was introduced into St. Gallen. The town converted to the new religion while the abbey remained Roman Catholic. While riots forced the monks to flee the city and remove images from the city's churches, the fortified abbey remained untouched and the abbey would remain a Catholic stronghold in the Protestant city until 1803. The Helvetic Republic was widely unpopular in Switzerland and was overthrown in 1803. Following the Act of Mediation the city of St. Gallen became the capital of the Protestant Canton of St. Gallen. At the beginning of the 19th century, the first embroidery machines were developed in St. Gallen. In 1910 the embroidery production constituted the largest export branch in Switzerland and more than half of the worldwide production of embroidery originated in St. Gallen. However, World War I and the Great Depression caused another severe crisis for St. Gallen embroidery. St. Gallen is a German speaking canton.