Place:Minnesota, United States

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NameMinnesota
Alt namesMNsource: Webster's Geographical Dictionary (1988) p 1257
Minn
TypeState
Coordinates46°N 94°W
Located inUnited States     (1858 - )
Contained Places
County
Aitkin ( 1857 - )
Anoka ( 1857 - )
Becker ( 1858 - )
Beltrami ( 1866 - )
Benton ( 1849 - )
Big Stone ( 1862 - )
Blue Earth ( 1853 - )
Brown ( 1855 - )
Carlton ( 1857 - )
Carver ( 1855 - )
Cass ( 1851 - )
Chippewa ( 1862 - )
Chisago ( 1851 - )
Clay ( 1858 - )
Clearwater ( 1902 - )
Cook ( 1874 - )
Cottonwood ( 1857 - )
Crow Wing ( 1857 - )
Dakota ( 1849 - )
Dodge ( 1855 - )
Douglas ( 1858 - )
Faribault ( 1855 - )
Fillmore ( 1853 - )
Freeborn ( 1855 - )
Goodhue ( 1853 - )
Grant ( 1868 - )
Hennepin ( 1852 - )
Houston ( 1854 - )
Hubbard ( 1883 - )
Isanti ( 1857 - )
Itasca ( 1849 - )
Jackson ( 1857 - )
Kanabec ( 1858 - )
Kandiyohi ( 1858 - )
Kittson ( 1878 - )
Koochiching ( 1906 - )
Lac qui Parle ( 1862 - )
Lake of the Woods ( 1922 - )
Lake ( 1856 - )
Le Sueur ( 1853 - )
Lincoln
Lyon ( 1868 - )
Mahnomen ( 1906 - )
Manomin ( 1857 - )
Marshall ( 1879 - )
Martin ( 1857 - )
McLeod ( 1856 - )
Meeker ( 1856 - )
Mille Lacs ( 1857 - )
Monongalia ( 1861 - )
Morrison ( 1856 - )
Mower ( 1855 - )
Murray ( 1857 - )
Nicollet ( 1853 - )
Nobles ( 1857 - )
Norman ( 1881 - )
Olmsted ( 1855 - )
Otter Tail ( 1858 - )
Pennington ( 1910 - )
Pine ( 1856 - )
Pipestone ( 1857 - )
Polk ( 1858 - )
Pope ( 1862 - )
Ramsey ( 1849 - )
Red Lake ( 1896 - )
Redwood ( 1862 - )
Renville ( 1855 - )
Rice ( 1853 - )
Rock ( 1857 - )
Roseau ( 1894 - )
Scott ( 1853 - )
Sherburne ( 1856 - )
Sibley ( 1853 - )
St. Louis ( 1856 - )
Stearns ( 1855 - )
Steele ( 1855 - )
Stevens ( 1862 - )
Swift ( 1870 - )
Todd ( 1855 - )
Traverse ( 1862 - )
Wabasha ( 1849 - )
Wadena ( 1858 - )
Waseca ( 1857 - )
Washington ( 1849 - )
Watonwan ( 1860 - )
Wilkin ( 1868 - )
Winona ( 1854 - )
Wright ( 1855 - )
Yellow Medicine ( 1871 - )
Former county
Buchanan ( 1857 - )
Mahkahta ( 1849 - )
Pierce ( 1853 - )
Wahnata ( 1849 - )
Gehucht
Long Siding
Inhabited place
Minneapolis-St. Paul
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Minnesota is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to intensive agriculture; deciduous forests in the southeast, now partially cleared, farmed, and settled; and the less populated North Woods, used for mining, forestry, and recreation. Roughly a third of the state is covered in forests, and it is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" for having over 14,000 bodies of fresh water of at least ten acres. More than 60% of Minnesotans live in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, known as the "Twin Cities", the state's main political, economic, and cultural hub. With a population of about 3.7 million, the Twin Cities is the 16th largest metropolitan area in the U.S. Other minor metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas in the state include Duluth, Mankato, Moorhead, Rochester, and St. Cloud.

Minnesota, which gets its name from the Dakota language, has been inhabited by various indigenous peoples since the Woodland period of the 11th century BCE. Between roughly 200 and 500 CE, two areas of the indigenous Hopewell tradition emerged: the Laurel complex in the north, and Trempealeau Hopewell in the Mississippi River Valley in the south. The Upper Mississippian culture, consisting of the Oneota people and other Siouan speakers, emerged around 1000 CE and lasted through the arrival of Europeans in the 17th century. French explorers and missionaries were the earliest Europeans to enter the region, encountering the Dakota, Ojibwe, and various Anishinaabe tribes. Much of what is now Minnesota formed part of the vast French holding of Louisiana, which the United States purchased in 1803. After several territorial reorganizations, the Minnesota Territory was admitted to the Union as the 32nd state in 1858. Minnesota's official motto, , is the only state motto in French; meaning "The Star of the North", it was adopted shortly after statehood and reflects both the state's early French explorers and its position as the northernmost state in the contiguous U.S.

As part of the American frontier, Minnesota attracted settlers and homesteaders from across the country, with its growth initially centered on timber, agriculture, and railroad construction. Into the early 20th century, European immigrants arrived in significant numbers, particularly from Scandinavia, Germany, and Central Europe; many were linked to the failed revolutions of 1848, which partly influenced the state's development as a center of labor and social activism. Minnesota's rapid industrialization and urbanization precipitated major social, economic, and political changes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the state was at the forefront of labor rights, women's suffrage, and political reform. Minnesota is considered Democratic-leaning, having voted for every Democratic presidential nominee since 1976, longer than any other U.S. state.

Since the late 20th century, the core of Minnesota's economy has diversified, shifting from traditional industries such as agriculture and resource extraction to services, finance, and health care; it is consequently one of the richest in terms of GDP and per capita income. The state is home to 11 federally recognized Native American reservations (seven Ojibwe, four Dakota), and remains a center of Scandinavian and German cultures with an influence of Lutheranism. In more recent decades, Minnesota has become more multicultural, driven by both larger domestic migration and immigration from Latin America, Asia, the Horn of Africa, and the Middle East; the state has the nation's largest population of Somali Americans and second largest Hmong population. Minnesota's standard of living and level of education are among the highest in the U.S., and it is ranked among the best states in metrics such as employment, median income, safety, and governance.

Contents

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

When Europeans arrived in North America, the Dakota people lived in what is now Minnesota. The first Europeans to enter the region were French voyageurs, fur traders who arrived in the 17th century. They used the Grand Portage to access trapping and trading areas further into Minnesota. The Anishinaabe (also known as Ojibwe or Chippewa) were migrating into Minnesota, causing tensions with the Dakota people, and dislocated the Mdewakanton from their homelands along Mille Lacs Lake. Explorers such as Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, Father Louis Hennepin, Jonathan Carver, Henry Schoolcraft, and Joseph Nicollet mapped the state.

The region was part of Spanish Louisiana from 1762 to 1802. The portion of the state east of the Mississippi River became part of the United States at the end of the American Revolutionary War, when the Second Treaty of Paris was signed. Land west of the Mississippi was acquired with the Louisiana Purchase, though the Hudson Bay Company disputed the Red River Valley until the Treaty of 1818, when the border on the 49th parallel was agreed upon.[1] In 1805 Zebulon Pike bargained with Native Americans to acquire land at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers to create a military reservation. The construction of Fort Snelling followed between 1819 and 1825. Its soldiers built a grist mill and a sawmill at Saint Anthony Falls, which were harbingers of the water-powered industries around which Minneapolis later grew. Meanwhile, squatters, government officials, and others had settled near the fort; in 1839 the army forced them off military lands, and most moved downriver, just outside the military reservation, to the area that became St. Paul.

Minnesota was part of several territorial organizations between acquisition and statehood. From 1812 to 1821 it was part of the Territory of Missouri that corresponded with much of the Louisiana Purchase. It was briefly an unorganized territory (1821-1834) and was later consolidated with Wisconsin, Iowa and half the Dakotas to form the short-lived Territory of Michigan (1834-1836). From 1836 to 1848 Minnesota and Iowa were part of the Territory of Wisconsin. From 1838 to 1846 Minnesota west of the Mississippi River was part of the Territory of Iowa. Minnesota east of the Mississippi was part of Wisconsin until 1848. When Iowa gained statehood western Minnesota was in an Unorganized Territory again. Minnesota Territory was formed on March 3, 1849. The first territorial legislature, held on September 2, 1849, was dominated by men of New England ancestry. Thousands of pioneers had come to create farms and cut timber. Minnesota became the 32nd U.S. state on May 11, 1858. The founding population was so overwhelmingly of New England origins that the state was dubbed "the New England of the West".


Treaties between the U.S. Government and the eastern Dakota and Ojibwe gradually forced the natives off their lands and onto reservations. As conditions deteriorated for the eastern Dakota, tensions rose, leading to the Dakota War of 1862. The conflict was ignited when four young Dakota men, searching for food, killed a family of white settlers on August 17. That night, a faction of Little Crow's eastern Dakota decided to try and drive all settlers out of the Minnesota River valley. In the weeks that followed, Dakota warriors killed hundreds of settlers, causing thousands to flee the area. The six-week war ended with the defeat of the eastern Dakota and 2,000 in custody, who were eventually exiled to the Crow Creek Reservation by the Great Sioux Reservation in Dakota Territory. The remaining 4,500 to 5,000 Dakota mostly fled the state into Rupert's Land. As many as 800 settlers were killed during the war.

Minnesota Governor Alexander Ramsey subsequently declared that "the Sioux Indians of Minnesota must be exterminated or driven forever beyond the borders of the state” and placed a bounty of $25/scalp on the heads of the eastern Dakota men. Over 1,600 eastern Dakota women, children, and elderly walked from the Lower Sioux Agency to Fort Snelling to be held until the spring thaw allowed riverboats to take them out of Minnesota to Crow Creek Indian Reservation. William Crooks, commander of 6th Minnesota, had a palisade erected around the encampment on Pike Island, just below the fort, to protect native people from the soldiers and settlers. Conditions there were poor and between 125 and 300 died of disease. Around 400 Dakota men were tried after the war. 303 were sentenced to death, but Abraham Lincoln reviewed the convictions and approved 39 of the death sentences. In December 1862, 38 of them were hanged.[1]

In early 1863, Ramsey resigned as governor to become the Federal Indian Commissioner. His successor, Governor Henry Swift, raised the bounty to $200/scalp. A total of $325 was paid out to four people collecting bounties, including for Little Crow who was killed in July 1863.[2] Upon becoming Indian Commissioner, Ramsey set out to get Ojibwe lands too. In 1863 he negotiated the Treaty of Old Crossing, whereby the Ojibwe ceded all their land in northern Minnesota and moved to reservations.

Logging, farming, and railroads were mainstays of Minnesota's early economy. The sawmills at Saint Anthony Falls and logging centers of Pine City, Marine on St. Croix, Stillwater, and Winona processed vast quantities of timber. These cities were on rivers that were ideal for transportation.[1] St. Anthony Falls was later tapped to provide power for flour mills. Innovations by Minneapolis millers led to the production of Minnesota "patent" flour, which commanded almost double the price of "bakers'" or "clear" flour which it replaced. By 1900 Minnesota mills, led by Pillsbury, Northwestern, and the Washburn-Crosby Company (an ancestor of General Mills), were grinding 14.1% of the nation's grain.


The state's iron-mining industry was established with the discovery of iron in the Vermilion and Mesabi ranges in the 1880s, followed by the Cuyuna Range in the early 1900s. The ore went by rail to Duluth and Two Harbors for ship transport east via the Great Lakes.[1]

Industrial development and the rise of manufacturing caused the population to shift gradually from rural areas to cities during the early 20th century. Nevertheless, farming remained prevalent. Minnesota's economy was hit hard by the Great Depression, resulting in lower prices for farmers, layoffs among iron miners, and labor unrest. Compounding the adversity, western Minnesota and the Dakotas were hit by drought from 1931 to 1935. New Deal programs provided some economic turnaround. The Civilian Conservation Corps and other programs around the state established some jobs for Indians on their reservations, and the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 provided the tribes with a mechanism of self-government. This gave Natives a greater voice within the state and promoted more respect for tribal customs because religious ceremonies and native languages were no longer suppressed.[3]

After World War II, industrial development quickened. New technology increased farm productivity through automation of feedlots for hogs and cattle, machine milking at dairy farms, and raising chickens in large buildings. Planting became more specialized, with hybridization of corn and wheat, and farm machinery such as tractors and combines became the norm. University of Minnesota professor Norman Borlaug contributed to these developments as part of the Green Revolution.[3] Suburban development accelerated due to increased postwar housing demand and convenient transportation. Increased mobility in turn enabled more specialized jobs.[3]

Minnesota became a center of technology after World War II. Engineering Research Associates was formed in 1946 to develop computers for the United States Navy. It later merged with Remington Rand, and then became Sperry Rand. William Norris left Sperry in 1957 to form Control Data Corporation (CDC). Cray Research was formed when Seymour Cray left CDC to form his own company. Medical device maker Medtronic also started business in the Twin Cities in 1949.

The United States Navy and Coast Guard have recognized Minnesota with:

Timeline

YearEventSource
1850Minesota's first censusSource:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
1858Minnesota becomes 32nd stateSource:Wikipedia

Population History

source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
Census Year Population
1850 6,077
1860 172,023
1870 439,706
1880 780,773
1890 1,310,283
1900 1,751,394
1910 2,075,708
1920 2,387,125
1930 2,563,953
1940 2,792,300
1950 2,982,483
1960 3,413,864
1970 3,804,971
1980 4,075,970
1990 4,375,099

Note: Northeastern Minnesota, east of the Mississippi River and a line drawn northward from its source to Canada, was part of the Northwest Territory (1787) and later of Indiana Territory (1800), Illinois Territory (1809), Michigan Territory (1818), and Wisconsin Territory (1838). Most of the rest of the State was part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, and included in Louisiana Territory (1805), renamed Missouri Territory in 1812. Both these parts of the present State were included in Michigan Territory from 1834 to 1836, and then in Wisconsin Territory until 1838. The portion west of the Mississippi then became part of Iowa Territory, until Minnesota Territory was established in 1849, including the whole present-day State and the Dakotas generally east of the Missouri River. Minnesota was admitted as a State on May 11, 1858 with essentially its present boundaries. There was only limited census coverage of the present area of the State prior to 1850. In 1830 a few persons near Lake Superior may have been enumerated in Chippewa County, Michigan Territory; in 1840 some persons in northeastern Minnesota were enumerated in Saint Croix County, Wisconsin Territory, and two settlements on the Mississippi River were enumerated as part of Clayton County, Iowa Territory. In 1850 coverage of Minnesota Territory did not extend beyond the present State except for a few settlers near the Red River in what is now North Dakota. In 1860 the census covered virtually the whole State.. Total for 1850 includes a few settlers near the Red River in what is now North Dakota. Total for 1890 includes population (8,457) of certain Indian reservations not returned by county. Total for 1900 includes population (3,486) of White Earth Indian Reservation, not returned by county, and returned in Becker, Clearwater, and Mahnomen Counties in 1910.

Research Tips

Births, Marriages, and Deaths

The Minnesota Historical Society has an index of 20th century death certificates here (1904-2001). The index results list name, death date, death county, and, for later years (post 50s), mother's maiden name, birth date and birth state.

Birth certificates 1900-1934 are indexed here.

Once you find the certificate, you can order a copy from the site.

FamilySearch.org has a variety of collections available for free online:

Research Guides

Outstanding guide to Minnesota family history and genealogy (FamilySearch Research Wiki). Birth, marriage, and death records, wills, deeds, county records, archives, Bible records, cemeteries, churches, censuses, directories, immigration lists, naturalizations, maps, history, newspapers, and societies.

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Minnesota. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.