Billeter's Genealogical notes on families of Switzerland

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Switzerland
Surnames/tags: switzerland billeter

Research made by Julius Billeter, from 1896-1950, arranged in semi-alphabetical order of surnames

WikiTree Profiles that use this source

Author: Billeter, Julius

Publisher: n.p., 1950

Contents 1 Usage 2 Online availability 3 Is it a reliable source? 4 See also

Usage

* <span id='Billeter1950'></span>Billeter, Julius. ''[[Space:Billeter%27s_Genealogical_notes_on_families_of_Switzerland|Genealogical notes on families of Switzerland etc. : research made by Julius Billeter, from 1896-1950, arranged in semi-alphabetical order of surnames]].'' n.p., 1950.

<ref>[[#Billeter1950|Billeter1950]]: p. 42</ref>

Online availability

• FamilySearch: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/193135

Is it a reliable source?

The Billeter manuscripts are a secondary source — Julius Billeter hand-transcribed primary-source church records. They are especially valuable to researchers because Swiss church records in many regions are unavailable online and may be difficult to access even in person. However, like any secondary source, they are limited by potential errors in the author's interpretation of records.

Billeter's transcription of dates (baptisms, burials, marriages) is considered generally very accurate. He standardized and abbreviated given names throughout the manuscript, so his transcription of names often won't match the spelling in the original church records (which may have been Latinized, archaic, and/or simply variable).

Swiss baptism records during the period compiled by Billeter typically included both the father's and mother's birth names, making it fairly straightforward to reconstruct family groups consisting of both parents, their marriage, and all of their recorded children. Billeter's family groups are considered reliable where baptism dates are provided. Billeter doesn't include baptismal sponsors or any other notes that may have been part of the original church record.

For burials, if an age at death was recorded he generally does include it in tiny digits after the burial date, you just have to know that's what it means. He doesn't include any relationships that may have been recorded in the burial record (such as a parent or widow), so more often than not it's unclear how he assigned a given burial to a given individual (for example, a child's burial record might have included its father's or parents' names, but since Billeter didn't transcribe that information, we don't know for sure).

"v." followed by a place name nearly always refers to where a person was from and not where the event took place. It can be very difficult to figure out event locations in Billeter, as the related place name might only be recorded on the first page of a surname and sometimes not there either. Importantly, Swiss church books often recorded a person's place of registered citizenship, which might not be where they actually lived.

Where Billeter's work is most heavily criticized is in his assignments of parents from one family group to their parents in the preceding generation. A researcher in 1980 found that for their family lines, the links from one generation to another were inaccurate about 25% of the time. Again, this can perhaps be verified or corrected by accessing the original records to confirm locations, sponsors, relatives, and other notes.

See also

• Julius Billeter on Wikipedia
• FamilySearch Wiki: Julius Billeter 1869-1957 and his research
• The Billeter collection : how to use it
• Julius Billeter : a critical appraisal of his research
• Observations on the Swiss Genealogical Research of Julius Billeter in Comparison with Original Bernese Vital Records