Watonwan County, Minnesota
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Hello:
My name is Martha and I am the new County Coordinator for Watonwan County.
I do not live in Minnesota, but have roots deep in her soil.
I am happy to answer questions and I may be able to help you locate that 'missing piece of your Ancestral Pie'

I can be contacted via Email using this link.

Table of Contents
History ~ Biographies ~ Search ~ Maps ~ Queries ~ Lookups ~ What's New
Vital Records ~ Obituaries ~ Family Search: Historical Images
Cemeteries ~ Military ~ Native American Resources ~ Crime & Punishment ~ Odds & Ends
 'Minnesota Meanderings' [Off Site] Eclectic MN Resources

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Watonwan County Neighbors:
Blue Earth ~ Brown ~ Cottonwood ~ Martin
And Shares a Corner with Jackson
Interested in another Minnesota County?
Here is the List of Counties.

History ~ Biographies ~ Maps ~ Queries ~ Lookups ~ What's New The Historical Wiki for Watonwan County can be found here. Cities ~ Unincorporated Communities ~ Townships Chapter VI - Township Histories From the "History OF Cottonwood And Watonwan Counties, Minnesota" Biographies ~ Books "Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography " by Wilson, James Grant, 1832-1914; Fiske, John, 1842-1901 Publication date 1900 Note: Appleton's also includes Bios for Native American Folk Appleton Review ~ Archive.org [All Vol's] "The Centennial History of Adrian Township - Darfur Village Watonwan County, Minnesota" In Observance Of Our Country's Bicentennial Year 1976 This History Was Published Under The Supervision Of Adrian Township - Darfur Village Spirit OF '73 Committee There Is No Index, The Book Is A Fully Searchable Pdf File. Download Here [Family Search Books] "History OF Cottonwood And Watonwan Counties Minnesota Their People, industries and institutions" John A. Brown: Editor-in-chief With Biographical Sketches Of Representative Citizens And Genealogical Records Of Many Of The Old Families Volumes I & II: Illustrated: 1916 B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana The Biographical Index Is Here Chapter VI - Township Histories ~ Chapter XVIII 'Murder And Outrages' Is Here Read Online Or Download "Memorial Record Of The Counties Of Faribault, Martin, Watonwan And Jackson, Minnesota." Illustrated: Chicago. The Lewis Publishing Company. 1895. The Biographical Index Is Here Read Online Or Download "History of the Minnesota Valley" By Rev. Edward D Neill Minneapolis: North Star Publishing Company: 1882 Index for the whole book There is no specific Chapter for Watonwan, but there are references to folks who lived there. The book can be downloaded here, it is full of great information. "American Women : The official who's who among the women of the nation" by Howes, Durward, 1899- Publication date, 1937 - V2 There are two interesting Indexes: Geographical, Occupational There is one page of Necrology [Names, no Dates, A - K] The Index for Minnesota and Missouri is Here Read Online or Download [Archive.org] "Who's Who in Minnesota" 1958: Centennial Edition Lithographed in USA Brown Printing Co., Waseca, Minn. The Index is Here The book can be downloaded here. Watonwan folk are listed below and can be found here. Bartsch, Walter E ~ Dolliver, Gladys M ~ Gaalswyk, Marion ~ Manahan, Cecil J Mc Carthy, Charles E ~ Moen, Thorvald E~ Seibert, Charles W "History of the Great Northwest and it's Men of Progress" CGW Hyde, 1901 Pub: The Minneapolis Journal - The Index is here. Read Online or Download Both Blue Earth County and Brown Counties are Neighbors, be sure to check there for Biographies The FS Wiki has a long list of Biographical Information for Minnesota / Use this link More Historical Resources There are a lot of books that have been written about Minnesota, many of them have information about Individuals who either were born or who lived there for a time. Using " Minnesota History" on the Archive.org Site gives these results. I found two books written about Swedish Immigrants in Minnesota. They are chock full of very interesting information: Biographies & Genealogies Historical Maps Plat Map - 1916: Watonwan County Click on Township of Interest, a Plat with Land / Property Owners names pops up. Perry - Castaneda Collection ~ David Rumsey Collection Note: The Rumsey Collection now includes 'Search Text on/in Maps' MN Department of Natural Resources ~ Railroad Maps More... From the Alabama Collection ~ Earthquake Fault Maps UWM Libraries Digital Collections ~ Humboldt State University Map Collection ~ Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps ~ MapGoose Surveyors Maps: 1850's [Base Maps] [Click on 'Download County' at left] Maplandia for Minnesota Queries, Mail Lists, Lookup Volunteers Cyndi's List has a list of Sites that may be used for posting Queries This is the Mail List for Minnesota: iogroups, Minnesota Lookup Volunteers and "Help Wanted" Types of Lookups: Obituaries ~ Books about Watonwan County Military Records ~ City Directories Please contact Martha if you have access to any of the above resources. I have access to the following Subscription Databases and am happy to do limited lookups: Heritage Hub Heritage Hub is fairly new and it includes other Digital Newspaper Databases. The Collection is extensive, so there are chances that an Obit or Article [Death, Accident, Suspicious Death] might be found. My Heritage: Library Edition - Collections Census & Voter Lists ~ Histories, Memories & Biographies ~ Birth, Marriage & Death Public Records ~ Schools & Universities ~ Directories, Guides & References Maps ~ Immigration & Travel ~ Books & Publications Military ~ Newspapers ~ Family Trees ~ Photos ~ Government, Land, Court & Wills I will do limited lookups on My Heritage: contact Martha 'History Hub' = New Lookup Service Search for Living People: Zaba Search And RAOGK <<<What's New>>> >>>New<<< 31 May 2025 Also New... Tutorial on How to Search PDF Books and Publications on the Archive.org Site "Minnesota Medical Magazine" [Archive Link] Here is the Link at the Harvard Library, all of the Issues are linked to the Archive.org Site Volume 17-25 (1897-1905) of Northwestern Lancet, 26-31 (1906-1911) of the Journal of the Minnesota State Medical Association and Northwestern Lancet, 32-43, 45, 48-84, 86-88 (1912-1923, 1925, 1928-1964, 1966-1968) of Journal-Lancet, and 1-83 (1918-2000) of Minnesota Medicine are available online Owned and Published by The Minnesota Medical Association There are three 'Versions' beginning with the:  "Journal Lancet" [3 Issues] "The Journal Of The Minnesota State Medicae Association The Northwestern Lancet" [9 Issues] Then the final Version:" Minnesota Medical Magazine" [Still in Publication] These Magazines vary widely in Topic, but the baseline is Medical in Nature. When I began digging into them I discovered a unique window into Minnesota's Medical History. There Journal Articles about Diseases, Maladies, Surgical Procedures, along with the growth of the Medical Industry. There is such a wide variety, it was difficult to figure out what to share and leave the rest of the information for the Individual Researcher to glean. I have parsed out the Indexes: Please use this Link Along with the Indexes, there are Obituaries and Memorials. Some of the Memorials were lenghty: They can be found Here The Minnesota Medical Association has the Authority to prosecute persons who violate their laws. In almost every Volume there were Criminal Prosecutions. Some of the Cases were included on the pages with the memoirals Because there were dozens of Magazines to go thourgh, I created Yearly Sections of Information Indexes, Medical Rosters, Memorials, Obituaries, Articles 1904 - 1650 ~ 1951 - 1960 ~ 1961 - 1970 ~ 1971 - 1975 ~ 1976 - 1999 Lastly, There were Histories of Medicine  written for some Counties: The Chart Below gives the Year when the Article was Written and the Name of The MN County There are also Articles on Homeopathic Medicine, Lake Superior, Missabe Range, Pioneer Doctors . Also a History of the MN Medical Association and Early MN Hospitals Please Use This Link for the County Histories   "Medical and Surgical Register of The United States" R L Polk, Publishers, Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago Military Information is also included in these Books. Such As... Officers Of the Medical Department of the United States Army And Hospital Stewards. Medical Corps of the United States Navy Medical Officers Of the U. S. Marine Hospital Service. Including Acting Assistant Surgeons And Hospital Stewards. Note: There are more of these Directories for the following years: Scroll [Archive.org Site] Years: 1886 1890, 1893, 1896, 1898,1900, 1902, 1904, 1906, 1908, 1910, 1912, 1917 The National Archives has a really nice set of digitized records that can be free accessed. Please use this link for access. The National Archives has a really nice set of digitized records that can be freely viewed and downloaded Please use this link for access. Family Search "Collections" There is a wealth of Family and Historical information contained on the FamilySearch WebSite. It can be overwhelming to figure out where to start. All of the pdf files for the information listed below can be found using this link. Cemeteries, Etc [Burial, Cemeteries, Coroner, Funeral Homes, Graves] Church Records[ Baptism's, Catholic Church, Christenings, Church [General]] Legal Documents and Resources [Court, Estate, Probate Records] Migration - Naturalization - Travel [ Border Crossings, Migration, Naturalization, Passenger Lists, Passports] Military [Bounty [Land], Military [Misc], Pensions, Soldiers, Veteran's, War[s]] Odds and Ends [Applications, Homestead, Membership, Native Americans, Parish [Location & Church], Pioneers, Prison, Voting, Obituaries, Veteran & Soldier's Homes, Children's Home] Vital Records [Birth, Marriage, Divorce, Death, Mortality Records] "Minnesota, Church Records, 1798-1991" Family Search Database: Please use this Link

"The Fine Print"
Watonwan County Coordinator: Martha A Crosley Graham
State Coordinator: Tim Stowell
Assistant State Coordinator: Karen De Groote

For information about adopting a Minnesota County, Please Contact Tim

If you have an idea or comment please let us know.
Information contained on all of the pages within the Watonwan County portion of the MNGenWeb Project
may be used for personal genealogical and historical purposes.
Please be considerate of copyright information and give credit where credit is due.
Donated data will remain with the County in the event of the resignation of the County Coordinator.
Any person donating information in the future retains the right to have it returned to them upon request

Site Updated: 31 May 2025
Online Continuously since 1997
All Rights Reserved
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