Tag Archives: Allamakee

1940 census now indexed and searchable

A legion of FamilySearch.org volunteers have manually indexed the 1940 census line by line to come up with a searchable database of the census records. Though the entire country has not (as of today) been completely indexed, Minnesota and Iowa … Continue reading

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1966: ‘Ghost town’ of Quandahl auctioned for $15,330

A once-thriving village nestled into the Bear Creek valley, Quandahl’s history followed the path of so many other small country towns in the mid 20th century, except for how it ended: On an early October morning in 1966, the entire village … Continue reading

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High-Resolution Plat Maps for Houston, Allamakee and Winneshiek Counties

Plat maps are an excellent resource for local history research. They show where a family lived and farmed, can demonstrate migration over time, and provide context when digging through census records. They can also be used to identify the locations cited … Continue reading

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Allamakee County Illustrated Map of 1875

This 1875 A.T. Andreas Illustrated Map of Allamakee County shows how the community is grouped into little clusters of farms much more clearly than a plat map.  Note that you can zoom in and out, move around, close the cluttery … Continue reading

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Online Books

These are some excellent free books available online. In addition to some really colorful early history, these books list many names of settlers and some of their accomplishments. Almost all of them are downloadable as PDFs – so you can … Continue reading

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Where is Norwegian Ridge?

Norwegian Ridge was an early name for the area around Spring Grove, Minnesota. From the beginning of the immigration boom from Norway in the late 1850s, many settlers made their first American homes in this region. In 1852, quite a … Continue reading

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