| Census Year | FHL Film number | item number | beginning page | notes |
| 1633 | 1185140 | 1 | 693 | Anabaptists |
| 1634 | 1185139 | 1 | 284 | |
| 1640 | 1185143 | 1 | 707 | |
| 1643 | 1185145 | 1 | 647 | |
| 1646 | 1185147 | 2 | 481 | |
| 1649 | 1185149 | 1 | 251 | |
| 1657 | 1185151 | 1 | 521 | list of emigrants |
| 1656 | 1185179 | 1 | 103 | list of emigrants |
| cal 1657 | 1185179 | 1 | 142 | list of Anabaptists |
| 1661 | 1185179 | 3 | 75 | list of conversions |
| 1670 | 1185153 | 1 | 723 | |
| 1678 | 1185152 | 3 | 835 | |
| 1682 | 1185158 | 3 | 1 | |
| 1689 | 1185164 | 1 | 633 | |
| 1695 | 1185168 | 2 | 215 | |
| 1708 | 1185169 | 2 | 365 | |
| 1749 | 1185176 | 1 | 137 |
FamilySearch: The purpose of these population registers was originally to record the Protestant Reformed Church membership in the parishes of the Synod of Zürich, Switzerland. Approximately every three years lists of the members of all family households and those in Church service were made and sent in to the rector (Antistes) in Zürich. In addition to the names of each member of the household, ages, and often exact baptism dates are given, especially for the children, but often for the parents as well.
The column lists the Religious Knowledge of each member of
the family:
Peter B: These Census reports (BV) of the local protestant
pastors had to be sent to the Zurich central church (Grossmünster) from 1634 to
about 1740 every May (or second or third year) to the head of the reformed
church (Antistes) to be discussed at the Congregation of all pastors (see PDF).
They served as control of how many souls (sheep) there were in the local parish
and the knowledge of Christian literature. The kids had to learn by heart all
kinds of things as already mentioned to you before according to age. Every year
the pastor went to the family to check it out. Did they have a bible ? How
religious were the parents ? The kids were asked test questions. This was a
kind of school - because they learned at least spelling and a lot by heart ..
Older than 15 years, these boys and girls were allowed to go and participate at
the Abendmahl sermon. They also had to learn the 10 Gebote (Commandmends),
Psalms, Katechisms etc.
Zürich Archives:
Photocopies of the originals E II 210 - E II 271; 1972 newly created by Werner Debrunner]. The population registers ("Catalogi", "Gmeind-Rödel" etc.) were created at the instigation of antistes Johann Jakob Breitinger (1575-1645). In order to tighten up the catechumens in the city and in the countryside, the "Ordnung der Dienien der Kilchen in der Statt und uff der Landtschafft Zürich" of 3. On 3 May 1628, the "Order of the Servants of the Kilchens in the place and on the territory of Zurich" of 3 May 1628 called upon every priest subordinate to the Zurich Synod "to bring every year and every special year the names of all Hußvätteren, children and ministers into an orderly register, so that he would know the number of all trusted souls" (Mandate Collection III AAb 1.2, No. 34; Edition: Zürcher Kirchenordnungen, Vol. 1, No. 238, p. 676).
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
In order to tighten up the catechumens in
the city and in the countryside, the "Ordnung der Dienien der Kilchen in
der Statt und uff der Landtschafft Zürich" of 3. On 3 May 1628, the
"Order of the Servants of the Kilchens in the place and on the territory
of Zurich" of 3 May 1628 called upon every priest subordinate to the
Zurich Synod "to bring every year and every special year the names of all
Hußvätteren, children and ministers into an orderly register, so that he would
know the number of all trusted souls" (Mandate Collection III AAb 1.2, No.
34; Edition: Zürcher Kirchenordnungen, Vol. 1, No. 238, p. 676).
After until spring 1634 only very few predicate priests had
followed the call, mayor and council saw themselves again compelled - this time
in connection with the fight against the "careless swearing, swearing and
blasphemy" in the city and the countryside - to seriously urge the
dilatory pastors to deliver their lists to the May Synod in 1634 (E II 2, p.
75).
The catalogues were then united chapter by chapter, bound
into three folios and thus presented to the Synod. (E II 2, P.105). In addition
to the Protestant parishes of Zurich, they include those of the Canton of
Thurgau, the lower Rhine Valley, the parishes of Tegerfelden and Zurzach in
Aargau and the Schaffhausen villages of Burg, Dörflingen and Stein am Rhein. In
a three-year cycle they were each newly included until 1649. However, they then
broke off and generally only resumed around 1670/1671. In irregular succession,
they partly reach deep into the 18th century. They are continued in the
household toboggans (E III), which were built by the priests for their own use.
In the interest of a more appropriate use of the original
volumes (E II 210 - E II 271), which are arranged according to parish chapters,
and at the same time to protect them, Xerox re-enlargements were made of the
microfilms produced in the course of the security filming of valuable holdings
of the State Archives. The indexes, now grouped by parish, have been open for
use since the end of 1972. The originals will only be made available upon
justified request.
Since the directories go beyond bare lists of names and ages
to include the catechetical knowledge of the individual persons as well as the
books available in the families, they are equally valued as genealogical
sources and as sources of population and cultural history. This can be seen in
particular from the following studies:
- Strehler, Hedwig: Contributions to the cultural history of
the Zurich landscape, church and school in the 17th and 18th centuries. Diss.
phil. I. Zurich 1934 (partial print).
- Strehler, Hedwig: Kulturgeschichtliche Bilder aus der
Zürcher Landschaft im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert, in: Zürcher Taschenbuch auf das
Jahr 1935 = Neue Folge 55, 1934, pp. 32-119 - Wartburg-Ambühl, Marie-Louise
von: Literacy and Reading. Study using the example of a rural region in the
17th and 18th centuries. Bern 1981 (European University Theses. I/459).
A review of all the registers of 120 parishes in Zurich in
the State Archives with regard to the level of education of the population has
shown, for example, that in the following population registers the
corresponding persons are listed with the words "read and write
Albisrieden 1637 (!)
Altstetten 1646 (!)
Bäretswil 1723
Buchs 1734
Dielsdorf 1694, 1727
Dietlikon 1711, 1723
Dübendorf 1764
Enge 1637 (!)
Fällanden 1695, 1710
Flaach und Volken 1727, 1732, 1736/37, 1760
Hausen am Albis 1762
Hedingen 1708
Herrliberg 1634 (!)
Hettlingen 1752
Hirzel 1689
Höngg und Engstringen 1728/1733
Knonau 1708
Kyburg 1725
Lindau 1678, 1682, 1723
Meilen 1697
Oetwil am See 1762/1763
Pfäffikon 1678
Rafz 1762
Regensberg 1727
Richterswil 1682
Russikon 1710
Schlieren 1694, 1710
Uster 1709
Veltheim 1721
Weiningen 1764
Wiesendangen 1750
Wildberg 1726