Place Study: Sevelen, St. Gallen, Schweiz

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Sevelen, Sankt Gallen, Schweiz
Surnames/tags: SWITZERLAND Werdenberg St_Gallen

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Contents 1 Purpose of the Study 2 Location & History 3 Useful Terms 4 Resources 4.1 Pastors of the Kirchgemeinde Sevelen, 1637- 5 Participants 6 Sources

Purpose of the Study

Sevelen is part of a string of villages along the valley floor of the Rheintal in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The towering mountains either side of the valley made it easier for the early population to choose their spouses from a few of the neighbouring villages. Naturally there are exceptions to this but it holds true for the majority of people well into the 19th century. As a result, local families are heavily intertwined and even one ancestor from the old families is invariably linked to many other families in Sevelen. Early migrants to lands now within Germany and beyond as well as later migrations to the USA and Brasil have spread descendants far and wide.

The goal of the study is to reconstruct a family tree for the village based on the available church records. This will greatly aid family researchers with roots in Sevelen, regardless of where they reside.

Location & History

Located in the South-East of the Swiss canton of St. Gallen the municipality of Sevelen, together with the municipalities of Wartau, Buchs, Grabs, Gams and Sennwald, forms the registration district of Werdenberg. The municipality of Sevelen encompasses the village of Sevelen, the hamlets of Rans, St. Ulrich, Oberräfis and Sevelerberg. The Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche in Sevelen (Reformed Church) was the only church in the municipality until the Katholische Kirche (Catholic Church) was erected in 1950.

Sevelen or Sevellins was mentioned for the first time in 1160. Some 300 years later, the village became part of confederate canton Luzern and, as a consequence, part of the Old Swiss Confederacy. In 1517, the area of Werdenberg was acquired by the canton of Glarus and remained as such until 1798. The ownership by Glarus is something every family researcher in the area should be aware of for a few reasons. First, during the Reformation Glarus and its lands were early adopters of the 'new' religion. Aside from Gams, the available church registers for Werdenberg were started by followers of the Evangelisch-Reformierten Kirche. Second, many of the officials were chosen by the masters in Glarus from their ranks. Therefore, some family names in the church registers originate in Glarus. However, they did often marry locally.

In 1637, Johannes Grenz from 'German' lands began recording christenings and marriages as he commenced his posting in Sevelen. Burials were not considered as important by the Reformed Church and burials were not recorded until 1707.

Most people in Werdenberg were involved in subsistence agriculture. This did not change with the introduction of mechanical embroidery machines ^[1] in the 1870s but it provided the farmers another stream of income. It was mainly a family affair although some were able to employ some neighbours as well. Researchers will encounter the term 'Sticker' on many pages of the later church records.

Useful Terms

Kirchgemeinde: similar to the English Parish

Wahlkreis: Registration District

Bürger: Citizen

Bürger Ort or Heimatort: In Switzerland, citizenship is determined by being a Bürger of a particular municipality. Inherited through the father, sons will pass on the Heimatort to their children whereas daughters will exchange their father's Heimatort with the one from their husband. Residents of the area in Sevelen called 'Oberräfis' may hold two Heimatort, Sevelen and neighbouring Buchs. The Heimatort and place of residence can be the same but does not need to be. A person may be a Bürger of a place they never have resided in. The importance to genealogists is that Bürger registers are kept at the Heimatort whereas Family registers are kept at the place of residence. This means that if one is lost, there might be a 'backup' record in a different municipality.

Resources

In 2018, the canton of St. Gallen made the church registers available for free online through the Staatsarchiv St. Gallen. The earliest register from 1637 are missing some entries. However, as a whole, the registers are largely without gaps. The following are available through the archive.

Named Register	Weblink
Tauf-, Ehe und Totenbuch, 1637-1738	http://staatsarchiv-sg.ch/index.php?bid=1927
Tauf-, Konfirmanden-, Ehe und Totenbuch, 1728-1806	http://staatsarchiv-sg.ch/index.php?bid=1928
Tauf-, Konfirmanden-, Ehe und Totenbuch, 1806-1836	http://staatsarchiv-sg.ch/index.php?bid=1929
Tauf-, Konfirmanden-, Ehe und Totenbuch, 1827-1840	http://staatsarchiv-sg.ch/index.php?bid=1930
Tauf- und Konfirmandenbuch, 1840-1896	http://staatsarchiv-sg.ch/index.php?bid=857
Ehe und Totenbuch, 1841-1903	http://staatsarchiv-sg.ch/index.php?bid=858

Pastors of the Kirchgemeinde Sevelen, 1637-

Name	Period
Johannes Grenz	1637-1650
Johann Rudolf Delliker	1650-1668
Johann Jakob Hofmeister	1668-1682
Samuel Schmied	1682-1707
Paravicin de Paravicinis	1707-1728
Samuel Schmied	1728-1771
Johann Ulrich Legler	1771-1786
Bartholome Kubli	1786-1812
Mathias Hagmann	1812-1827
Johann Knaus	1827-1835
Jakob Ludwig Fäh	1835-1845
Kaspar Laurenz Hess	1845-1859

Participants

Andrea Staub - Growing up in Sevelen, I am a direct descendant of a few of the 'old families' of Sevelen.

Sources

1. ↑ 'Wikipedia (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schifflistickmaschine : accessed 25 November 2020). "Schifflistickmaschine."

• Ulrich Friedrich Hagmann, Huldreich Gustav Sulzberger (1819-1888): Die Geschichte der Gemeinde Sevelen, Band I. Sevelen, St. Gallen, Schweiz: Gemeinde Sevelen, 1978.
• Ulrich Friedrich Hagmann, Huldreich Gustav Sulzberger (1819-1888): Die Geschichte der Gemeinde Sevelen, Band II. Sevelen, St. Gallen, Schweiz: Gemeinde Sevelen, 1984.
• Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Switzerland : accessed 25 November 2020). "History of Switzerland."
• Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevelen : accessed 25 November 2020). "Sevelen."