Polk County, Minnesota Genealogy

United States

Minnesota

Polk County

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

Polk County, Minnesota
Map
Location in the state of Minnesota
Location of Minnesota in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	July 20, 1858
County Seat	Crookston
Courthouse
Address	Polk County Courthouse 612 N Broadway Crookston, MN 56716 Phone: 218.281.3464 Polk County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for the country's 11th president, James K. Polk, who on March 3, 1849, signed the Congressional act organizing the Minnesota Territory. The County is located in the northwest area of the state.

Polk County, Minnesota Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1875	1875	1875	1875	1873	1875	1836
Statewide registration started for births in 1900 and deaths in 1908. General compliance by 1915.

County Courthouse

County Administrator has birth, death, probate and court records from 1875.
County Recorder has land records.

History

Parent County

1858--Polk County was created 20 July 1858 from Pembina (Old) County. County seat: Crookston

Record Loss

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

Places/Localities

Neighboring Counties

• Clearwater
• Grand Forks County, North Dakota
• Mahnomen
• Marshall
• Norman
• Pennington
• Red Lake
• Traill County, North Dakota
• Walsh County, North Dakota

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
MNGenWeb Archives
Tombstone Project
MNInterment
MNGravestones
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

Elk Valley Lutheran Church, Grand Forks

• Records of the Elk Valley Lutheran Church, Grand Forks, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Fisher

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

Fron Lutheran Church, Starbuck

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

Hafslo Evangelical Lutheran Church, Crookston

• Records of Hafslo Evangelical Lutheran Church, Crookston, 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, Polk – LAND AND PROPERTY

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Polk 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.

• McCall, T. M. Centennial History of Polk County. Crookston, MN: McGarry Printing Co., 1961. Print.

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 Polk County, Minnesota Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat
• FamilySearch. Do a Polk 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
• Online Minnesota Death Records & Indexes

Societies and Libraries

Polk County Historical Society
PO Box 214
Crookston 56716-0214
Website

Polk County Historical Society
719 E Robert St
Crookston, MN 56716
Telephone: 218-281-1038
Website

Minnkota Genealogical Society
PO Box 12744
Grand Forks, ND 58208-274
Website

Red River Valley Genealogical Society
PO Box 9284
112 N University Drive Suite L116
Fargo, ND 58106
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

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

To access available information, first log into FamilySearch.