Cottonwood County, Minnesota Genealogy
Guide to Cottonwood County, Minnesota ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.
| Cottonwood County, Minnesota | |
| Map | |
 Location in the state of Minnesota | |
 Location of Minnesota in the U.S. | |
| Facts | |
| Founded | May 23, 1857 |
|---|---|
| County Seat | Windom |
| Courthouse | |
| Address | Cottonwood County Courthouse 900 3rd Avenue Windom, MN 56101 Phone: 507-831-5669 Phone: 507-831-1458 Cottonwood County Website |
Contents
- 1 County Information
- 2 County Courthouse
- 3 History
- 4 Places/Localities
- 5 Resources
- 6 Societies and Libraries
- 7 Websites
- 8 References
County Information[edit | edit source]
Description[edit | edit source]
The County was named for the Cottonwood River. The County is located in the southwest area of the state.[1]
Cottonwood County, Minnesota Record Dates[edit | edit source]
| Birth* | Marriage | Death* | Court | Land | Probate | Census |
| 1871 | 1871 | 1871 | 1871 | 1871 | 1871 | 1836 |
County Courthouse[edit | edit source]
Clerk District Court has birth, marriage, death, divorce and court records from 1871.[3]
History[edit | edit source]
Parent County[edit | edit source]
- 1857--Cottonwood County was created 23 May 1857 from [[Brown County, Minnesota Genealogy|Brown County. County seat: Windom [4]
Boundary Changes[edit | edit source]
Record Loss[edit | edit source]
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.
Places/Localities[edit | edit source]
Populated Places[edit | edit source]
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:[5]
| Cities | ||
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Townships | ||
Neighboring Counties[edit | edit source]
Resources[edit | edit source]
Cemeteries[edit | edit source]
| 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 | ||
| MNInterment | ||
| Billion Graves | ||
| See Minnesota Cemeteries for more information. | ||
Census[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
Highwater Lutheran Church, Lamberton
- Records of Highwater Lutheran Church, Lamberton, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).[6]
List of Churches and Church Parishes
Court[edit | edit source]
Emigration and Immigration[edit | edit source]
- 1912 - 1956 - Minnesota Passenger and Crew Lists, 1912-1956 at FamilySearch — index and images
Land[edit | edit source]
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, Cottonwood – LAND AND PROPERTY
Local Histories[edit | edit source]
Local histories are available for Cottonwood 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[edit | edit source]
for more resources
Military[edit | edit source]
World War II[edit | edit source]
- 1940-1945 - Minnesota, World War II Draft Registration Cards,1940-1947 at FamilySearch — index and images
Naturalization and Citizenship[edit | edit source]
- 1872-1962 - Minnesota Naturalization Records and Indexes, 1872-1962 at FamilySearch — index
Newspapers[edit | edit source]
Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Cottonwood County, Minnesota Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:
- WorldCat
- FamilySearch. Do a Cottonwood County, Minnesota Genealogy Place-name search for these and other records in the FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see, FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).
Obituaries[edit | edit source]
- 1865-2006 - Minnesota Obituaries 1865-2006 at FamilySearch — index and images
Probate[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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.
Birth[edit | edit source]
Marriage[edit | edit source]
- 1860 - 1949 Minnesota, County Marriages, 1860-1949 at FamilySearch — index and images
Death[edit | edit source]
- 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[edit | edit source]
- Cottonwood Area Historical Society
PO Box 106
Cottonwood, MN 56229 - Cottonwood County Historical Society
812 4th Avenue
Windom, MN 56101
Website - Southwest Minnesota History Center
Social Science 141
Southwest Minnesota State University
1501 State Street
Marshall, MN 56258
Telephone: 507-537-7373
Website
Family History Centers
[edit | edit source]
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
Websites[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Cottonwood County, Minnesota" in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottonwood_County,_Minnesota accessed 8 Nov 2018
- ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Cottonwood County, Minnesota. Page 362-370 At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002; Alice Eichholz, ed. Ancestry’s Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources, Third ed. (Provo, Utah: Ancestry, 2004), 362-365.
- ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Cottonwood County, Minnesota page 363, At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
- ↑ The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America,10th ed. (Draper, UT:Everton Publishers, 2002).
- ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Cottonwood County, Minnesota," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottonwood_County,_Minnesota, accessed 24 January 2020.
- ↑ "Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: An Inventory of Selected Congregational Records of the American Lutheran Church in Minnesota at the Minnesota Historical Society," Collection Finding Aids, Minnesota Historical Society, http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/01009.xml, accessed 10 June 2013.
