Hennepin County Obituary Records

Hennepin County obituary records and death records are held at several offices and archives across Minnesota's largest county, covering Minneapolis and dozens of surrounding cities. Whether you are looking for a recent death certificate or a historical death notice from the early 1900s, you can search through the county vital records office, the Minnesota Department of Health, or the Minnesota Historical Society, each of which holds different sets of Hennepin County death records and obituary indexes.

Hennepin County Vital Records Office

The Hennepin County Vital Records office is the primary place to get death certificates and related death records for people who died in the county. They hold records going back to 1870. The main office is downtown at 300 South Sixth Street in Minneapolis, and three other service centers are open around the county for your convenience.

The Brookdale service center sits at 6125 Shingle Creek Parkway in Brooklyn Center. The Ridgedale location is at 12601 Ridgedale Drive in Minnetonka. Southdale is at 7001 York Avenue South in Edina. All four locations can help you get certified copies of death certificates. Certified copies cost $13 for the first copy and $6 for each one after that, in line with the fee schedule set under Minnesota Statutes section 144.226. Non-certified copies of death records are available to the public under section 144.225, which governs access to vital records statewide.

The Hennepin County vital records page at hennepin.us has current hours, forms, and details on how to order records by mail or in person. The screenshot below comes directly from the county's vital records portal.

You can confirm hours, request forms, and check which documents you need to bring by visiting the Hennepin County vital records page before your visit.

Minnesota Death Search Index for Hennepin County

The Minnesota Department of Health runs a free online death search index that covers deaths recorded from 1997 forward. This is often the fastest way to confirm a recent death or find a death year for someone who passed away in Hennepin County in the last few decades. The index is a name-based search and shows basic information without giving you the full certificate. You search by name and get back a list of matching records with the year of death and county.

To use the MDH death search tool, go to health.state.mn.us death search. This is different from ordering a certified death certificate. The index is public and free to search. Once you confirm the record you need, you can order a certified copy through the MDH vital records office or through Hennepin County directly. More details on ordering process and eligibility are on the MDH vital records page at health.state.mn.us/vitalrecords.

Note: The MDH death index covers 1997 to present. For deaths before that, you need to search through MNHS or the county recorder's historical indexes.

Minnesota Historical Society Death Records

The Minnesota Historical Society holds some of the most important historical death record collections in the state. For Hennepin County obituary research going back more than a century, MNHS is a key resource. Their online People Search tool at mnhs.org/search/people indexes Minnesota death records from 1908 through 2001, which is a long range that covers most of the twentieth century. You can search by name and find basic death information for thousands of Hennepin County residents.

MNHS also holds death cards from 1904 through 1907. These are physical index cards that were created before the state started keeping more standardized records. You can learn more about this collection and how to use it at mnhs.org death records help. Staff can assist with requests for records that are not yet digitized.

Newspaper obituaries are another major collection at MNHS. Their Newspaper Hub at mnhs.org/newspapers/hub gives access to digitized Minnesota newspapers, including issues of the Minneapolis Star Tribune going back well over a hundred years. Hennepin County has a long newspaper history, and these archives hold thousands of published obituary notices.

For genealogists, MNHS's FamilySearch partnership is worth noting. The FamilySearch wiki page for Minnesota at familysearch.org explains what Minnesota records are available online and where gaps exist. Much of what FamilySearch holds for Minnesota death records was digitized in cooperation with MNHS.

Hennepin County Medical Examiner

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office handles death investigations and issues death certificates in cases of unexpected or unclear deaths. This is not the same as the county vital records office. The Medical Examiner gets involved when a death is sudden, violent, or happens without a doctor present. Their records can be relevant in some genealogy or legal research situations.

You can reach the Medical Examiner's office through the county website at hennepin.us/medical-examiner. Not all Medical Examiner records are public, but basic case information may be available through a records request. If you believe a death in Hennepin County was handled by the Medical Examiner, this office is the right place to start your inquiry.

Hennepin County Obituary Indexes and Library Resources

Several specialized resources hold obituary indexes specific to Hennepin County. The newspaper obituaries site at newspaperobituaries.net indexes more than 350 obituary sources for the county, including the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, Legacy.com listings, and Genealogy Trails contributions. This can be a useful starting point when you know the name of a person who died in the Minneapolis area and want to find a published obituary notice.

The Hennepin County Library system has a strong genealogy program. Their genealogy resources page at hclib.org/genealogy gives access to HeritageQuest, Ancestry Library Edition, and a large collection of digitized newspaper archives. You can use these from a library branch or remotely with your library card. Newspaper databases through the library often have full-text obituary notices going back many decades, which can give you details that official death records do not include, such as names of surviving family members, hometown, and cause of death.

The Hennepin History Museum at hennepinhistory.org maintains archival collections related to Hennepin County history. Their holdings may include local historical records, city directories, and other materials useful for tracing ancestors who lived or died in the county.

MNGenWeb's Hennepin County page at hennepin.mngenweb.net is a free genealogy hub run by volunteers. It links to transcribed records, cemetery indexes, county history, and other death-related data for the area. Many researchers find MNGenWeb a good place to start because it pulls together scattered resources in one spot.

How to Get Hennepin County Death Records

To get a certified death certificate for someone who died in Hennepin County, you have a few options. You can visit one of the four Hennepin County vital records locations in person, which is the fastest method. You can also order by mail through the county or through the Minnesota Department of Health. The MDH's county registrar directory at health.state.mn.us/registrars lists contact details for each county office statewide and explains the ordering process.

Under Minnesota Statutes section 144.225, non-certified copies of death records are public records. Anyone can request a non-certified copy. Certified copies, which are needed for legal and estate purposes, have eligibility rules. Generally, the person's spouse, children, parents, or legal representatives can get certified copies. The fee under section 144.226 is $13 for the first certified copy and $6 for each additional copy ordered at the same time.

If you are doing genealogy research and the person died more than many years ago, non-certified copies or historical index records are often enough. For older deaths, MNHS and the county recorder's historical holdings are better sources than the vital records office, which focuses on more recent records.

• In person at any Hennepin County vital records location
• By mail to the county vital records office or MDH
• Online search for recent deaths via the MDH death index (1997+)
• Historical records through MNHS People Search (1908-2001)
• Newspaper obituaries through Hennepin County Library databases

Cities in Hennepin County

Hennepin County is home to Minneapolis and many large suburbs. The following cities in the county have their own obituary records pages.

Nearby Counties

These counties border Hennepin County. Each county maintains its own death records and vital records office.