Minnesota Research

Comment

Comment by Glenn Roy Browne on August 8, 2009 at 12:34pm

I live in the extreme North-western corner of the State of Minnesota. Our Kittson County has an excellent Historical Association and Museum. We have a family tree data base of over 58,000 names of past and present residents in a county that presently has less than 4,000 residents. We have all the county Census records and over 300 micro films of newpaper records. I would be happy to help check on a relative if you need local assistance.

Comment by George L. Porterfield on August 8, 2009 at 8:38am

I live in Pennsylvania, but will be spending about 1 week in MN real soon (15-22 Aug). The research that I want to do while I am there centers on my wife's maternal grandfather and his ancestors. Her great grandfather was Emil Graf who moved with his parents to Stillwater MN and thenMarine Mills (now Marine on St. Croix) around 1850. Later, about 1879, he moved across the state to Nobles County.

I plan on spending some time at the MN Historical Society in St. Paul. I also want to do some research in Nobles, Washington and Chisago counties. (Supposedly Emil Graf's parents died there in 1879, but I think they are actually buried in Oakland Cemetery in Marine on St. Croix.)

Do you have any suggestions on where to do some research in these counties? I don't get to MN often (it has been more than 15 years since the last visit) so I want to make the best of my time there, looking for material that is not on the Internet.

Comment by Sandra Johnson on July 30, 2009 at 2:17am

Hello - looking for genealogy in Winona County as that is where my grandfather was born. His name is Benson E Lee - parents are Gardner Lee/Lydia Addleman and grandparents are Samuel Lee/Johanna Clow and Caleb Way Addleman/Elizabeth Brown. Sisters married Smith, Bundy, Gunn; Breisath; Luce; Hansen, Hill; and Wilson.

Comment by Liz Loveland on July 26, 2009 at 11:54am

Andy, thank you for your offer to all of us!

Most of the people in Minnesota were collateral lines to my direct line before one of my parents moved there with their family as a small child. I visited Minnesota many times when I was growing up as most of our relatives lived there and in neighboring states. The collateral lines from earlier times were kind of all over the place - such as Blue Earth, Minneapolis, and New Avon - and my second-great-grandparents moved to McGregor/Jevne (both are listed on records), Jenkins County when they were fairly old (a couple of my great-grandfather's siblings had previously moved to Jenkins County), where they died in the middle of the last century.

Comment by Amy (Gessner) Hanson on July 24, 2009 at 9:41pm

I agree that MN Historical Society has great websites!

Surnames I am interested in are Gessner (Bavaria, Germany), Holtz, Keilen, Pofahl. (Last three from Prussia.)

Does anyone know more info on Sioux Indian Uprising at Fort Ridley? Folklore has that my family was held during the uprisings by the Indians, but I would like to find concrete evidence.

Comment by Linda Grinolds on July 23, 2009 at 2:36am

My gg-father John Joseph Keeley was born in St. Paul on 23 Aug abt 1868. His parents were John Joseph Keeley & Elizabeth Moran.

Comment by Mary Bakeman on July 18, 2009 at 8:19am

Question for you:

Of all the resources you've used for your Minnesota research, which one was the best and why?

For me, it's the catalog at the Minnesota Historical Society, which allows me to plan my visits there, figure out possibilities for places to look for information, and to make efficient use of my time. Best of all, it's there 24/7!

Comment by fkuyken on July 16, 2009 at 12:45pm

Good afternoon, I am really new at social networking. I welcome all help. I am researching my maternal family who settled in the Blue Earth, Decoria and near area. The families are Ady, Baker, Matteson, Tillotson, Conant.
Sara is right... MN genealogy sites and historical societies are wonderful.

Comment by GaryRea on July 15, 2009 at 11:41pm

Hi, everyone. My REA family settled in Lake Marshall (1878), now called Marshall, and Tracy (1885), in Lyon County, where my father and grandfather were born and raised. Allied surnames in the area include BATES, LARSON, PORTER, AVERILL, and FISHER.

Comment by Sara on July 15, 2009 at 6:55pm

I believe that anyone researching MN genealogy is lucky in one respect: we have, in my opinion, one of the best family research websites in the country thanks to the Minnesota Historical Society, at mnhs.org. Death records, birth records, obits, etc. Compared to many other states, I think it is top of the line for genealogy. So if you are just starting out or need some records, that would be one of the first places I would look.

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