Research Notes -
from Park Genealogical Books,
your specialists in genealogy and local history for Minnesota
and the surrounding area
Minnesota Maps On-line
Research into your ancestor's land within Minnesota is easier than ever before. The Minnesota Historical Society (MHS) website now includes on-line, full-color access to part of their map collection and the Office of the Secretary of State.
What you can access now
Minnesota's Original Land Survey Maps
Minnesota's original Public Land Survey plats created during the first government land survey of the state conducted by the U.S. Surveyor General's Office during the years 1848-1907. The survey was conducted in anticipation of subdividing the land and selling it to settlers moving into the area. The plats made it easier to locate and legally describe the parcels being purchased. This collection of more than 3,600 maps from the Minnesota Secretary of State's office also includes later General Land Office (GLO) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) maps up to the year 2001.
The plats typically describe six-mile square areas, and show the original physical geography (lakes, wetlands, some contours, etc.). As the fundamental legal records for real estate ownership, all property titles and descriptions stem from them. It is also used on the land patents found on the BLM/GLO website, allowing a research to download the official record of the first transfer from the U.S. Government to an individual. With these plat maps, a researcher can match that land patent to a plat showing the physical geographic features of the property transferred. Of course, with a legal description of an ancestor's property, you can search for the county, then the township and range numbers to locate the property, even if that individual was not the original owner. (All subsequent land transfers are recorded in the County offices. The townships received their names after township government was established.)
The example on the search screen is from Cook County. For the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, and the original military reservation for Fort Snelling, see t029r23w, which was later named Reserve township in Ramsey County. (Some of this land was settled in the early 1840s, before it was surveyed.) You can then see this same area as it changes in the second part of the on-line map collection, featuring published land owner maps.
Plat Books and Atlases
Later land ownership was also documented in maps and atlases as well as in the official county records. The Minnesota Historical Society owns more than 1,300 county atlases and plat books showing land ownership. Some of Minnesota's 87 counties have atlases dating to the 1860s; others are not covered until the 20th century. Many of them have been microfilmed and are available through interlibrary loan through local public libraries (see your reference librarian to see if your library participates in this program).
See our catalog for Minnesota Landowner Maps and Atlases, an annotated bibliography of these items at MHS, county historical societies, the University of Minnesota Map Library, the Library of Congress, and other repositories. This bibliography provides references to where the original published maps and atlases can be seen, as well as which ones have been reprinted and/or indexed for ease of use.
Currently, the following volumes can be searched on-line:
- An Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Minnesota, 1874 (see our research note on this work, too!). By 1874, the City of St. Paul had incorporated much of Reserve and the other surrounding townships into the City proper. Our index to this resource includes individuals from the maps, the patrons' directory, the biographies and other contents. It's one of my favorite resources, as it often provides the place of birth of a landowner and when he arrived in Minnesota!
- Map of Hennepin County, 1873
- Plat book of Dakota County, 1896
- Plat book of Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, 1898. By this time, the City of St. Paul has extended its boundaries again, and Reserve township has completely disappeared. Note that the legal land descriptions remain constant, using the same Township, Range and Section numbers that were assigned with the original plats surveyed in 1848.
- Plat book of Winona County, 1894
Clicking on any of the columns in the description will bring up a table of contents for the atlas, allowing a researcher to choose a page or browse. As the example with Reserve Township above suggests, changing settlement patterns can be followed by comparing plats from different time periods.
Our research note on land and atlases explains the system used in legal land descriptions, and offers hints on using these resources.
Take some time to browse this collection - you'll be as enthused about it as I am!
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