Welcome to Benton County, Minnesota

You just heard the call of the Common Loon, the State Bird of Minnesota.  My name is Ron Zurek and I'm the MNGenWeb Coordinator for Benton County.  Please take time to browse through the pages below by clicking on the buttons.  If you have questions or discover broken links as you browse, please contact me. Enjoy your visit to Benton County and come back soon!
 

Images of America: Sauk Rapids and Benton County by Ronald Christopher Zurek -  ISBN 0-7385-1960-X - featuring nearly 200 vintage photographs, Sauk Rapids and Benton County takes the reader on a historic tour of the remarkable past, from the Indian settlements of the Ojibwe, to the Great Northern Railroad, to the Sauk Rapids cyclone of 1886, to the Benton County ancestors, and to their present-day descendants with their businesses, industries, and daily activities.  "James J. Hill's influence and the tiny saloon that was to become Coborn's Superstore are just some of the highlights.  Group portraits dominate the book, capturing the lifestyles of granite workers, young men leaving for World War II and operators connecting telephone conversations at the turn of the century.  And we can't forget the Prohibition era federal officers reveling in their moonshine bust."  ---Tom Horgen, St Cloud Times. 

You may order direct from Arcadia Publishing using the link to the left or a limited number of signed copies are available from the author at $19.99 plus shipping.  Contact Ron Zurek at rzurek@aol.com for more information.

Benton County Historical Society and Museum, Sauk Rapids, Minnesota.  The museum has available for research a number of sources of information for those wishing to research family history.  Benton County honors Thomas Hart Benton, a longtime U.S. Senator from Missouri, whose work on the country's homestead laws in the 1820s won him the gratitude of white settlers throughout the West.  Most or all of the collections are online.  Please see their "Research Index" for a list.

MNBENTON-L - A free mailing list for discussion and sharing of genealogical or other interests in Benton County. To subscribe send the word "subscribe" (without the quotes) as the ONLY text in the body of a message to: MNBENTON-L-request@rootsweb.com.

Click on the icon to the left to go to GenConnect's Benton County Resources Page.

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. In addition, the databases would be indexed and cross-linked, so that even if an individual were found in more than one county, they would be located in the index. This led to the USGenWeb of which Minnesota is a part. Volunteers are needed who are willing to coordinate the collection of databases and generally oversee the contents of the web page. If you would like to host an available Minnesota county, please contact Terri Shipp, the MNGenWeb State Coordinator.