CHURCH COUNTY, ND HISTORY AND LOOKUP (EXTINCT COUNTY, 1885-1896)
County History Books
*None Listed
Church County, North Dakota: A Genealogical Overview
Church County is a prime example of a “paper county” in North Dakota’s history. It was legally created by the territorial legislature but was never formally organized with a government, courthouse, or officials. For genealogists, it is critical to understand that Church County existed only as a name on a map for a brief period. No records were ever generated under its name, and the lives of the settlers within its proposed boundaries continued to be administered and recorded by the established parent counties from which it was formed.
I. County Formation and Evolution
The history of Church County is purely legislative; it is the story of its creation on paper and its subsequent dissolution due to a failure to organize.
- 1885: County Formed: Church County was created by the Dakota Territorial Legislature on March 9, 1885.
- Parent Counties: Its territory was carved from the eastern portion of McLean County and the northeastern portion of Burleigh County.
- Dissolution and Successor Counties: Church County was never successfully organized. As a result, the North Dakota State Legislature officially dissolved the county on November 12, 1896. Its territory was fully and permanently returned to its parent counties, McLean and Burleigh. Therefore, any research for land or people within its 1885-1896 boundaries must be conducted in the records of McLean and Burleigh counties.
- Name Origin: The county was named for Colonel Gilbert A. Church, a prominent politician, real estate developer, and businessman from Bismarck who served on the 1885 Territorial Council.
- County Seat History: None. As the county was never organized, a county seat was never designated.
II. Settlement and Early History
The history of the area designated as Church County is the history of its parent counties during the same time period.
- Early Inhabitants: The region was the traditional land of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara peoples, and was also utilized by the Lakota and Dakota (Sioux).
- Pioneer Settlement: During the period of Church County’s paper existence (1885-1896), the area was being settled by homesteaders, primarily of German-Russian and Norwegian descent. These pioneers established farms and ranches in the region.
- Administrative Reality: For the settlers living within the proposed boundaries of Church County, nothing changed. They continued to travel to Washburn (the seat of McLean County) or Bismarck (the seat of Burleigh County) to file land claims, pay taxes, serve on juries, and conduct all other legal and civil business. The existence of Church County had no practical effect on their lives.
III. Genealogical Records and Resources
No genealogical or historical records of any kind were ever created, filed, or maintained under the name Church County. A search for “Church County records” will be fruitless.
- Actual Record Repositories: All records for individuals and land within the geographic area of the former Church County are located in the courthouses of its parent/successor counties:
- McLean County Courthouse in Washburn, North Dakota.
- Burleigh County Courthouse in Bismarck, North Dakota.
- Record Types:
- Land Records: Deeds, homestead patents, mortgages, and other land transactions for the area are filed in the McLean or Burleigh County Recorder’s offices.
- Probate and Court Records: Wills, estate files, and civil and criminal court cases are located at the Clerk of Court’s office in either McLean or Burleigh County.
- Vital Records: North Dakota did not mandate statewide registration of births and deaths until 1907. Any earlier, sporadic records would have been kept at the county level in McLean or Burleigh. Marriage records were also kept exclusively in those two counties.
- Federal and State Census:
- Residents of this area would have been enumerated in the 1885 Dakota Territory Census and the 1890 U.S. Federal Census (Veterans’ Schedules) under their functioning civil townships within either McLean County or Burleigh County, not Church County.
- Bordering Jurisdictions (Proposed):
- McLean County
- Burleigh County
- Sheridan County