Minnesota State Census, 1875 - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
The collection consists of indexes and images of the population schedules listing inhabitants of the State of Minnesota as of May 1, 1875.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Records collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher, and archive for the original records.

Suggested citation format for a record in this collection.

Record Content
These are the key genealogical facts found in the 1875 Minnesota State Census:


 * Name of each individual whose usual abode was in household as of 1 May 1875
 * Individual’s age
 * Individual’s gender
 * Individual’s color
 * Individual's place of birth (U.S. state or territory) or foreign country
 * Nativity of each individual’s father
 * Nativity of each individual's father
 * If individual served in the military during the Civil War

How to Use the Records
To begin your search it is helpful to know
 * Your ancestor's name.
 * Other identifying information such as age and where they lived.

Search the Collection
Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line video at FamilySearch Search Tips.

Using the Information
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.
 * 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 records at the port of entry into the United States.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * Birth places can tell you former residences and can help to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * The census may identify persons for whom other records do not exist.

General Information About These Records
The record is a printed form that was filled in by hand by the enumerator. The records are arranged by county and community.

State censuses were taken in Minnesota every ten years beginning in 1865 through 1905. Each census includes most individuals living within the counties enumerated.

The official enumeration date of this census is May 1, 1875. The census lists the inhabitants of the state of Minnesota as of that date.

The census was compiled to obtain a description and a count of the population of the state of Minnesota.

The information is generally reliable. However, use it with some caution, since the information may have been given to a census taker by any member of the family or by a neighbor. Some of the facts and figures may be incorrect or be inadvertently false.

For a summary of this information see the wiki article: United States, How to Use the Records Summary (FamilySearch Historical Records).

Related Websites
Minnesota Census Project

Related Wiki Articles

 * Minnesota Census
 * Minnesota Censuses Existing and Lost

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
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A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections