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.

Minnesota Online Genealogy Records

Jackson County, Minnesota
Map
Location in the state of Minnesota, United States Genealogy
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

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Alpha Heron Lake	Jackson Lakefield	Okabena Wilder
Unincorporated communities
Bergen Miloma	Petersburg Rost	Sioux Valley Spafford
Census-designated places
Fish Lake
Townships
Alba Belmont Christiania Delafield Des Moines Enterprise Ewington	Heron Lake Hunter Kimball La Crosse Middletown Minneota Petersburg	Rost Round Lake Sioux Valley Weimer West Heron Lake Wisconsin

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		FamilySearch Places
Tombstone Project
Billion Graves
See Minnesota Cemeteries for more information.

Census

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1860	181	—
1870	1,825	908.3%
1880	4,806	163.3%
1890	8,924	85.7%
1900	14,793	65.8%
1910	14,491	−2.0%
1920	15,955	10.1%
1930	15,863	−0.6%
1940	16,805	5.9%
1950	16,306	−3.0%
1960	15,501	−4.9%
1970	14,352	−7.4%
1980	13,690	−4.6%
1990	11,677	−14.7%
2000	11,268	−3.5%
2010	10,266	−8.9%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

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. Some denominations are gathering their records into a central repository. For more information, 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 ($).

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
  

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

• FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

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 Places 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

Since Minnesota tax records include only persons who owned taxable property, many residents were not included. Still they complement land records and can be used in place of missing censuses or the years between censuses. There may also be gaps. 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, or the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred. See also Minnesota Vital Records.

Birth

• 1900-1934 Minnesota, Birth Index, 1900-1934 at MyHeritage($) — index

Marriage

• 1850-2019 WEB: Minnesota, Marriages from the Minnesota Official Marriage System, 1850-2019 at Ancestry($) — index
• 1860 - 1949 Minnesota, County Marriages, 1860-1949 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1976-2003 Minnesota, Marriages, 1976-2003 at MyHeritage($) — index

Death

• 1850-2001 - Minnesota, County Deaths, 1850-2001 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1887-2001 - Minnesota Deaths, 1887-2001 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1904-2001 Minnesota, Death Index, 1904-2001 at MyHeritage($) — index

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, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a family history center.

• Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator

Local Centers and Libraries

Websites

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

This website requires a paid subscription for full access.