Todd County, Minnesota Genealogy

United States

Minnesota

Todd County

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

Todd County, Minnesota
Map
Location in the state of Minnesota
Location of Minnesota in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	February 20, 1855
County Seat	Long Prairie
Courthouse
Address	Todd County Courthouse 215 1st Ave S Long Prairie, MN 56347 Phone: 320.732.4428 Todd County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for John Blair Smith Todd, who was a delegate from Dakota Territory to the United States House of Representatives, and general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The County is located in the central area of the state.

Todd County, Minnesota Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1870	1867	1870	1874	1914	1876	1836
Statewide registration started for births in 1900 and deaths in 1908. General compliance by 1915.

County Courthouse

Details

Clerk District Court has divorce records from 1880,
court records from 1874 and probate records.
County Records has birth and death records from 1870,
marriage records from 1867, land records, school census from 1914.

History

Parent County

• 1855--Todd County was created 20 February 1855 from Cass County.  County seat: Long Prairie
• For a brief history of Todd County's name, click here, then select Todd County.

Record Loss

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

Places/Localities

Populated Places 

Cities

• Bertha
  
• Browerville
• Burtrum
• Clarissa
• Eagle Bend
• Grey Eagle
• Hewitt
• Long Prairie
• Osakis
• Staples
• West Union

Townships

• Bartlett
• Bertha
• Birchdale
• Bruce
• Burleene
• Burnhamville
• Eagle Valley
• Fawn Lake
• Germania
• Gordon
• Grey Eagle
• Hartford
• Iona
• Kandota
• Leslie
• Little Elk
• Little Sauk
• Long Prairie
• Moran
• Reynolds
• Round Prairie
• Staples
• Stowe Prairie
• Turtle Creek
• Villard
• Ward
• West Union
• Wykeham

Neighboring Counties

• Cass
• Douglas
• Morrison
• Otter Tail
• Pope
• Stearns
• Wadena

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
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.

Emigration and Immigration

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

Directories

The 1913-1914 Farmer's Directory of Todd County is included in:

• Webb Publishing Co. of St. Paul, MN. Collection of Minnesota County Atlases, #175, Roll 8. St. Paul, MN, USA: Minnesota Historical Society, 1913-1914. Digital version at Ancestry ($).
  

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, Todd – LAND AND PROPERTY

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Todd 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.

• Hendrickson, A.H., O.B. DeLaurier, and John H. Sheets. Todd County, Minnesota, Histories: Containing Reproductions of the Original Histories of Todd County Written by John H. Sheets, A. H. Hendrickson, O. B. DeLaurier. Other Articles of Interest. Long Prairie, Minn.: Todd County Bicentennial Committee, 1976. FHL Large Q Book 977.688 H2.
  

Maps

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Family Maps of Todd County, Minnesota Genealogy (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.

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 Todd County, Minnesota Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat
• FamilySearch. Do a Todd 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

Todd County Historical Society
333 Central Avenue
PO Box 146
Long Prairie 56347
Telephone: 320-732-4426
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

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

To access available information, first log into FamilySearch.