Parish Registers
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The main source for obtaining information about your ancestors are the parish registers. These registers are kept in the State Archives. There are 32 protestant and 8 catholic pari shes to the Canton of Basel-Landschaft of which more than 1400 volumes of parish registers are kept at the State Archives in Liestal. There are volumes containing births/baptisms, marriages, deaths. Some parishes have family registers.
The Inventory of Parish Registers The inventory of the parish registers is constantly being updated. The inventory is organized alphabetically according to the names of the parishes. Each entry consists of three parts:
1. code (Archivsignatur), 2. villages belonging to the parish 3. the indication as to whether the register concerns protestant or catholic members of the parish
There is an overview which indicates the timespan for which information is available in our State Archives. In addition there is an index showing each parish separately in a more detailed fashion. Here you will find each separate volume and its number. Volumes are defined as follows: name of parish, no. of volume, timespan in years. Some volumes contain an alphabetical index indicated as follows: "m.R." (mit Register).
An example
You are looking for: Boni (Bohny, Bohni) John Rudolf (Johann R., Hans R.) from Frenkendorf, baptized April 25, 1745. First check the overwiew to make sure Frenkendorf belongs to the Canton of Basel-Landschaft (if it doesn't, it is not on the list of parishes).
Now you look up the Frenkendorf pages in the inventory. You will find out that there are 37 volumes concerning the parish of Frenkendorf.
You will find that two volumes might contain relevant information: vol. Frenkendorf 2, 1690-1842 (baptisms) and possibly vol. Frenkendorf 10 1757-1856 (family register).
These will be the volumes you want to take a closer look at if you are planning a visit to our State Archives and the codes you need to make any written request. From here you may trace John Rudolfs parents, grandparents, great-grandparents etc. by locating them in older Frenkendorf volumes and find out where and when they were born, got married, died, or how many children the family had, for example.
Restrictions Parish registers on microfilm may be used without restrictions if older than 100 years. Permission concerning registers younger than 100 years is given individually.
Five steps towards a successful search
- written request - by (e-)mail or fax to the address below - 1 month in advance if you are planning a visit - Indicate as much information as you can about your ancestor, such as: name; first name(s); date of birth/marriage/death; village of origin |