You might find yourself surprised when traveling along I-94 between Fargo and Valley City. Amid flat, prairie farmland, you will come across a sign saying, “Continental Divide.” Despite what you might expect, that sign is entirely accurate. “The” Continental Divide in the western United States is but one of many in North America that indicate a dividing line between watersheds. The Laurentian (or Northern) Divide cuts through North Dakota, where the Red River flows north and drains into Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean. Likewise, surprises await you as you research your family in North Dakota.
Part of the Missouri Territory, 1818; part of the Michigan Territory, 1834; part of the Wisconsin Territory, 1836; part of the Iowa Territory, 1838; part of the Minnesota Territory, 1849; Dakota Territory, 1861
Native Americans dwelled in what is now North Dakota for centuries. When Europeans first arrived, the major Native American tribes were the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Sioux, and Chippewa. While many members of these tribes live elsewhere today, the United States government created four reservations within North Dakota: Spirit Lake (Dakota Sioux) Fort Berthold (the Three Affiliated Tribes: Arikara, Hidatsa and Mandan), Standing Rock (Lakota and Dakota Sioux) and Turtle Mountain (Chippewa). A small part of Lake Traverse Indian Reservation is also in North Dakota.
The first known European visitor to the area was Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye, in 1738, a French trapper seeking to travel to the Rocky Mountains. By the early 19th century, European claims over most of the area passed from France to Spain, then back to France. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson arranged for the United States to purchase the Louisiana Territory from France—an area that included most of what became North Dakota.
Shortly after that, Jefferson dispatched Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery to assess what the United States had bought. During their trek west along the Missouri River, the Corps wintered in 1804 among the Mandans on the river near modern-day Washburn. Meanwhile to the north, Scot Thomas Douglas (5th Earl of Selkirk) organized colonization of part of Rupert’s Land, the domain of the Hudson Bay Company. Selkirk’s grant included much of modern Manitoba and parts of
North Dakota, Minnesota and Montana. In 1812, colonists established the first permanent European settlement in the Dakotas: Pembina, at the northeast corner of the state.
An 1818 treaty established the border between the United States and British Canada, with the United States gaining a portion of Rupert’s Land, including the area around Pembina, below the 49th parallel demarcation line. For the next 70-some years, the area that became North Dakota passed through periods of administration by various territorial jurisdictions. At different times, the region was part of “unorganized territory” and the territories of Louisiana, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. Congress established the new Dakota Territory in 1861, which included all of modern North Dakota and South Dakota, much of Montana and Wyoming, and a small portion of northern Nebraska.
THE MOVE WEST
Encroaching settlers and corrupt federal officials flamed tensions with local tribes. In 1862, the Santee Sioux attacked white settlements at the Lower Sioux Agency in Minnesota. The US government responded a few weeks later, eventually forcing some 2,000 Santee to surrender. President Lincoln approved death sentences for 38 of them, who were hanged in a single day.
The Homestead Act that same year (and the end of the Civil War in 1865) encouraged Americans to move west. The first homestead west of the Red River was granted in 1868. Many homesteaders found farming in the cold and semiarid climate too challenging, selling their claims to investors who set up huge “bonanza” farms on the black earth of the Red River Valley.
However, many immigrants from Nordic countries and Germans who had settled in the steppes of the Russian Empire succeeded, as they found farming in the region not all that different from where they had left. The Northern Pacific Railroad reached Bismarck in 1873, making it easier to travel into the interior of North Dakota.
By statehood in 1889, the Dakota Territory had shrunk to the modern boundaries of North Dakota and South Dakota. Because of tensions between the northern and southern portions of the territory, Congress admitted them as two distinct states. Unwilling to show any hint of favoritism, President Benjamin Harrison shu¹ed the two statehood documents, signing them in random sequence. Tradition, however, has placed North Dakota’s statehood before that of South Dakota.
A HAVEN OF HIGH ENERGY
Agriculture has driven life in North Dakota. But energy has also played an important role in the state’s economy. Coal was mined as early as the 1870s to fuel towns, forts and steamboats. Then oil was discovered in North Dakota in 1951, drawing influxes of workers. In fact, North Dakota experienced a 15.8% population increase between 2010 and 2020—the fourth-largest growth in the United States.
Another significant factor was the arms race during the Cold War. Two Air Force bases—Minot and Grand Forks—opened in North Dakota in 1957 and have variously housed strategic bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles. Base personnel have become vital to the host cities’ economies.
1738 Frenchman Pierre de La Vérendrye is the first known European in the area 1803 Most of the region that becomes North Dakota is part of the Louisiana Purchase
1804-1818
1804 The Lewis & Clark
expedition winters at
Mandan village near
present-day Washburn 1812 Scottish settlers inhabit Pembina, the first permanent European settlement 1818 A treaty establishes the border between the United States and British Canada, transferring part of Rupert’s Land to the U.S.
1819-1884
1861 Dakota Territory is established, including area that becomes North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, plus part of Wyoming 1862 The Homestead Acts
encourage settlement in
the Midwest and West; the Dakota War erupts between the Santee and US settlers and troops 1884 26-year-old Theodore Roosevelt temporarily exits public life to become a rancher and builds a ranch in North Dakota
1885-1916
1889 North Dakota becomes the
39th state 1916 Grant County is created,
the last major change to North Dakota’s county boundaries
North Dakota. By David H. Burr. Published By George F. Cram Company Collection. National Highways Association. Chicago. 1920. (David Rumsey Map Collection)
The state first required local vital registration in the 1890s, but coverage and compliance wasn’t consistent until well into the 20th century. The North Dakota Department of Health holds birth records as far back as 1870 for some locations. However,
only records for births occurring at least 125 years ago are available to the public <www.hhs.nd.gov/vital>. Find an index to births older than 125 years at the North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum website.
MARRIAGE RECORDS
The department of health also has marriage records from 1925, though many locales kept them earlier (often
from county formation). The state museum has an index of marriages , which you can use to order pre-1925 marriage records from the state archives. (Post-1925 marriage records must be ordered from the respective county.)
DEATH RECORDS
Privacy laws are less restrictive for death records, which are available to the public after one year. The state museum has an index to deaths up to the prior year , as does the department of health. Anyone can order informational copies of death records. FamilySearch and Ancestry.com each have collections of some marriage and death records.
North Dakota wasn’t enumerated in its own right until 1900. Finding your ancestors in earlier federal counts
will require you to understand the changes in jurisdictional authority. What’s now North Dakota was enumerated as part of
Minnesota Territory in the 1850 US census and a special 1857 territorial census; as part of Nebraska Territory or unorganized in the 1860 US census; and as Dakota Territory in the 1870 and 1880 US censuses, plus a special territorial census in 1885. (Records of the 1890 US census have been lost.) North Dakota also took its own censuses in 1915 and 1925.
Federal censuses through 1950 are widely available on the free FamilySearch and on subscription websites Ancestry.com and MyHeritage. The 1857 Minnesota Territory census is on FamilySearch and Ancestry.com, and the 1885 Dakota Territory census on Ancestry.com and MyHeritage. Both FamilySearch and Ancestry.com have the 1915 and 1925 state censuses.
Because North Dakota is a publicland state, most of its land was distributed by the federal government. The Bureau of Land Management’s General Land Office website is the place to start. There you’ll find original land patents, survey plats, and more. The county-level register of deeds recorded subsequent land transfers between individuals.
The several district courts hold probate records and other documents covering their proceedings. Unfortunately, few of these county courthouse records are available online (and most aren’t held by FamilySearch). If you know the specific details for the record you are seeking, courthouse staff is often helpful even beyond one’s expectations.
The North Dakota State University Archives have an index to naturalization records created in county and district courts. Obtain copies (for a fee) from the staff at the State Historical Society. Note that naturalizations filed in federal courts would be recorded instead by the National Archives at Kansas City, which also has an online index.
Digital Horizons is the first place to look for county history books, which often contain brief biographies and family histories of residents. The website is also a good resource for images, documents, videos and oral histories pertaining to the people, culture and history of North Dakota and the Northern Plains.
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