MinnesotaGenealogy and History part of the Genealogy
Trails Family
Our goal is to help you track your ancestors through time by transcribing
genealogical and historical data and placing it online for the free use of all researchers.
This website is available for adoption!
We're looking for folks who share our dedication
to keeping Genealogy free and are interested in helping this project be as successful as we can make it. If you are interested in joining our group
by hosting one of the available county websites, view our Volunteer Page for further information about us.
[A desire to transcribe data and knowledge of how to make a basic webpage
is required.]
DONATE YOUR DATA! We welcome any information you may wish to provide
for the free research of others.
So, dust off those old scrapbooks you have in your attic, dig out those old newspapers, or anything else you feel
is of interest to this County, and send them our way. We are looking for obituaries, newspaper stories, biographies,
Birth, Death and Marriage records, as well as interesting newspaper tidbits from years gone past - the items YOU
used to put together your family trees. If you have information that you'd like to share with us on the history
of this county and its people, please send it to us and we'll make sure it gets posted online.
We regret that we are
unable to perform personal research for you. All data we come across is added
to this site, so please keep checking back!
County Information
Washington County was one of the nine original counties created when the Minnesota Territory was organized in 1849.
The county was officially established October 27, 1849, named after George Washington.
Early development in the area was on the St. Croix River, which forms the eastern boundary of the county. The river
not only provided a means of transportation to move people upstream, but also move logs downstream. The area was
heavily forested and the early economy was dependent on the logging and lumber industries.
The first settlement and seat was named Dacotah, and was located as early as 1838 in what is now north Stillwater,
where Brown's Creek flows into the St. Croix River. The creek's name is from the founder of this settlement, Joseph
Renshaw Brown. However, a sawmill was built at Marine-on-St.-Croix in 1839, and another was built in the current
location of downtown Stillwater in 1844. The success of these soon attracted the settlers from Dacotah, and Stillwater
became the county seat in 1846.
During this early period, the region was part of the Wisconsin Territory, but Wisconsin became a state in 1848.
Brown and other leaders called together settlers in this now-ungoverned territory to what has become known as the
“Stillwater Convention "on August 26, 1848. Held in John McKusick’s store, the settlers drafted a Memorial
to Congress that a new territory be created with the name “Minnesota,” and elected Henry Hastings Sibley to deliver
this citizen’s petition to the U.S. Congress. Because of this convention, Stillwater calls itself the “Birthplace
of Minnesota.”
After officially becoming a territory, growth continued, with the first Sheriff of Washington County appointed
by Governor Alexander Ramsey in 1849, and the county's school district founded in 1850.
After the forests were depleted, the economy of Washington County became primarily agricultural. With the growth
of neighboring Ramsey County and St. Paul, some of Washington County developed based on tourism and recreation,
as with Mahtomedi and Landfall. Late in the 20th century, the population greatly increased with the suburban expansion
of St. Paul. (wikipedia.org)
TOWNSHIPS
CITIES AND TOWNS
Baytown Township
Denmark Township
Forest Lake Township
Grey Cloud Island Township
May Township
New Scandia Township
Stillwater Township
West Lakeland Township
Afton
Bayport
Birchwood Village
Cottage Grove
Dellwood
Forest Lake
Grant
Hastings (a small section)
Hugo
Lake Elmo
Lake St. Croix Beach
Lakeland Shores
Lakeland
Landfall
Mahtomedi
Marine on St. Croix
Newport
Oak Park Heights
Oakdale
Pine Springs
St. Marys Point
St. Paul Park
Stillwater
Willernie
White Bear Lake (a small section) Woodbury
St. Croix Collection - Stillwater Public Library
651-439-1675
Local Oral Histories, Census Records, Stillwater City Directories, Cemeteries Index, Naturalization Records
Washington County Historical Society
651-439-5956
Warden's House Museum, Research, Special Events, e-Photo Album, Schools of the Past
Minnesota Historical Society
651-296-2143
Research Center/Libraries, 651-296-6126
General Information, Birth and Death Records prior to 1870.
Minnesota Genealogical Society
5768 Olson Memorial Highway
Golden Valley, MN 55422
763-595-9347
