Jackson County, Minnesota Genealogy

United States

Minnesota

Jackson County

Guide to Jackson County, Minnesota ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Jackson County, Minnesota
Map
Location in the state of Minnesota
Location of Minnesota in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	May 23, 1857
County Seat	Jackson
Courthouse
Address	Jackson County Courthouse 405 4th St PO Box 209 Jackson, MN 56143 Phone: 507.847.2580 Jackson County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for Henry Jackson, the first merchant in St. Paul. The County is located in the southwest area of the state.

Jackson County, Minnesota Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1870	1868	1870	1870	1870	1870	1836
Statewide registration started for births in 1900 and deaths in 1908. General compliance by 1915.

County Courthouse

Court Administrator has birth, death, divorce, probate and
court records from 1870 and marriage records from 1868.
County Recorder has land records from 1870.

History

County government was dissolved due to Sioux uprising in 1862. It was reorganized in 1866. Before its reorganization it may have been attached to Martin County.

Parent County

• 1857--Jackson County was 23 May 1857 from Brown County but not formally organized until 1858.

County seat: Jackson

• For a brief history of how Jackson County was named, click here.  Then select Jackson County.

Record Loss

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Places/Localities

Populated Places

Cities

Alpha | Heron Lake | Jackson | Lakefield | Miloma | Okabena | Wilder

Townships

Alba Township | Belmont Township | Christiania Township | Delafield Township | Des Moines Township | Enterprise Township | Ewington Township | Heron Lake Township | Hunter Township | Kimball Township | La Crosse Township | Middletown Township | Minneota Township | Petersburg Township | Rost Township | Round Lake Township | Sioux Valley Township | Weimer Township | West Heron Lake Township | Wisconsin Township

 

Neighboring Counties

• Cottonwood
• Dickinson County, Iowa
• Emmet County, Iowa
• Martin
• Murray
• Nobles
• Osceola County, Iowa
• Watonwan

Resources

Cemeteries

Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Tombstone Transcriptions in Print	List of Cemeteries in the county
Findagrave.com	Family History Library	Findagrave.com
USGenWeb	WorldCat	Billion Graves
MNGenWeb Archives
Tombstone Project
EPodunk
Billion Graves
See Minnesota Cemeteries for more information.

Census

State Census

• 1865 - Minnesota State Census, 1865 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1885 - Minnesota State Census, 1885 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1905 - Minnesota State Census, 1905 at FamilySearch — index and images

Church

Most church records are held by individual churches. For contact information, check a phone directory, such as SearchBug or Dex Knows. Some denominations are gathering their records into a central repository. For more information about these major repositories, see Minnesota Church Records.

Lutheran

Bethany Lutheran Church, Bergen

• Records of Bethany Lutheran Church, Bergen, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Delafield Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wilder

• Records of the Delafield Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wilder, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Emigration and Immigration

• 1912 - 1956 - Minnesota Passenger and Crew Lists, 1912-1956 at FamilySearch — index and images

Land

The county register of deeds keeps land records once the land was transferred to private ownership. Abstracts and indexes for these records are generally available at the county courthouse.

Land records for Minnesota are listed in the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under:

MINNESOTA, Jackson – LAND AND PROPERTY

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Jackson County, Minnesota Genealogy. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories, see the wiki page section Minnesota Local Histories.

Maps

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

Military

Civil War

Civil War service men from Blue Earth County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies or regiments that were formed from men of Blue Earth County.

- Brackett's Battalion, Minnesota Cavalry, Company B.

World War II

• 1940-1945 - Minnesota, World War II Draft Registration Cards,1940-1947 at FamilySearch — index and images

Naturalization and Citizenship

• 1872-1962 - Minnesota Naturalization Records and Indexes, 1872-1962 at FamilySearch — index

Newspapers

Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Jackson County, Minnesota Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat
• FamilySearch. Do a Jackson County, Minnesota Genealogy Place-name search for these and other records in the FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see, FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Obituaries

• 1865-2006 - Minnesota Obituaries 1865-2006 at FamilySearch— index and images

Probate

Probate records may include, wills, bonds, petitions, accounts, inventories, administrations, orders, decrees, and distributions. They may include the decedent’s date of death, names of his or her spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, etc. See Minnesota Probate Records for additional information.

Online Probate Records

• 1801 - 1999 Minnesota Wills and Probate Records 1801-1999 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Taxation

Minnesota tax records complement land records and can be used in place of censuses before 1820 or to supplement the years between censuses. Because only persons who owned taxable property were listed, many residents were not included in tax lists. There may also be gaps of several years in the tax records of some counties. For more information, see the wiki page Minnesota Taxation.

Vital Records

Vital Records consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths recorded on registers, certificates, and documents.

A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased from the Minnesota State Registrar of Vital Records, the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred], order electronically online ($) or download an application for Minnesota Birth Certificate and Death Certificates Applications to mail.

See also Minnesota Vital Records or How to order Minnesota Vital Records. For information about restrictions and costs for certificates, see the CDC Where to Write for Vital Records site.

Marriage

• 1860 - 1949 Minnesota, County Marriages, 1860-1949 at FamilySearch — index and images

Death

• 1850-2001 - Minnesota, County Deaths, 1850-2001 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1887-2001 - Minnesota Deaths, 1887-2001 at FamilySearch — index and images

Societies and Libraries

Jackson County Historical Society
Jackson/cottonwood Genealogical Group
PO Box 238
307 North Highway 86
Lakefield 56150
Telephone: 507-662-5505
Facebook Home

Southwest Minnesota Historical Center
Social Science 141
Southwest Minnesota State University
1501 State Street
Marshall, MN 56258
Telephone: 507-537-7373

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance and free access to premium genealogical websites. In addition, many centers have free how-to genealogy classes.

• For current information about a center near you, go to the Family History Center Map

Websites

• Jackson County, Minnesota USGenWeb
• Jackson County, MN Genealogy Forum (GenForum)
• FamilySearch Catalog

To access available information, first log into FamilySearch.