Näfels Parish, Glarus, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Näfels 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, Näfels had an area of 36.9 km2 (14.2 sq mi). Näfels is located in the Glarner Unterland on the left side of Linth valley, opposite from Mollis. It consists of the village of Näfels and the scattered settlements that make up the Näfelser Berg and the Oberseetal.

The land use is divided up as follows:
 * 35.9% is used for agricultural purposes
 * 37.6% is forested
 * 4.4% is settled (buildings or roads)
 * 22.1% is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains)

History
The first mention of Näfels was in 1240 as Nevels. Näfels 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
 * Niederurnen
 * Oberurnen
 * Obstalden

The population history of Näfels is: 1777 - 533 male inhabitants 1850 - 1869 inhabitants 1870 - 2513 inhabitants 1900 - 2557 inhabitants 1950 - 3327 inhabitants 2000 - 3947 inhabitants 2010 - 4021 inhabitants

N. owed the tithe to Säckingen Abbey until 1395 The village participated after 1280 in the construction of the chapel (future parish) of Mollis, on which it depended spiritually. In 1389, the canton of Glarus founded a chapel around the current church in memory of the victorious outcome of the battle of Näfels (1388); N. refused the Reformation and formed a parish in 1532 (which included Oberurnen until 1868). A chapel, built in 1523, was raised to the rank of parish church in 1534. A rural aristocracy was formed in N. from the late Middle Ages. She remained faithful to the Catholic faith. In 1612, Kaspar Gallati, colonel of the guard, founded the cemetery chapel. The Catholic part of Glarus made N. its capital; she held her landsgemeinde there forty-nine times between 1623 and 1837 and founded there in 1674, to the great displeasure of the Protestants, the Capuchin convent of Mariaburg, Industry benefited from the connection to the Union-Suisse rail network in 1859. In 1831 the Capuchins opened a college for boys (later operated as a secondary school, with optional Latin, and housed in buildings constructed in 1895, 1954 and 1962). The Capuchins gave up teaching in 1984 and gave up their convent to the Franciscans in 1986. When the Constitution of 1837 came into force, which notably governed compulsory schooling, N. had to have a primary school. The municipality first installed it in the Freuler palace, which it had acquired in 1840, before having a specific building built in 1877. From 1860, a school located in the Schwändital welcomed pupils from the heights of N. and d 'Oberurnen.

Church Records
Baptism, marriage, and burial records for the parish of Näfels began in 1655. 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. Näfels 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. Näfels is now part of the Glarus Nord municipality. The municipality website can be accessed here.

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Glarus