The Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Memorial Museum has an extensive collection of archival and library materials pertaining to life in Morrison County and genealogy. The archival collection started with the gathering of Works Progress Administration (WPA) biographies in 1936. These biographies were taken from families who had a long history in the area and are the basis for our Family Files.
The Family Files are filed alphabetically by the last names of people who have a connection to Morrison County. A variety of information is contained in the files. They may include family sheets, obituaries, funeral cards, marriage announcements, copies of legal certificates, family stories, copies of photos, pedigree charts and various other items. Families with the same last names may or may not be related to each other, but those sharing a last name are all filed together. We leave it to researchers to sort out the family connections (but please don’t resort our files!). Information from researchers may be added to the Family Files, which is how our files grow. If you would like to add something to our files, please let us know.
Note: MCHS does NOT have a file for every family that has ever lived in Morrison County.
Do not despair if your family is not listed in the Family Files index. If you provide us with information, we will create a Family File for your family.
In addition to the Family Files, the Historical Society has a number of other resources for researchers. They include, but are not limited to the following:
- Family History Books
- Little Falls City & Morrison County Directories and Phone Books
- Plat Books and Area Maps
- Local Newspapers
- Government Information
- District Court and Probate Documents
- Business Documents
- Church Histories
- Cemetery Maps, Indexes and Records
- School Yearbooks
- Photographs
- History Books of the State and County
- Morrison County State and Federal Census (1850, 1865, 1875, 1880, 1885, 1895, 1900, 1905, 1910, 1920, 1930)
- Obituary Indexes: Pierz Journal is complete, Morrison County Record is ongoing, Little Falls Daily Transcript and Royalton Banner are partially complete
- French-Canadian Genealogical Collections
For information on conducting research at The Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Memorial Museum, see Research.
Looking for information on Frank “Franz” Kalis, dod 3/19/19. Actually trying to find his parents names, if they were on his death certificate, etc. Can you be of help on this?
Cheryl – Frank’s father is listed as Thomas Kalis on several documents in our collection. There was no reference to the name of his mother. If you are interested in a death certificate, you could check with the Morrison County Recorder’s Office. Let us know if we can be of further help!
Ann Marie Johnson
Curator of Collections
Hi Ann,
I will stop in tomorrow, Tuesday, November 19th, instead of November 20, for research on the men who died in WWII from Little Minnesota. We are on the wait list for tomorrow night for the Jungle Theater’s production of “Driving Miss Daisy.” See you tomorrow! Thanks for your help.
Best,
Jill Johnson
Little Minnesota: 100 Towns Around 100
I am looking for the obituary of Richard Kay, bd 15Sept1830, dd 15May1930. As I live in Denver, I’m not able to access your history center very easily and would appreciate your help accessing it. He is buried in the Oakland cemetery in Little Falls. One day I hope to find my way to your center to search for further information regarding him.
Regards,
Harriette
Harriette, We would be happy to look for an obituary for you for Richard Kay. Just send us an email (contactstaff@morrisoncountyhistory.org) or give us a call (320/632-4007). Thanks! Ann Marie
Looking for obituary or census for Stanislaus and Rose Nagorski.
he was born around 1845
she was born around 1852
Gerri… am looking for info on Mary Ann Nagorski Palluck(Palluch) born 1893 died 1930. Obituary eludes me. She was my husband’s grandmother. She and her husband Anton Palluck(Palluch) died 4 days apart in 1930, leaving 12 children ages 18 down to only15 months. Family stories indicate it was not a nice ending. Any chance she was related to Stanislaus and Rose? Thanks! Marianne Wilds Acker marianne_acker@yahoo.com
Hi, Gerri – You are welcome to visit the Weyerhaeuser Museum, where staff will assist you in looking up obits and census records for the Nagorski family. The museum has free admission, so you’ll only be charged for any copies you’d like. The museum is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., year-round.
If you would like staff to conduct research for you, please send us an email with this information and your mailing address. We charge $25 per hour for staff research + copies and postage, with a minimum charge of 1-hour worth of research. Our email address is contactstaff@morrisoncountyhistory.org.
Thanks so much for your interest in Morrison County’s history.
Mary Warner
Executive Director
Just to clarify… the hours for doing one’s own research are the same as the hours the museum is open?
(Nice website. I had fun doing a little pre-research to see what I could find on Andrew Charles Nelson & son Charles Reuben Nelson & wife Clara Anderson families. Death index is nice too. Possibilities of records in family files, family hist books, probate, plats, so much more.)
You are correct, Kathy. Those doing their own research at the Weyerhaeuser Museum/Morrison County Historical Society can do so during the museum’s open hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The only time it’s difficult for researchers to do research is when we are having a special event or class because we use the Research Room for events and staff are typically busy managing the event. We announce our events on our website, so that’s a good place to check to see if we might have a conflict that prevents research. Or you can give us a call at 320-632-4007.
Thanks for your question.
Mary Warner
Executive Director
What issues of the Motley Mercury do you have? I am looking for 1902-1910 issues.
Hi, Marlys – We have the list of available newspapers on this page of our website.
http://morrisoncountyhistory.org/?page_id=1404
For the Motley Mercury, we have them from 1/1913 – 3/1943 on microfilm.
Mary Warner
Executive Director
Your website mentions that you have school yearbooks. Do you have elementary yearbooks for the years 1908 – 1910? My granduncle, Simon Sigmund Magdziarz was born in Little Falls on July 24, 1903, and died on October 4, 1910. There are no known photos of him. While the chances are not very high, I think finding a school photo is probably the best chance I have to find a photo of him.
Good morning, Dave!
At that time, it was unfortunately incredibly uncommon to have yearbooks made, particularly when it came to elementary schools. You don’t really start seeing those annuals until the 1920s, and then it was primarily reserved for high schools and colleges. It is particularly difficult to narrow your request down considering just how many country schoolhouses there were in Morrison County at the time, and our lack of student rosters and class pictures from a majority of them.
So sorry we couldn’t be more help in that regard!
Grace Duxbury
Museum Manager
do you have any books on the joseph dubreuil or wood family. This would be from 1860’s. They lived in Little Falls the other names I have is Julia Wood, Georgia Wood and Ada Wood
Jane-
We have one obituary for Joseph Dubreuil and one record of Ada Wood in a newspaper article. I can email you copies of these articles.
Grace Duxbury
Museum Manager