Mapping the County:
The Dakota County Surveyor
Through January 2010
Hastings Administration Center
1590 West Highway 55

Dakota County has had a surveyor since the 1850s and while the role has essentially remained the same, to map and identify property parcels, the way in which the job is done has changed drastically. This exhibit takes a look back at the history of the department, the tools used through the decades, monuments and mapping oddities.

Special thanks to John Stake and Todd Tollefson of the Surveyor's Department for their assistance with this exhibit.

Volunteer Needed!

The Dakota County Historical Society is seeking a newspaper clipping volunteer. The Society maintains a research library which contains approximately 1,500 files pertaining to the County, its cities and townships and an additional 1,000 pertaining to families. The files are augmented weekly by current newspaper clippings. This volunteer will be responsible for identifying, marking and coding new content to be clipped, copied and filed. Attention to detail is imperative. The volunteer will become conversant with the 1,500 subject headings to ensure pertinent and accurate additions to the files. This volunteer position will comprise approximately four hours per week and will work closely with the research librarian. If you are interested, email or call Rebecca at 651-552-7548.

Jay Fonkert will take you on a ride down the common rural folk genealogy road, showing you tricks to finding English ancestors in church records, civil records, censuses and more. He'll throw in some tips on how to get help from English genealogists and tackle English archives from the internet. And, just for fun, he will take you on an illustrated tour of the English countryside where your ancestors might have lived.

J. H. ("Jay") Fonkert, CG, is current President of MGS, and specializes in Midwest, Dutch and English genealogy. He lectures on census research, vital records, immigration, Dutch and English genealogy, maps, and other topics; and has published in Minnesota Genealogist, The Septs and the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. He is senior health workforce analyst at the Minnesota Department of Health.

Today a genealogist can make significant progress on Scottish genealogy using Internet based resources and the extensive Scottish record holdings of the Family History Library. Learn the basics of Scottish genealogy and how to make good progress discovering your Scottish ancestors using these resources.

Tom Rice, CG, is a professional genealogist , Managing Editor of the Septs for the Irish Genealogical Society International (IGSI), and lecturer on numerous family history topics. He has extensive educational credentials, and is among the foremost of researchers and speakers in this field. See his website at www.heritagehunters.com.

DCHS Writers' Initiative

Over the Years, the DCHS history magazine, welcomes submissions of articles and edited documents dealing with the social, economic, political, intellectual, and cultural history of Dakota County. Honorariums/stipends are available. The editors in particular seek investigations into new and timely topics or new approaches to older subjects. Recent historical subjects are welcome. For more information click here.