I have traced the Hilby/Hilbi name back to 1649 using the FHL filmed records. These were from the town of Mels, district of Sargans, canton of St Gallen. Would the civil records of this district be at the Rathaus at Sargans? I would like to find the date and year that my ancestor family emigrated from Switzerland. Were these folks required to register at the Rathaus and apply for emigration? The dates I am interested in fall between 1845 and 1860. I would also like to confirm the dates I have extracted from the Mels films. Would I then be subject to the new rules of the Swiss Civil Registration? I visited the web site of the Zivilurkunden 1337-1845 but my German is not good enough to understand the information. Are there sites that I could visit and that I could understand where to search for the above information? Thanks Doug Hilby