Kandiyohi County, Minnesota
Welcome! My name is Ron Zurek and I am the MNGenWeb/USGenWeb County Coordinator for Kandiyohi County.
Kandiyohi County was established in 1858. Originally, the northern half of today's county was Monongalia County and the southern half Kandiyohi County, each county consisted of 12 townships. Then in 1870 the two counties were consolidated under one name..Kandiyohi. The name Kandiyohi is taken from the Native American words meaning Where-The-Buffalo-Fish-Come...Kandi meaning buffalo-fish and ohi meaning in. The name refers to the abundance of fish found in the county's lakes.
Kandiyohi County has several historic sites. One is the Guri Endreson log house which was built in 1858 and was the home of Guri Endreson and her family. During the Dakota Conflict, Guri saved three men, despite the fact that her husband and son were killed and her daughters kidnapped. The cabin is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is open to the public during the summer months. The house is located NW of Willmar, off Highway 12 and County Road 5.
Another interesting site is the Oscar Erickson cabin. Oscar Erickson and Solomon Foot were wounded and at least one Dakota Native American was killed at the Erickson cabin during the Dakota Conflict. Erickson and Foot were two of the first settlers in Willmar Township. The Erickson cabin still stands and is located west of Willmar off U.S. Highway 71.
For Information on Kandiyohi County
Townships in Kandiyohi Co.....Cemeteries in Kandiyohi Co.
Kandiyohi County Resources, vital records information, helpful addresses
View Surnames.in Kandiyohi Co....Post Your Surnames.from Kandiyohi Co.....Look-up volunteers
A Minnesota Map locating Kandiyohi Co. Kandiyohi Co. Photos
Where to find Naturalization Records ..... What Newspapers are available and where to find them
Search engines for Kandiyohi Co. searches all sites at Rootsweb that contain queries, surnames and other resources pertaining to Kandiyohi County
Kandiyohi County Queries
Kandiyohi County Queries are now be posted on the GenConnect System at Rootsweb (See below for link). By posting your query on this system, your query will be connected to the GenConnect Search Engine worldwide. Your query will then be seen by more people and responses to your query can be posted in a threaded format.
GenConnect Boards for Kandiyohi County, Minnesota
You may post to any of these boards, just click on the link above
All categories of the GenConnect Boards for Kandiyohi County are now merged and can be filtered. Just click on the above link and post Bible records, biographies, deed records, obituaries, pension records and wills for your ancestors from Kandiyohi County, Minnesota.
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History of Some Early Pioneers in Kandiyohi County
(arranged by township)* Source: Illustrated History and Descriptive and Biographical Review of Kandiyohi County Minnesota. Published by Victor E. Lawson, and J. Emil Nelson, Publishers of the Willmar Tribune, Willmar, Minn. Compiled and arranged under the direction of Victor E. Lawson and Martin E. Tew, St. Paul, Minn., The Pioneer Press Manufacturing Depts., 1905.
The Kandiyohi County Historical Society has an index of names of those individuals found in the above book. Click on their name and send them an e-mail for additional information
Here are links to help you find answers to your genealogy questions
Kandiyohi
County Links 
West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minnesota ....the Willmar newspaper
Kandiyohi County Historical Society ....the story of Kandiyohi County and its people
The Political Graveyard ...politicians who were born or lived in Kandiyohi County
Lake Lillian--Kandiyohi Co. Website ....helpful links to finding your Scandinavian ancestors from the Lake Lillian area with information about the township's beginnings.
Minnesota
Related Genealogy Links 
Minnesota Local History <-> Genealogy - A resource page by professional historical genealogist Ann Mensch. Includes information which will help online researchers locate records via postal mail as well as including information and links to online resources.
Minnesota GenWeb Archives ....table of contents for all Minnesota counties. A great source for Minnesota censuses, bios, cemeteries, etc.
Minnesota Research Resources and Links ....part of the MnGenWeb Project...a wonderful site!
Minnesota Genealogical Society ....a good starting point with links to other sites and useful information
Minnesota Historical Society ....now does research for a fee. They search city and telephone directory listings, county plat maps, death record index, federal census records for MN, military records, naturalization records, obituaries, and other newspaper articles.
Cyndi Howell's Minnesota Genealogy Sites ....very comprehensive
Park Books ....a resource for books on Minnesota
Searching
for your Scandinavian Roots? Check out these sources 
Look-up Volunteers ....volunteers for Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Minnesota
Norwegian Research Links ....excellent source for a variety of links concerning Norwegian genealogy
Other
Genealogy Links 
National Genealogical Society ....NGS has wonderful publications. They also offer a course on genealogy
Social Security Death Index ....Searchable
US GenWeb Archives Pension Project ...transcription of pension materials for all American wars prior to 1900. This project is just beginning and more volunteers are needed. Check it out!
Ellis Island - Immigration Museum ....inspirational, historic & educational
Charts for Reference in Genealogical Research ....includes Glossary, Disease, Occupation & War charts
Visit Kandiyohi County's
neighbors
In March and April, 1996 a group of genealogists organized the Kentucky Comprehensive Genealogy Database. The idea was to provide a single entry point for all counties in Kentucky, where collected databases would be stored. This was the beginning of the USGenWeb Project, of which Minnesota is a part.
This page is maintained by
Ron Zurek,
volunteer coordinator for the Kandiyohi
County MNGenWeb/USGenWeb Project.
© Copyright 2001 Ron Zurek, All Rights Reserved