Research Notes -
from Park Genealogical Books,
your specialists in genealogy and local history for Minnesota and the surrounding area
Minnesota Death Records before 1908
Recording of deaths was first required in 1870, on the local government level e.g., townships and villages). These were eventually passed along to the county, with some now in other repositories, such as the State Archives at the Minnesota History Center. After 1908 when counties were required to send duplicate death certificates to the Minnesota Board of Health, the major cities in the state (including St. Paul, Minneapolis and Duluth), continued to keep separate records. That is, if a person died in the City of Minneapolis, even though the family lived in Minnetonka or Champlin, the death is more likely to have been recorded in the records for the City (Minneapolis), and not in the Hennepin County records. Deaths were always recorded where the death occurred, and not in the 'usual place of residence.'
The existence of various vital record registers was documented as part of Minnesota WPA efforts in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Workers in the individual counties visited both churches and government offices to determine what registers existed and for what years. That information was then published. We've updated the information on government vital statistics with lists of published records as well as noting those which have been microfilmed. It is available through our catalog.
Beginning in 1900, the State Health Department asked counties to submit death information, which was transferred to a 3X5 card for filing, organized by year, county, then alphabet. That method continued until 1908, when a duplicate of the death certificate filed in the county was forwarded to the Department. That card file has now been microfilmed and is available to researchers in the Reference Library of the Minnesota History Center. It is also available through interlibrary loan through public libraries. Working backwards and connecting with the death certificates, the cards are being indexed as part of the MnHS on-line index.
Covering the years 1900-1907, the cards include typical information found on death certificates: name, age, date of death, attending physician, location of death, cause of death, etc. With this information, you can track down the original entry of death in the local government records, often a single line entry in a death register.
As with any research, the more information about a death the researcher can bring, the easier the search will be. If you know the year and place of death, it's quick to find the right card, even without an index!
One of my early teachers always said to turn over every rock in looking for family members, because you'll never know what you'll find. That's good advice. In using the 1900 microfilm for the City of Minneapolis to verify names and death dates for a publication, I found a treasure trove I wished belonged to one of my own ancestors! Part of the documents can be found at deathrecords.pdf. These documents answer some questions and raise even more, and provide a challenge to even the most experienced family historian!
The cause of death is given as "Fract. arm & leg," with a contributing cause of "Struck by locomotive." Clearly, there will likely be a story in the newspaper about this! The name given on the card (and in the interment records at St. Mary's Cemetery as well) was incorrect as recorded. The record contains an affidavit asking that it be amended, as well as a birth record from a small community in Italy and an official translation. (The translation is not in the .PDF file. Because the images are from microfilm copies, they are less than perfect--sorry!)
It is curious that the death occurred in December 1900, but that the request for correction of the name was not made until May of 1936. Why so much later? What benefit was there from correcting the record? What's your theory?
It's always a good practice to look for every piece of evidence, even if you expect you will find nothing new. You just never know where you will find the village of origin, or some other elusive fact!
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