Carver County, Minnesota Genealogy

United States

Minnesota

Carver County

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

Minnesota Online Genealogy Records

Carver County, Minnesota
Map
Location in the state of Minnesota
Location of Minnesota in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	February 20, 1855
County Seat	Chaska
Courthouse
Address	Carver County Courthouse 600 East 4th Street Chaska, MN 55318 Phone: 952-361-1420 Carver County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for he explorer Jonathan Carver, who in 1766–67, traveled from Boston to the Minnesota River, and wintered among the Sioux near the site of New Ulm. The County is located in the central area of the state.

Carver County, Minnesota Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1870	1870	1870	1856	1870	1856	1836
Statewide registration started for births in 1900 and deaths in 1908. General compliance by 1915.

County Courthouse

Court Administrator has divorce, probate and court records from 1856.
County Recorder has birth, marriage, death and land records from 1870.

History

Parent County

• 1855--Carver County was created 20 February 1855 from Hennepin and Sibley Counties. County seat: Chaska

Boundary Changes

For animated maps illustrating Minnesota County boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Minnesota County Boundary Maps" (1849-1960) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss

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

Places/Localities

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Carver Chanhassen Chaska Cologne	Hamburg Mayer New Germany Norwood Young America	Victoria Waconia Watertown
Unincorporated communities
Assumption Augusta Bongards Coney Island	Crown College Dahlgren East Union Gotha	Hazelton Hollywood Maple Oster
Townships
Benton Camden Dahlgren Hancock	Hollywood Laketown San Francisco	Waconia Watertown Young America
Ghost towns
San Francisco

Neighboring Counties

• Hennepin
• McLeod
• Scott
• Sibley
• Wright

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
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.

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, Carver – LAND AND PROPERTY

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Carver 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 Carver County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies or regiments that were formed from men of Carver County.

- 2nd Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Company I

- 3rd Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Company B.

- 4th Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Company A.

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

- 6th Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Company G.

- 9th Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, Companies B and H.

World War II

• 1940-1945 - Minnesota, World War II Draft Registration Cards,1940-1947 at FamilySearch — index and images

Naturalization and Citizenship

• 1872-1962 - Minnesota Naturalization Records and Indexes, 1872-1962 at FamilySearch — index

Newspapers

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

• WorldCat
• FamilySearch. Do a Carver 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
• 1887-2001 - Minnesota Deaths, 1887-2001 at FamilySearch — index and images

Societies and Libraries

• Carver County Historical Society
  555 W. First Street
  MN 55387-1203
  Phone: 952 442-4234
  Website
• Carver-on-the-Minnesota
  Broadway and Main
  Carver, MN 55315
  Website
• Chaska Historical Society
  Chaska History Center
  112 West Fourth Street
  Chaska, MN 55318
  Phone: 952 448-6077
  Website
  E-mail: historical@chaskahistory.org
• Watertown Area Historical Society
  PO Box 836
  309 Lewis Ave S.
  Watertown, MN 55388-0836
  Website
• Waconia Heritage Association
  213 South Vine Street
  Waconia, MN 55387
  Phone: 952-442-7700

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.

• For current information about a center near you, go to the Family History Center Map

• Introduction to Family History Centers

Websites

• Minnesota Genealogy Network Community on Google+
• Minnesota Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
• FamilySearch Catalog
• Carver County GenWeb
• Cyndi's List: Carver County