Otter Tail County, Minnesota Genealogy

United States

Minnesota

Otter Tail County

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

Otter Tail County, Minnesota
Map
Location in the state of Minnesota
Location of Minnesota in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	March 18, 1858
County Seat	Fergus Falls
Courthouse
Address	Otter Tail County Courthouse 121 W Junis Avenue Fergus Falls, MN 56537 Phone: 218.739.2271 Otter Tail County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for Otter Tail Lake and Otter Tail River. The County is located in the west central area of the state.

Otter Tail County, Minnesota Record Dates

Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth	Marriage	Death	Census	Land	Probate
1871	1869	1871	1850	1867	1872

County Courthouse

Clerk Deeds Court has birth and death records from 1870,
marriage records from 1869, divorce records from 1897,
probate and court records from 1872.

History

Parent County

• 1858--Otter Tail County was created 18 March 1858 from Cass and Pembina (Old) Counties  County seat: Fergus Falls
• For a brief history of Otter Tail County's name, click here, then select Otter Tail County.

Record Loss

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

Places/Localities

Neighboring Counties

• Becker
• Clay
• Douglas
• Grant
• Todd
• Wadena
• Wilkin

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
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.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

LDS Ward and Branch Records

• Fergus Falls

Lutheran

Aurdal Lutheran Church, Underwood

• Records of the Aurdal Lutheran Church, Underwood, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Fergus Falls

• Records of the American Lutheran Church, Fergus Falls, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Grace Lutheran Church, Erhard

• Records of the Grace Lutheran Church, Erhard, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

North Immanuel Lutheran Church, Pelican Rapids

• Records of the North Immanuel Lutheran Church, Pelican Rapids, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

South Immanuel Lutheran Church, Rothsay

• Records of the South Immanuel Lutheran Church, Rothsay, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Trifoldinghed Lutheran Church

• Records of the Trifoldinghed Lutheran Church, Otter Tail County, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Trinity Lutheran Church, Pelican Rapids

• Records of the Trinity Lutheran Church, Pelican Rapids, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

United Norwegian Lutheran Church, Underwood

• Records of the United Norwegian Lutheran Church, Underwood, 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, Otter Tail – LAND AND PROPERTY

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Otter Tail 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.

• John W. Mason, ed. History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota : its people, industries and institutions, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families. Indianapolis : B. F. Bowen, 1916
  
• Tweton, Jerome D. The New Deal: At the Grass Roots. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988. Print.

Maps

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

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

Military

Military History:

Listing of individuals from this county for these wars:

• World War 1
• World War II 
• Korean War
• Vietnam War

Newspapers

Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Otter Tail County, Minnesota Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat
• FamilySearch. Do a Otter Tail 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
• Online Minnesota Death Records & Indexes

Societies and Libraries

Otter Tail County Genealogical Society
1110 W. Lincoln Avenue
Fergus Falls, MN 56537
Telephone: 218-736-6038
E-mail:otchs@prtel.com
Website

Northwest Minnesota Historical Center
Livingston Lord Library
Moorhead State University
Moorhead, MN 56560

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. See family history center for more information. Search the online FHC directory for a nearby family history center.

• Introduction to Family History Centers

Websites

• Otter Tail County, MN Genealogy Forum (GenForum)
• FamilySearch Catalog
• Otter Tail County Genealogy (Minnesota Genealogy)