Genealogy Trails History Group
Volunteers Dedicated to Free Genealogy



Welcome to North Dakota Genealogy Trails my name is Angie Lietzau, your host for the state of North Dakota.

If you have family data for a North Dakota county that you would like to share on our website, email me.

Our goal is to help you track your ancestors through time by transcribing genealogical and historical data and placing it online for the free use of all researchers.

If you would like to join our group and become the host of a ND county, please visit our
Volunteer Page
(A desire to transcribe data and basic webpage skills are necessary)



WE REGRET THAT WE ARE UNABLE TO DO PERSONAL RESEARCH FOR YOU
All data we come across will be added to this website, so please keep checking back



Brief History
North Dakota is bordered on the north by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba; on the west by Montana; on the south by South Dakota; and on the east -  across the Red River of the North and the Bois de Sioux River - by Minnesota. The Missouri River flows through the western part of the state, forming Lake Sakakawea behind the Garrison Dam.

Farms and ranches stretch across the rolling plains from the Red River Valley in the east to the rugged Badlands in the west. The geographic center of the North American continent is located near Rugby.

Admitted as a state: November 2, 1889

On March 2, 1861, President James Buchanan signed the bill creating the Dakota Territory, which originally included the area covered today by both Dakotas as well as Montana and Wyoming. The name was taken from that of the Dakota or Sioux Indian Tribe. Beginning about 1877, efforts were made to bring Dakota into the Union as both a single state and as two states. The latter was successful and on November 2, 1889, both North Dakota and South Dakota were admitted. Since President Benjamin Harrison went to great lengths to obscure the order in which the statehood proclamations were signed, the exact order in which the two states entered is unknown. However, because of alphabetical position, North Dakota is often considered the 39th state. Dakota is the Sioux Indian word for "friend."

Wild Prairie Rose pix
State Flower
Wild Prairie Rose

Capitol City: Bismarck, ND
State Motto: Liberty and Union Now and Forever, One and Inseparable

Nickname: Peace Garden State - The International Peace Garden straddles the international boundary between North Dakota and the Canadian province of Manitoba. In 1956 the North Dakota Motor Vehicle Department, on its own initiative, placed the words Peace Garden State on license plates; the name proved so popular that it was formally adopted by the 1957 legislature.



State Data

County Map

State Facts and Trivia

North Dakota History Timeline

The Naming of ND Counties

Cities and Towns

Governors of North Dakota

Military Records

Miscellaneous Data

News Gleanings

Newspapers in 1913

Pioneers of North Dakota  

DAKOTA TERRITORY DATA

Biographies

1860 Census Organization

Map of Dakota Forts
1860's-1890's

1860 Federal Census Transcription
of the Dakota Territory on the Red River (Currently Richland County)

Gazetteer of Pioneers in ND Previous to 1862

1870 Mortality Schedule for Not Yet Organized Counties

1880 Mortality Index
of the Reservation

1885 Territorial Census
for Extinct Counties Villard, Wallace, Wynn 

Click on a COUNTY NAME to visit its site:

Adams

Barnes

Benson

Billings

Bottineau
Hosted by Dorene Statler

Bowman

Burke

Burleigh

Cass

Cavalier

Dickey

Divide

Dunn

Eddy

Emmons

Foster

Golden Valley

Grand Forks

Grant

Griggs

Hettinger

Kidder

LaMoure

Logan

McHenry

McIntosh

McKenzie

McLean

Mercer

Morton

Mountrail

Nelson

Oliver

Pembina
Hosted by Dorene Statler

Pierce

Ramsey

Ransom

Renville

Richland

Rolette

Sargent

Sheridan

Sioux

Slope

Stark

Steele

Stutsman

Towner

Traill

Walsh

Ward

Wells

Williams

   

EXTINCT COUNTIES
Allred · Buffalo · Buford · Burbank · Chippewa · Church · De Smet · Flanery · French · Garfield · Gingras · Howard · Kittson · Sheyenne · Stevens · Villard · Wallace · Wallette · Wynn

or
Select a County Site to visit:

Submit an Obituary for any County

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Western Meadowlark pix
State Bird
Western Meadowlark

 

Surrounding States


South Dakota


Minnesota

Montana Genealogy and History
Montana

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