Martin County, Minnesota Genealogy

United States

Minnesota

Martin County

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

Minnesota Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Fairmont Organized: May 23, 1857 Parent County(s): Brown, Faribault Neighboring Counties Blue Earth  • Cottonwood  • Emmet (IA)  • Faribault  • Jackson  • Kossuth (IA)  • Watonwan See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption This page is available for adoption

County Information

Description

The County was named for Henry Martin, a pioneer settler. The County is located in the southwest area of the state.

County Courthouse

Martin County Courthouse
201 Lake Ave
Fairmont, MN 56031-1845
Phone: 507-238-3205
Martin County Website

County Recorder has birth records from 1874, marriage records from 1864, death records from 1879 and land records.
Court Administrator has divorce, probate, and court records.

Martin County, Minnesota Record Dates

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1874	1864	1879	1861	1857	1864	1836
*Statewide registration started for births in 1900 and deaths in 1908. General compliance by 1915.

Record Loss

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

Boundary Changes

1857--Martin County was created 23 May 1857 from Brown and Faribault Counties. County seat: Fairmont Interactive Map of Minnesota County Formation History (1790-1897) - animated maps illustrating Minnesota county boundary changes Minnesota Historical Boundary Changes - list of all boundary changes by county provided by Newberry Library

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
Ceylon Dunnell Fairmont Granada	Northrop Ormsby Sherburn Trimont	Truman Welcome
Unincorporated communities
East Chain Fox Lake	Imogene Nashville Center	Wilbert
Townships
Cedar Center Creek East Chain Elm Creek Fairmont Fox Lake Fraser	Galena Jay Lake Belt Lake Fremont Manyaska Nashville Pleasant Prairie	Rolling Green Rutland Silver Lake Tenhassen Waverly Westford

Resources

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Martin County, Minnesota online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	BillionGraves Find A Grave Interment.net MNGenWeb
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)	Family History Library WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	FamilySearch Places Find A Grave
See Minnesota Cemeteries for more information.

 

Census Records

For links to Federal, State, and Territorial censuses, see Minnesota Census.

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1860	151	—
1870	3,867	2460.9%
1880	5,249	35.7%
1890	9,408	79.2%
1900	16,936	80.0%
1910	17,518	3.4%
1920	21,085	20.4%
1930	22,401	6.2%
1940	24,656	10.1%
1950	25,655	4.1%
1960	26,986	5.2%
1970	24,316	−9.9%
1980	24,687	1.5%
1990	22,914	−7.2%
2000	21,802	−4.9%
2010	20,840	−4.4%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

State Census

• 1835-1890 Minnesota, U.S., Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1835-1890 at Ancestry ($)
• 1849-1905 Minnesota, U.S., Territorial and State Censuses, 1849-1905 at Ancestry ($)
• 1865 Minnesota State Census, 1865 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images.
• 1875 Minnesota State Census, 1875 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images.
• 1885 Minnesota State Census, 1885 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images.
• 1905 Minnesota State Census, 1905 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images.

Church Records

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

• 1781-1969 U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Church Records, 1781-1969 at Ancestry ($)

Emigration and Immigration

• 1912-1956 Minnesota Passenger and Crew Lists, 1912-1956 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images.

Land and Property Records

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.

Online Land Indexes and Records

• Pre-1908 Minnesota, U.S., Homestead and Cash Entry Patents, Pre-1908 at Ancestry ($)

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Martin County. 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.

• Budd, William H.; Carlson, Walter; History of Martin County, Minnesota before 1880' (Tuscon, AZ: A Plus Printing Company) Online at FamilySearch Digital Library, Internet Archive.
• Martin County Historical Society; Minutes of the Century, 1856-1956; Manyaska, Jay, Lake Belt, Lake Frmont, Sherburn (Martin County Historical Society, 1956) Online at FamilySearch Digital Library.

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Minnesota Maps at David Rumsey Map Collection
• FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places
• Minnesota Department of Transportation, Martin County municipality and township maps

Military Records

Multiple Wars

• 1861-1917 United States Civil War and Later Pension Index, 1861-1917 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images; Also at: Fold3($),
• 1898-1899 Minnesota Volunteers in the Spanish American War and the Philippine Insurrection at Ancestry ($)
• 1917-1990 Minnesota, Military Discharge Records, ca.1917 - ca.1990 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index only

Civil War

• 1861-1865 U.S., Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865 at Ancestry; Free index
• 1861-1865 Minnesota, U.S., Civil War Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry; Free index
• 1861-1865 Minnesota Civil War Soldiers at Ancestry; Free index
• 1861-1934 U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 at Ancestry; Free index

Spanish-American War

• 1898 U.S., Spanish American War Volunteers Index to Compiled Military Service Records, 1898  at Ancestry; Free index
• 1898-1899 Minnesota, U.S., Spanish American War Muster Rolls and Casualty Lists, 1898-1899 at Ancestry; Free index

World War I

• 1917-1918 U.S., World War I Civilian Draft Registrations, 1917-1918 at Ancestry (Free collection)
• 1917-1918 U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 at Ancestry; Free, images ($)
• 1918-1941 Minnesota, World War I Records, 1918-1941 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection

World War II

• 1940-1947 Minnesota, World War II Draft Registration Cards,1940-1947 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images
• 1940-1947 U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 at Ancestry; Free index, Images ($)
• 1942 U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 at Ancestry; Free index

Naturalization and Citizenship

Online Naturalization Indexes and Records

• 1849-1985 Web: Minnesota, U.S., Naturalization Index, 1849-1985 at Ancestry (Free collection)
• 1872-1962 Minnesota Naturalization Records and Indexes, 1872-1962 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images
• 1880-1920 Minnesota, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1880-1920 at Ancestry ($)
• 1918 Web: Minnesota, U.S., Alien Registration Index, 1918 at Ancestry (Free collection)

Newspapers

• Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub at Minnesota Historical Society; narrow to county or city, search for surname, limit by date.

Obituaries

• 1865-2006 Minnesota, Obituaries 1865-2006 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images
• 1891-2003 Web: Minnesota, U.S., Obituary Index, 1891-2003 at Ancestry (Free collection)

Probate Records

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 Indexes and Records

• 1801-1925 Minnesota, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1801-1925 at Ancestry; index and images ($)
• 1849-1985 Minnesota Will Records, 1849-1985 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Three Minnesota counties are not in this collection: Hennepin, Marshall, and St. Louis.

Social Security Records

• 1935-2014 United States Social Security Death Index at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
• 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry ($); index, click here for more information.

Tax Records

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 Department of Health, Office of Vital Records, or the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred. See also Minnesota Vital Records.

Birth

• 1840-1980 Minnesota, U.S., Births and Christenings Index, 1840-1980 at Ancestry ($)
• 1900-1934 Minnesota People Records Search - Births at Minnesota Historical Society - free index, images ($)
• 1900-1934 Minnesota, Birth Index, 1900-1934 at MyHeritage; index ($)
• 1935-2000 Minnesota, U.S., Birth Index, 1935-2000 at Ancestry ($)

Marriage

• 1850-2019 Web: Minnesota, U.S., Marriages from the Minnesota Official Marriage System, 1850-2019 at Ancestry (Free collection)
• 1860-1949 Minnesota, County Marriages, 1860-1949 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images
• 1885-present Minnesota Official Marriage System at MOMS.mn.gov; search by county, name or date, and request copy.
• 1970-2003 Minnesota Marriage Records Index, 1970-2003 at Archives ($)
• 1976-2003 Minnesota, Marriages, 1976-2003 at MyHeritage; index ($)

Death

• 1850-2001 Minnesota, County Deaths, 1850-2001 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images
• 1887-2001 Minnesota Deaths, 1887-2001 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images
• 1904-2001 Minnesota People Records Search - Deaths at Minnesota Historical Society - free index, images ($)
• 1904-2001 Minnesota, Death Index, 1904-2001 at MyHeritage; index ($)
• 1908-2017 Minnesota, U.S., Death Index, 1908-2017 at Ancestry ($)

Divorce

• 1970-1995 Minnesota, U.S., Divorce Index, 1970-1995 at Ancestry ($)
• 1970-2003 Minnesota Divorce Records Index, 1970-2003 at Archives ($)

Research Facilities

Archives

Listed below are archives in Martin County. For state-wide archival repositories, see Minnesota Archives and Libraries.

Family History Centers

Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local Family History Centers or Affiliate Libraries

• 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.
  

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

• Mankato Minnesota Family History Center
• Sioux Falls South Dakota Family History Center
• Spencer Iowa Family History Center
• Brookings Public Library - South Dakota - an affiliate library.
• Waseca County History Center - an affiliate library

Libraries

Listed below are libraries in Martin County. For state-wide library facilities, see Minnesota Archives and Libraries.

Museums

Granada Minnesota Historical Museum
(Online museum)
Website

Truman Historical Museum
109 W Ciro Street
Truman, MN 56088
Truman, MN 56088
Phone: 507-776-7889
Website

Societies

Listed below are societies in Martin County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see Minnesota Societies.

Martin County Historical Society
304 E Blue Earth Ave
Fairmont, MN 56031
Phone: 507-235-5178
Email: mch@frontiernet.net
Website

Sherburn Area Historical Society
333 Fox Lake Ave Apt 6
Sherburn, MN 56171-9651
Phone: 507-764-2766

Truman Historical Association
P.O. Box 56
Truman, MN 56088

Southern Minnesota Historical Center
Mankato State University
Mankato, MN 56001
Website

Trimont Area Historical Society
111 Ash St W
Trimont, MN 56176
Phone: 507-236-2007
Facebook

Welcome Historical Society
109 Hulseman
Welcome, MN 56181
Phone: 507-236-2034
Website

Websites

• Research at Minnesota Historical Society — links to Records and Indexes; See also MHS Wiki Page
• Iron Range Research Center The Iron Range Research Center contains one of the largest collections of genealogical and local history research materials in the Upper Midwest and includes census, naturalization records, passenger arrival records, mining company newsletters, and a survey of Women in Industry taken in 1919, among many others.
• Martin County at MNGenWeb
• Martin County, USGenWeb Archives, a member of MN USGenWeb Archives, an affiliate of USGenWeb Archives.
• FamilySearch Catalog – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.

This website requires a paid subscription for full access.

The collection is free on this subscription website.

FamilySearch affiliate libraries may have access to center-only databases, but do not always have all services normally provided by a family history center.