Lake County, Minnesota Genealogy

United States

Minnesota

Lake County

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

Lake County, Minnesota
Map
Location in the state of Minnesota
Location of Minnesota in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	February 20, 1855
County Seat	Two Harbors
Courthouse
Address	Lake County Courthouse 601 3rd Ave Two Harbors, MN 55616 Phone: 218.834.8347 Lake County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for Lake Superior. The County is located in the northeast area of the state.

Lake County, Minnesota Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1898	1891	1891	1892	Unknown	1800s	1836
Statewide registration started for births in 1900 and deaths in 1908. General compliance by 1915.

County Courthouse

County Register has birth records from 1898, marriage and death from 1891, divorce and court records from 1892. Probate Judge has probate records. City Clerk has burial records.

History

Parent County

• 1855--Lake County was created 20 February 1855 from Itasca County. The names were changed in 1855 to Newton and St. Louis. Names were changed again in 1856 with St. Louis becoming Lake and Newton becoming St. Louis.

County seat: Two Harbors

• For a brief history of how Lake County was named, clickhere, then select Lake County.

Record Loss

1904 Courthouse destroyed by fire; however, most county records were rescued.

For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see:

• Burned Counties. By Michael John Neill. Online at: Family History Circle.
• When the Records are Gone. By Arlene Eakle. Online at: Tennessee Genealogy Blog.
• Burned Counties Research in the FamilySearch Research Wiki.

Places/Localities

Populated Places

Cities

Beaver Bay | Silver Bay | Two Harbors

Townships

Beaver Bay Township | Crystal Bay Township | Fall Lake Township | Silver Creek Township | Stony River Township

Unincorporated Communities

Castle Danger | East Beaver Bay | Finland | Illgen City | Isabella | Knife River | Larsmont | Lax Lake | Little Marais | Murphy City

Unorganized

Lake No. 1 |  Lake No. 2

Neighboring Counties

• Cook
• St. Louis

Resources

Cemeteries

Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Tombstone Transcriptions in Print	List of Cemeteries in the county
Findagrave.com	Family History Library	Findagrave.com
MNGenWeb	WorldCat	Billion Graves
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.

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, Lake – LAND AND PROPERTY

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Lake 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

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 Lake County, Minnesota Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat
• FamilySearch. Do a Lake 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

Lake County Historical Society
PO Box 128
520 South Ave
Two Harbors MN,
Telephone: 218-834-4898
Website

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
• Introduction to Family History Centers

Websites

• Lake County, MN Genealogy Forum (GenForum)
• FamilySearch Catalog

To access available information, first log into FamilySearch.