Beltrami County, Minnesota Genealogy

United States

Minnesota

Beltrami County

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

Minnesota Online Genealogy Records

Beltrami County, Minnesota
Map
Location in the state of Minnesota, United States Genealogy
Location of Minnesota in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	February 28, 1866
County Seat	Bemidji
Courthouse
Address	Beltrami County Courthouse 619 Beltrami Ave NW Bemidji, MN 56601-3041 Phone: 218-759-4174 Beltrami County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for the Italian count Giacomo Beltrami, who supposedly explored the area in 1825. The County is located in the north central area of the state.

Beltrami County, Minnesota Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1896	1896	1896	1897	1874	1896	1836
Statewide registration started for births in 1900 and deaths in 1908. General compliance by 1915.

County Courthouse

Court Administrator Customer Service has birth, marriage and death records from 1896. Clerk Courts has divorce records from 1951, probate and court records.
Recorder Office has military records.
Historical Society has land records prior to 1969.

History

Parent County

• 1866--Beltrami County was created 28 February 1866 from unorganized territory, Itasca, Pembina (Old), and Polk Counties.

County seat: Bemidji

Boundary Changes

For animated maps illustrating Minnesota County boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Minnesota County Boundary Maps" (1849-1960) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss

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

Places/Localities

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
Bemidji Blackduck Funkley	Kelliher Solway Tenstrike	Turtle River Wilton
Unincorporated communities
Andrusia Aure Carmel Debs Four Town Hines	Jelle Pennington Pinewood Puposky Quiring Saum	Secluded Acres Shooks Waskish Werner
Census-designated places
Little Rock Ponemah	Red Lake	Redby
Townships
Alaska Battle Bemidji Benville Birch Buzzle Cormant Durand Eckles Frohn Grant Valley Hagali Hamre Hines	Hornet Jones Kelliher Lammers Langor Lee Liberty Maple Ridge Minnie Moose Lake Nebish Northern O'Brien Port Hope	Quiring Roosevelt Shooks Shotley Spruce Grove Steenerson Sugar Bush Summit Taylor Ten Lake Turtle Lake Turtle River Waskish Woodrow
Unorganized territories
Brook Lake Lower Red Lake	North Beltrami Shotley Brook	Upper Red Lake

Neighboring Counties

• Cass
• Clearwater
• Hubbard
• Itasca
• Koochiching
• Lake of the Woods
• Marshall
• Pennington
• Roseau

Resources

Cemeteries

Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Tombstone Transcriptions in Print	List of Cemeteries in the county
Findagrave.com	Family History Library	Findagrave.com
MNGenWeb Archives	WorldCat	Billion Graves
Tombstone Project		FamilySearch Places
MNInterment
MNGravestones
Billion Graves
See Minnesota Cemeteries for more information.

Census

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1870	80	—
1880	10	−87.5%
1890	312	3020.0%
1900	11,030	3435.3%
1910	19,337	75.3%
1920	27,079	40.0%
1930	20,707	−23.5%
1940	26,107	26.1%
1950	24,962	−4.4%
1960	23,425	−6.2%
1970	26,373	12.6%
1980	30,982	17.5%
1990	34,384	11.0%
2000	39,650	15.3%
2010	44,442	12.1%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

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. Some denominations are gathering their records into a central repository. For more information, see Minnesota Church Records.

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
  

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, Beltrami – LAND AND PROPERTY

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Beltrami 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

• FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

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 Beltrami County, Minnesota Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat
• FamilySearch. Do a Beltrami County, Minnesota Genealogy Place-name search for these and other records in the FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see, FamilySearch Catalog Places 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

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

• 1900-1934 Minnesota, Birth Index, 1900-1934 at MyHeritage($) — index
• 1900-1934 Minnesota Births, 1900-1934 at Minnesota Historical Society - free index, images ($)

Marriage

• 1850-2019 WEB: Minnesota, Marriages from the Minnesota Official Marriage System, 1850-2019 at Ancestry($) — index
• 1860 - 1949 Minnesota, County Marriages, 1860-1949 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1976-2003 Minnesota, Marriages, 1976-2003 at MyHeritage($) — index

Death

• 1850-2001 - Minnesota, County Deaths, 1850-2001 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1887-2001 - Minnesota Deaths, 1887-2001 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1904-2001 Minnesota, Death Index, 1904-2001 at MyHeritage($) — index
• 1904-2001 Minnesota Deaths, 1904-2001 at Minnesota Historical Society - free index, images ($)

Societies and Libraries

• Beltrami County Historical Society
  130 Minnesota Ave SW
  Bemidji, MN 56601
  Phone: 218-444-3376
  Website

Family History Centers

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.

• Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

• Bemidji Minnesota Family History Center

Websites

• Minnesota Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
• FamilySearch Catalog
• Beltrami County GenWeb
• Cyndi's List: Beltrami County

This website requires a paid subscription for full access.