Washington County, Minnesota Genealogy

United States

Minnesota

Washington County

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

Washington County, Minnesota
Map
Location in the state of Minnesota
Location of Minnesota in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	October 27, 1849
County Seat	Stillwater
Courthouse
Address	Washington County Courthouse 14949-62nd St N; Stillwater, MN 55082 Phone:. 651.430.6000 Washington County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for George Washington. The County is located in the east central area of the state.

Washington County, Minnesota Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1870	1845	1870	1847	1856	1850	1836
Statewide registration started for births in 1900 and deaths in 1908. General compliance by 1915.

County Courthouse

Clerk District Court has birth and death records from 1870,
marriage records from 1845, divorce and court records
from 1847 and probate records from 1850.

History

Parent County

• 1849--Washington County was created 27 October 1849 from St. Croix County in  Wisconsin Territory.

County seat: Stillwater

• For a brief history of how Washington County was named, click here, then select Washington County.

Record Loss

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

Places/Localities

Neighboring Counties

• Anoka
• Chisago
• Dakota
• Pierce County, Wisconsin
• Polk County, Wisconsin
• Ramsey
• St. Croix County, Wisconsin

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
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

St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Lake Elmo

• Records of the St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Lake Elmo, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Washington County

• Records of the American Lutheran Church, Washington County, 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, Washington – LAND AND PROPERTY

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Washington 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

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

Military

Civil War

Civil War service men from Washington 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 Washington County.

- 1st Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Company B.

- 2nd Regiment, Minnesota Cavalry, Company K.

- 2nd Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Company F.

- 3rd Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Companies B and F.

- 5th Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Company K.

- 6th Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Company I.

- 7th Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Company C.

- 8th Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Company C.

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 Washington County, Minnesota Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat
• FamilySearch. Do a Washington 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

Afton Historical Society
3165 St. Croix Trail South
PO Box 178
Afton, MN 55001
Telephone: 651-436-3500
Website

Washington County Historical Society
PO Box 167
602 North Main St
Stillwater MN 55082-0167
Telephone: 651-439-5956
Website

South Washington Heritage Society
1221 Summit Ave.
St. Paul Park, MN 55071-1445
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

• Oakdale Minnesota Family History Center

Websites

• Washington County Name Index compiled by the Washington County Historical Society (150,000+ records)
• Washington County, MN Genealogy Forum (GenForum)
• FamilySearch Catalog

To access available information, first log into FamilySearch.