Loco Parish, Ticino, Switzerland Genealogy

Description: Guide to Loco 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
Loco is a village and former municipality in the district of Lacarno, in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. The village is situated in the Onsernone Valley on a terrace on the highway that leads to Vergeletto on the one hand and Spruga on the other. It also consisted of the hamlets of Niva and Rossa and was the administrative center of the Municipality of Isorno.

In 2001, a new and larger municipality Isorno was formed when the following municipalities merged:
 * Auressio
 * Berzona
 * Loco

In 2016, Isorno was one of the municipalities that merged into Onsernone municipality.

History
The first mention of Loco was in 1224 as Loco and was also called Luogo.

The population history of Loco is: 1795 - 684 inhabitants 1808 - 689 inhabitants 1850 - 600 inhabitants 1860 - 745 inhabitants 1880 - 634 inhabitants 1900 - 402 inhabitants 1930 - 289 inhabitants 1950 - 258 inhabitants 2000 - 254 inhabitants

From the Middle Ages until the end of the Ancien Régime, Loco together with the other villages of the valley (except Auressio), formed the valley community of Onsernone, of which it was the chief town. The parish church of San Remigio was the mother church of the valley and the ancient seat of the Vicariate of the Onsernone Valley. It is mentioned for the first time in 1228 (in the municipal archives), but is probably older. It was rebuilt at the beginning of the 16th century and acquired its current steeple. It houses the Holy Cross Chapel with an ancient, venerated cross relic In the church, there is a depiction of the Last Supper by the Flemish painter Godefridus Maes from 1683. In Niva, there is the late Baroque chapel of St. John Nepomuk; the chapel in Sassello (late 17th century) is dedicated to the Madonna of Re.

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

The 1808 Ticino census for Loco can be accessed here.

Surnames
The following surnames held citizenship in Loco 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
Società Genealogica della Svizzera Italiana (SGSI)