Welcome to Blue Earth County Minnesota Genealogy and History part of the Genealogy Trails Family Our goal is to help you track your ancestors through time by transcribing genealogical and historical data and placing it online for the free use of all researchers. This website is available for adoption! We're looking for folks who share our dedication to keeping Genealogy free and are interested in helping this project be as successful as we can make it. If you are interested in joining our group by hosting one of the available county websites, view our Volunteer Page for further information about us. [A desire to transcribe data and knowledge of how to make a basic webpage is required.] DONATE YOUR DATA! We welcome any information you may wish to provide for the free research of others. So, dust off those old scrapbooks you have in your attic, dig out those old newspapers, or anything else you feel is of interest to this County, and send them our way. We are looking for obituaries, newspaper stories, biographies, Birth, Death and Marriage records, as well as interesting newspaper tidbits from years gone past - the items YOU used to put together your family trees. If you have information that you'd like to share with us on the history of this county and its people, please SEND IT TO US and we'll make sure it gets posted online. We regret that we are unable to perform personal research for you. All data we come across is added to this site, so please keep checking back! County Information The county of Blue Earth was created after a division of the Minnesota Territory on March 5, 1853 from portions of Dakota County and free territory. It was named after the Blue Earth River. County Seat: Mankato Largest city: Mankato The area of Blue Earth County was once known as the "Big Woods" and was occupied by the Dakota Indians. It was started by a French explorer, Pierre-Charles Le Sueur, who was one of the first white people in the area, arriving at the point where the Minnesota and Blue Earth rivers meet. There, he made an unsuccessful attempt to mine copper from the blue earth found in the area. The area remained under French control until 1803, when it passed to the United States by the Louisiana Purchase. In 1850 the first steamboat trip, starting in St. Paul, traveled on the Minnesota River and came to the Blue Earth River. The first white settlers, P.K. Johnson and Henry Jackson came off the boat and settled in present day Mankato. The ratification of the Mendota and Traverse des Sioux Treaties in 1851 effectively forced the Dakota to leave the area for nearby reservations. Unfulfilled treaty promises and starvation on the Indian reservation led to the Dakota War of 1862, which resulted in Dakota defeat and the largest mass execution in US history in Mankato. [source: wikipedia] Townships Cities Beauford Township Butternut Valley Township Cambria Township Ceresco Township Danville Township Decoria Township Garden City Township Jamestown Township Judson Township Le Ray Township Lime Township Lincoln Township Lyra Township Mankato Township Mapleton Township McPherson Township Medo Township Pleasant Mound Township Rapidan Township Shelby Township South Bend Township Sterling Township Vernon Center Township Amboy Eagle Lake Good Thunder Lake Crystal Madison Lake Mankato Mapleton Minnesota Lake North Mankato Pemberton Skyline St. Clair Vernon Center Online Data Biographies Births Cemeteries Census Church Histories / Records County Records Death Records Family Bibles County History Marriages Military Miscellaneous Data Newspaper Data Obituaries School Records Wills/Probate Records Website Updates: May 2012: Bio: Andrews, Austin; Marriage: Gilmore-Cadwell Apr. 2012: Bios: Farmer, Fletcher, Gates, Gaylord, Geddes, Germo Mar. 2012: 1870 Mortality Index Feb. 2012: fire at Dr. Harrington residence; WW2 Army Honor List; Obit: Christensen; Bios: Beach, Bishman, Bissenbach, Brett, Dailey, Davies, Davis, Diamond Dec 2011: obit for WATERS; Fatal fire news story for RILEY; Court news item for LESHER; Gossip news for SLAABAKEN, MICHAEL; military news for BUSZ; Marriage announcements for GOSEWHICH-ZASTROW, RANTHALL-MALLORY; SACKETT-MAINE Previous Updates: Bio for Aaron N. Dukes; Abner BAUSMAN; BECKER/WHITE; OLSON/TORGERSON marriage announcements; RUTHENBECK obit; 1908 Deaths SEARCH OUR SITES Join our Genealogy Trails Upper Midwestern States Mailing List to get email notices when our county sites are updated. For the Upper Midwest States of : North Dakota -- South Dakota -- Minnesota -- Wisconsin -- Michigan Adjacent Counties Nicollet County (north) Le Sueur County (northeast) Waseca County (east) Faribault County (south) Martin County (southwest) Wantonwan County (west) Brown County (northwest) VISIT THE NATIONAL SITE OF GENEALOGY TRAILS Visit MINNESOTA STATE PAGE Copyright ©Genealogy Trails All data on this website is Copyright by Genealogy Trails with full rights reserved for original submitters.