Minnesota Territorial Census, 1857 - FamilySearch Historical Records

Collection Time Period
This census enumerated the population in September 1857.

Collection History
Minnesota became a territory in 1849, and a territorial census was taken for that year. Territorial censuses were also taken in 1853 and 1855. The 1853 and 1855 censuses are very incomplete. The federal government had a territorial census taken in 1857, just before Minnesota became a state. However, there was some fraud involved in this census. Ballot boxes were stuffed with ballots that had names of fictitious voters. In addition, there are some localities within the counties of Cottonwood, Jackson, Martin, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone, and Rock which may be entirely fictitious.

Why This Collection Was Created
The census was compiled to obtain a count of the population of the territory to determine how many representatives the state would send to Congress.

Collection Reliability
Accuracy of the information in the census is determined by the accuracy of the knowledge of the informant, which could have been any member of the family or even a neighbor. As stated in Collection History, some information in this census was deliberately falsified.

Collection Description
The census information was handwritten on preprinted sheets. It is arranged by county (counties are in alphabetical order) and then by smaller jurisdictions.

Record Content
The biographical information found in this census is the following: • Name of each person who resided in the family on September 21, 1857 • Age • Sex • Race • Place of birth • Whether the individual was born in the United States or was a naturalized citizen • Occupation, if male and over 15 years of age

How to Use the Collection
Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the census index. Use the locator information in the index (such as page number or family number) to locate your ancestors in the census. Compare the information in the census to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information of more than one family or person to make this determination. Be aware that as with any index, transcription errors may occur.

When you have located your ancestor in the census, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. For example:

• Use the age listed to determine an approximate birth date. This date along with the place of birth can help you find a birth record. Birth records often list biographical and marital details about the parents and close relatives other than the immediate family.

• Birthplaces can tell you former residences and can help to establish a migration pattern for the family.

• Use the race information to find records related to that ethnicity such as records of the Freedman’s Bureau or Indian censuses.

• Use the naturalization information to find their naturalization papers in the county court records. It can also help you locate immigration records such as a passenger list, which would usually be kept with records at the port of entry into the United States.

• Occupations listed can lead you to employment records or other types of records such as school records; children’s occupations are often listed as “at school.”

It is often helpful to extract the information on all families with the same surname in the same general area. If the surname is uncommon, it is likely that those living in the same area were related.

Be sure to extract all families before you look at other records. The relationships given will help you to organize family groups. The family groupings will help you identify related families when you discover additional information in other records.

Some other helpful tips to keep in mind are:

• Married family members may have lived nearby but in a separate household, so you may want to search an entire town, neighboring towns, or even a county.

• You may be able to identify an earlier generation if elderly parents were living with or close by a married child.

• You may be able to identify a younger generation if a young married couple still lived with one of their sets of parents.

• Additional searches may be needed to locate all members of a particular family in the census.

You should also be aware that the census may identify persons for whom other records do not exist.

Related Web Sites
Minnesota State Census Index

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Sources of Information for This Collection
“Minnesota Territorial Census, 1857,” database, FamilySearch Historical Records, 2010; from National Archives. “Minnesota.” Central Plains Region, National Archives. FHL Digital images. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.