Russo Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Russo Parish, Ticino, Switzerland, ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, parish census, civil census, family history, area history, and military records.



Geography
Russo is a parish within the Onsernone valley region of the District of Locarno, Canton Ticino, Switzerland. In 1995 the municipality of Russo merged with neighboring Crana and Comologno to form the larger municipality of Onsernone.

History
Russo split away from the parish of Loco in about 1656. Besides Russo itself, it originally also contained the villages of Comologno, Corbella, Crana, Spruga, Vocaglia, and Vergeletto/Gresso. Two of the earliest mentions of the modern village of Russo are in 1231, when it was called de Ruxi; and 1277 as Russio. Russo was part of the Squadra of Russo, one of the five Squadre that made up the medieval community of Onsernone.

Locations within Russo
These are the primary locations within the original parish of Russo, along with the date they left to establish their own parish or became absorbed into a different parish.

Surrounding parishes
Auressio Berzona Comologno Crana Loco Vergeletto

Church Records
The following parish registers are available on microfilm:

Persons researching families from these locations will need to consult both the Russo parish records for earlier dates, and the appropriate registers for municipalities that split off from Russo as needed.

Parish records are mostly written in the Latin language, with some Italian. Help with translating the Latin records can be found here

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Russo can be accessed here.

There is a large gap (1769-1841) in the Russo baptism records, and this 1808 census can be helpful in bridging that gap.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Russo prior to 1875, along with any known soprannomi. For more information about soprannomi, click here.

Related sources
The town's website (in Italian) can be found here.

Libraries and archives
State Archives of Ticino

Societies
The genealogical society that covers Ticino is the Società Genealogica della Svizzera Italiana (SGSI).

Periodicals
La Voce Onsernonese

La Voce Onsernonese is a locally produced and published Italian language periodical which contains a wealth of valuable information about the people, culture, history, and landscape of the Onsernone Valley area. Most of the issues from its inception in 1972 through 2012 are archived and viewable online.