Ramsey County, Minnesota Genealogy

United States

Minnesota

Ramsey County

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

Ramsey County, Minnesota
Map
Location in the state of Minnesota
Location of Minnesota in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	October 27, 1849
County Seat	St. Paul
Courthouse
Address	Ramsey County Courthouse 15 Kellogg Blvd W St. Paul, MN 55102 Phone: 651.266.4444 Ramsey County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for Alexander Ramsey (W), the first governor of the Minnesota Territory. The County is located in the east central area of the state.

Ramsey County, Minnesota Record Dates

Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth	Marriage	Death	Census	Land	Probate
1870	1849	1870	1850	1844	1849

County Courthouse

Clerk District Court has birth and death records from 1870,
marriage records from 1850,
divorce and court records from 1900
and probate records from 1849.
Historical Society has court records
1858-1899 and land records.

History

Parent County

1849--Ramsey County was created 27 October 1849 from old St. Croix County in  Wisconsin Territory.
County seat: St. Paul

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

Record Loss

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

Places/Localities

Neighboring Counties

• Anoka
• Dakota
•  Hennepin
• Washington

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
MNInterment
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

• St. Paul

Lutheran

Ramsey County

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

St. Mathew's Lutheran Church

• Records of the St. Mathew's Lutheran Church, Ramsey 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

Directories

• Fold3.com ($) has Minneapolis City Directories 1865-1923 (4 yrs. missing) available online.
• Fold3.com ($) has St. Paul City Directories 1863-1924 (4 yrs. missing) available online.
• Genealogy From Periodicals
  
• Jones, Andrew Forsyth. The French Family of Sunderland and the USA. History of the family of Joseph and Mary Ann French with description of their son Joseph French born 1847, Gateshead, and his wife Frances Ann Samuel, born Sunderland, July 1846. Photo included on their golden wedding. The family of Joseph and Frances and all but one of their children emigrate to USA in 1887, and settle in St Paul, Minnesota, and after 5 years move onto San Francisco. Photo of Andrew Forsyth, and Elizabeth nee French in 1903. Other surnames mentioned: Bennett, Forsyth, Douce, Winks, Lundgren. Article dated 1846-1954, and is found in the Northumberland & Durham Family History Society Journal. vol. 32,no.2pages 48-49. Family History Library Ref. 942.8 B2jo vol. 32.no.2.(summer 2007)
  

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, Ramsey – LAND AND PROPERTY

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Ramsey 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

Military

Civil War

Civil War service men from Ramsey County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are many companies or regiments that were formed from men of Ramsey County.

- 1st Regiment, Minnesota Cavalry (Mounted Rangers), Company G.

- 1st Battalion, Minnesota Infantry Volunteers, Company A.

- 1st Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Companies A and F.

- 1st Regiment, Minnesota Heavy Artillery, Companies G and H.

- 2nd Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Companies B, D, F, G, H, I and K.

- 2nd Regiment, Minnesota Cavalry, Company A.

- 3rd Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Company B.

- 4th Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Companies E, G, and K.

- 5th Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Companies D, E, F, and I.

- 6th Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Companies A and G.

- 7th Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Company H.

- 8th Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Companies H and K.

- 10th Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Companies H and K.

- Brackett's Battalion, Minnesota Cavalry, Companies A and C.

- Hatch's Independent Battalion, Minnesota Cavalry, Companies A and D.

- 2nd Minnesota Company Sharpshooters, Second Company only.

Newspapers

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

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

The appeal . : (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19?? African-American newspaper. More than 1,500 issues between 1889 and 1922 have been digitized and are fully searchable on-line at the Library of Congress, Chronicling America website.

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

Societies and Libraries

Ramsey County
1485 E 7th Street
St. Paul 55106

Ramsey County Historical Society
323 Landmark Center
75 West Fifth Street
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55102
Telephone: 651-222-0701
Website

Little Canada Historical Society
515 Little Canada Rd E
Little Canada MN 55117-1633
Telephone: 651-766-4044
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. See family history center for more information. Search the online FHC directory for a nearby family history center.

• St Paul Minnesota Family History Center

Websites

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