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.

Municipalities
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
Crana

Comologno

Vergeletto

Berzona

Loco

Auressio

Parish registers
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
There is an 1808 civil census from Ticino available on microfilm. This census enumerates males only. Russo is found in this census on pages 178-180. There is a large gap (1769-1841) in the Russo baptism records, and this 1808 census can be helpful in bridging that gap.

The 1808 Ticino census is available on film FHL 1196718

Soprannomi
Soprannomi It is important for researchers of this parish to keep in mind that “soprannomi” are used in the church records. Soprannomi roughly translates as “nickname”. A soprannome is not a nickname in a personal sense, but a designation of different branches of the same family. An example of why soprannomi would be used would be to distinguish a branch of a family that owned and lived on land in a certain area, etc.

Soprannomi appear mainly in earlier parish records. They can appear several ways. For example, a soprannome of one branch of the Garbani family is “Gardelli”. In the parish register, their records may say either “Garbani”; Garbani-Gardelli”; “Gardelli”; or “Garbani dicti Gardelli”, where dicti translates as ‘otherwise known as’.

Researchers should remain alert to the use of these name variations. At time the usage can frequently change back and forth in the records. Sometimes the surname will permanently change.

Following are surnames associated with the parish of Russo, along with some name variations, listed by by municipality. Not every surname listed below is designated by the Register of Swiss Surnames as having citizenship in the towns they are listed in here; they are included based on their presence in the communities and associated genealogical sources.

Libraries and archives
Ticino State Archives

Website can be found here

Contact information: Archivio di Stato del Cantone Ticino

Viale S. Franscini 30a 6500 Bellinzona

Telephone: +41 91 814 13 20

Fax: +41 91 814 13 29

Email: decs-asti@ti.ch

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.