Preface
In 2000, Hans B. Kälin, our editor at the time, became aware that Karl Marbacher of Lucerne wished to relinquish the collection of genealogical works belonging to Julius Billeter, a Swiss family researcher. After consultation between the Board of our Basel Society (GHGRB) and the chairman of the Central Swiss Society for Family Research, we agreed to take over the Billeter Collection and, in the interest of family history research, to continue to provide the written information (copies of existing lists) as Mr. Marbacher had done for more than 40 years. We are aware that we have taken on a great deal of work in this respect, but also that we will be able to provide a great service to family researchers. I am pleased not only by the willingness of Mr. Marbacher to entrust us with the collection of which he become fond, but also by the unselfish commitment of our ready and eager members to not miss a unique opportunity. In the meantime, all of Billeter’s handwritten records have been scanned and are available as PDF files from our society. We are convinced that Mr. Billeter’s life’s work will continue to provide excellent service to numerous members of the GHGRB as well as to countless other genealogists. – May 2001, Hans B. Kälin
An Example:
Bestellung
Contact for Ordering Copies (of Family Histories): Billeter Archive
Genealogisch-Heraldische Gesellschaft der Regio Basel
President Rolf T. Hallauer
Obere Grabenstr. 37
CH – 4227 Büsserach
Switzerland
or by Online Form to the Billeter administration
Billeter Catalogue
Please note the following conditions:
The „Billeter Collection – Julius Billeter’s Genealogical Works“ is the property of the Genealogical-Heraldic Society of the Basel Region.
Copies of the sheets may be purchased for 2.50 Swiss francs per page, postage included (1.50 Swiss francs per page for GHGRB members). The right of return exists only in the case of wrongful delivery, but not if the surname/place that was delivered corresponds to the surname/place on the order. The payment can therefore not be refused if the content is unusable by the recipient for any other reason.
Please note the following for orders / inquiries:
The Billeter administration does not undertake any research on existing persons in these lists.
Genealogisch-Heraldische Gesellschaft der Regio Basel
Obmann Rolf T. Hallauer
Obere Grabenstr. 37
CH – 4227 Büsserach
The data collection is in the form of family group sheets (Example here); the graphical „family tree“ must be created by yourself
No digital „copies“ will be sent.
Please indicate your mailing address when ordering by e-mail.
Note the comments on the quality of the Quality of the Data Collection
Kontakt über Formular zum Billeter
Julius Billeter
Julius Billeter was born on 14 October 1869 in Igis in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. His father was a citizen of Männedorf, Canton Zurich, and was married to Barbara Zweifel of Linthal, Canton Glarus. They had ten children, five of whom died in infancy. The remainder moved with their parents to the United States in 1884. The 22-year-old Julius Billeter married Maria Emilie Wilker from Wädenswil, Canton Zurich, on 24 June 1891, only four days after her 18th birthday. The wedding took place in Logan, Utah.
Maria Emilie, whose family had been naturalized in Flumenthal, Canton Solothurn, in 1844, bore her husband five children. While the first two were born in Salt Lake City, the other three were born in Veltheim near Winterthur. They had a son christened William Tell. Julius Billeter, his wife and children spent many years in Switzerland, where he devoted his life to family research. He died in the 88th year of life, 9 July 1957 in St. Gallen (according to J. Billeter’s own data and those of the Männedorf Civil Registry Office and the State Archives of the Canton of Zurich).
During several long stays in Switzerland, Julius Billeter researched around 3000 families in his own manner. For this he used almost exclusively the baptismal, marriage and death registers of the church parishes and the civil registers of the communities. His records of the individual families often span several centuries, up to and including the twentieth. He used B5-sized sheets, which were used to the very edge of the page with his minute handwriting. In this way, he compiled about 72,500 sheets, often in pencil, with approximately 20 to 40 people recorded on each sheet of paper. Taking an average of 25 persons per sheet this amounts to about 2 million personal records, which corresponds to approximately a quarter of the current population of Switzerland. An immense life’s work!
Billeter’s data collection – quality?
Some remarks with respect to the accuracy of and errors in Julius Billeter’s work are appropriate. With such a huge amount of handwritten data, people and place names as well as vital statistics, it is not surprising that flaws and mistakes have been discovered during review. Any genealogical research can contain errors! At times, however, it is not only transcription errors that have crept in to Billeter’s work. Particularly critical to take into account are the children‘s assignments to their parents, especially for very common first names such as Johann, Christian, Jacob, etc. Also, in the absence of information from the earliest members of a family, Billeter has often estimated the first dates, but has not always marked them with „about“. The user is well advised not to record these and other data without checking it.
The quality of Billeter’s work is variable, sometimes very good and accurate, other times cursory and worthy of caution; one realizes this already by the spelling. Not all works of the collection have been written by Billeter’s own hand. The processing date or the completion date of the work is not specified, which is why individual families may have died out in the meantime.
Source information (church book, volume, page number, etc.) is not included for most of the records. Also, Billeter has not always noted the birth, marriage and death places, even when available in the original record. It is understandable that he committed himself to a limited collection of data given the abundance of records. For example, he has omitted baptismal and marriage witnesses. Nevertheless, Billeter’s work is outstanding and very impressive and will continue to serve many genealogists as a guide into the future.
Christening or nickname – Billeters abbreviations and their meaning
| Abbreviation | First name |
| Adelh | Adelheid |
| Adr | Adrian |
| Alb | Albert |
| Albr | Albrecht |
| Ana | Anna |
| Andr | Andreas |
| Ant | Anton/Anthon |
| A Barb | Anna Barbara |
| A El | Anna Elisabeth |
| A Magd | Anna Magdalena |
| A Mar | Anna Maria |
| A Marg | Anna Margaretha |
| A Sus | Anna Susanna |
| Balth | Balthasar |
| Barb | Barbara |
| Bened | Benedikt/Benedict |
| Burkh | Burkhard/Burkhart |
| Casp | Kaspar/Caspar |
| Cath | Katharina/Catharina |
| Chr/Christ | Christian |
| Conr | Konrad/Conrad |
| Dan | Daniel |
| Doroth | Dorothea |
| El | Elisabeth |
| Elsb | Elsbeth |
| Elsba | Elsbetha/Elisabetha |
| Fried | Friedrich |
| Gg | Georg |
| Gottfr | Gottfried |
| Gottl | Gottlieb |
| Heini | Heinrich |
| Hs | Hans |
| Hs Conr | Hans Konrad |
| Hs Jb | Hans Jakob |
| Hs Rud | Hans Rudolf |
| Hs Uli | Hans Ulrich |
| Hs Wilh | Hans Wilhelm |
| Jb | Jakob |
| Jg | Jörg |
| Jghs | Junghans |
| Joh | Johann(es) |
| J Conr | Johann(es) Konrad |
| J Jb | Johann(es) Jakob |
| J Lud | Johann(es) Ludwig |
| J Rud | Johann(es) Rudolf |
| J Uli | Johann(es) Ulrich |
| Leonh | Leonhard (t) |
| Lienh | Lienhard (t) |
| Lis | Lisbeth |
| Ludw | Ludwig |
| Magd | Magdalena |
| Mar | Maria |
| Marg | Margaretha |
| Matth | Matthäus |
| Melch | Melchior |
| Muss | Jeronimus/Hieronimus |
| Nicl | Nikolaus/Niclaus |
| Othm | Othmar |
| Pet | Peter/Petrus |
| Reg | Regula |
| Rud | Rudolf |
| Sam | Samuel |
| Sebast | Sebastian |
| Stina | Christina |
| Sus | Susanna |
| Uli | Ulrich |
| Wilh | Wilhelm |
Other abbreviations and special characters used
| abbreviations | explanation |
abt  | about |
| b | birth, born |
| c (k) | children |
d.  | death, died |
| djg /d.y. | died young |
m. oder  | marriage married |
v.  | from (place) |
wid.  | widow |
widow | Widower |
| I | first wife |
| II | second wife |
andr  | Reference to father’s first names for family data |
illeg.  | illegitimate |
 | This person appears as a child or parent |
“  | quotes, (repeat) |
fr.  | French |
over  | Continued on next page (or at the bottom of the sheet) |
| / | crossed out the whole sheet = edited by J. Billeter |