Wards and Branches of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Yellowstone Stake, Idaho

This page includes the boundaries of wards and branches around 1930's, a timeline history, and how to obtain the records.

Source for this page: p.966.

Yellowstone Stake
Stake boundaries as of about 1930 — see Encyclopedic History..., p966.


 * Area of the County:Located in Fremont County and the west part of Clark County in the northeast part of Idaho.
 * Headquarters in (town): Saint Anthony.
 * Boundaries of stake:It extends to Montana on the north, Yellowstone Park on the east, to the Teton and Fremont stakes on the south, and to Idaho Falls Stake on the west.

History Timeline up to about 1930


 * 1909 - Yellowstone Stake came into existence at a special meeting held at Parker, Idaho, Jan. 10. On that occasion the Fremont Stake was divided and its northern part organized as a new stake named the Yellowstone Stake, this name being suggested on account of its close proximity to the Yellowstone National Park. he following named wards, which hitherto had constituted a part of the Fremont Stake, were transferred to make the new or Yellowstone Stake, to-wit: Ashton, Chester, Egin, Farnum, Kilgore, Marysville, Ora, St. Anthony, Parker, Twin Groves, Warm River, and Wilford.

Obtain the Records

 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

Wards and Branches
Ashton, Chester, Egin, Farnum, Kilgore, Marysville, Ora, St. Anthony, Parker, Twin Groves, Warm River, and Wilford.

Ashton Ward
See Encyclopedic History..., p.33.

Boundaries:


 * Located in Ashton and vicinity, situated in the open country about two miles south of Henry’s Fork of Snake River, and 15 miles northeast of Saint Anthony.

History timeline


 * 1903 - The saints were organized into a branch of the Church as a part of the Marysville Ward March 15. On June 28, 1903, this branch was organized as the Vernon Ward.
 * 1907 - The name of the ward was changed to Ashton.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

Chester Ward (Fremont County, Idaho)
See Encyclopedic History..., p. 134.

Boundaries:


 * Located on Falls River, a tributary of Henry’s Fork of Snake River. The center of the ward is about a mile south of the junction of Falls River and Henry’s Fork of Snake River, 7 1/2 miles by nearest road northeast of St. Anthony, 3 1/2 miles northeast of Twin Groves, and 20 miles by nearest road northeast of Rexburg.

History timeline


 * 1889 - On Feb. 2, the saints who settled in that district of country were organized into a branch of the Church called the Falls River Branch of the Wilford Ward.
 * 1890 - The Falls River Branch was organized as a regular bishop’s ward.
 * 1900 - The name of the branch was changed from Falls River to Chester.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

Egin (Fremont County, Idaho) Ward
See Encyclopedic History..., p.216.

Boundaries:


 * Located in Snake River Valley which extends north to Parker Ward, east to the St. Anthony Ward, south to Hibbard and west to Henry’s Fork of Snake River.

History timeline


 * 1886 - The first Church organization included in the Egin Ward was a branch organization, which was named Brighton, after Brighton in England. A townsite was surveyed at Brighton May 15. The Brighton Branch was organized as the Brighton Ward May 19, 1886,
 * 1900 - The name was changed to Egin.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

Farnum Ward
See Encyclopedic History..., p. 245.

Boundaries:


 * Located at the south side of Fails River. It is located six miles southeast of Ashton, and about the same distance from Marysville. It is also eight miles northeast of Chester and 18 miles by nearest road northeast of Saint Anthony.

History timeline


 * 1900 - A branch of the Church called Conant Branch was organized.
 * 1906 - Sept. 23, the Conant Branch was organized as the Farnum Ward.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

Heman Ward
See Encyclopedic History..., p.331.

Boundaries:


 * Located on the celebrated Egin Bench, seven miles southwest of Saint Anthony, three miles from the center of Parker Ward, and two and one-half miles from the center of Egin Ward.

History timeline:


 * 1915 - At a special meeting held Jan. 10, attended by the Yellowstone Stake presidency, the west end of the Parker Ward and the east end of the Egin Ward were separated from these two wards, and organized as a separate ward named Heman.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

Kilgore Ward
See Encyclopedic History..., p.399.

Boundaries:


 * A district of the country lying south of that range of mountains which separates Idaho from Montana.

History timeline


 * 1892 - A branch, known as the Camas Meadows Branch of the Parker Ward, was organized.
 * 1906 - The Camas Meadows Branch, was organized into a regular bishop’s ward, named Kilgore, July 1.
 * 1924 - July 6, the members of the branch moved away, and the branch was disorganized. The few remaining families who continued to reside in that part of the country were organized into the Idmon Branch.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

Marysville Ward
See Encyclopedic History..., p. 481-482.

Boundaries:


 * Located in the town of Marysville and surrounding country, between Henry’s Fork of Snake River and Falls River. The townsite of Marysville is about 18 miles northeast of St. Anthony.

History timeline


 * 1890 - The saints who had located in that part of the country, located near some beautiful springs, were organized as the Springville Branch July 18, 1890.
 * 1981 - The branch constituted a part of the Wilford Ward in the beginning, but was organized as a regular bishop’s ward, the Marysville Ward, Nov. 8, 1891.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

Ora Ward
See Encyclopedic History..., p.620.

Boundaries:


 * Located in Sand Creek, north of Henry’s Fork of Snake River, in a scattered settlement, 1 1/4 miles north of Henry’s Fork, and four miles northeast of the confluence of that river and Sand Creek, Henry’s Fork forming the boundary lines of the ward on the south and east. West it extended to the Lava Breaks and Sandhills, which separate the ward from St. Anthony. Northward the boundaries were indefinite.

History timeline:


 * 1892 - The history of the saints on Upper Sand Creek commenced with a few L. D. S. families who settled on Sand Creek, about 12 miles northwest of the later Ora center. These saints were organized into the Arcadia Branch of the Parker Ward June 19.
 * 1898 - Feb. 10, the Arcadia Branch was organized as the Ora Ward.
 * 1921 - April 9, 1921, when the Ora Ward was disorganized, most of the saints having moved away from the neighborhood. The disorganization of the Ora Ward went into effect June 12, 1921, when the bishopric of the Ashton Ward was reorganized and the saints who had formerly belonged to the Ora Ward were transferred to the Ashton Ward.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

Parker Ward (Fremont County, Idaho)
See Encyclopedic History..., p.639.

Boundaries:


 * Located in the town of Parker and surrounding country situated on the Egin Bench, surrounded by country lying north of Henry’s Fork of Snake River. The center of the ward is about four miles west of St. Anthony and nine miles north of Rexburg.

History timeline:


 * 1881 - The first L. D. S. organization in Snake River Valley, now included in the Parker Ward, was a branch of the Church organized Nov. 28, called Garden Grove.
 * 1882 - On Jan, 8, a Sunday school was organized in the vicinity called the Egin Sunday school because of its location on the Egin Bench.
 * 1884 - June 11, the Egin Branch was organized as a regular bishop’s ward named Parker.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

Saint Anthony Ward (Fremont County, Idaho)
See Encyclopedic History..., p.724.

Boundaries:


 * Saint Anthony is situated on Henry’s Fork of Snake River, on the Yellowstone branch of the Oregon Short Line Railroad, 11 miles north of Rexburg, 55 miles south of the west entrance to the Yellowstone National Park.

History timeline


 * 1896 - A few families of Latter-day Saints settled at St. Anthony, and a L. D. S. Sunday school was organized May 3,the saints from the beginning belonging to the Parker Ward.
 * 1901 - When the state of Idaho created the new county of Fremont from a part of Bingham County, St. Anthony was chosen as the county seat. This caused people from all directions to flock into town, which at once was boosted into a place of importance. As the L. D. S. population in St. Anthony increased, they were organized into a regular bishop’s ward July 21.
 * 1921 - June 5, when the St. Anthony Ward was divided into two wards, namely, the St. Anthony 1st and the St. Anthony 2nd wards.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

St. Anthony 1st Ward (Fremont County, idaho)
See Encyclopedic History..., p.966-967.

Boundaries:


 * Located in that part of the city of St. Anthony and vicinity lying north of Snake River and contains the greater part of the business center of the city.

History timeline:


 * 1909 - Jan. 10, Fremont Stake and the west part of Clark County was divided and its northern part orgainized as a new stake named the Yellowstone Stake which included the St. Anthony 1st Ward.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

St. Anthony 2nd Ward (Fremont County, Idaho)
See Encyclopedic History..., p.724.

Boundaries:


 * Located in that part of the city of St. Anthony lying on the south side of Henry’s Fork of Snake River.

History timeline:


 * 1921 - St. Anthony 2nd Ward dates back to June 5, 1921, when St. Anthony Ward was divided into two wards, namely, the St. Anthony 1st and the St. Anthony 2nd wards.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

Twin Groves Ward (Fremont County, Idaho)
See Encyclopedic History..., p.893.

Boundaries: Located on the south side of Henry’s Fork of Snake River, above and east of St. Anthony.

History timeline


 * 1887 - A small colony of prospective L. D. S. settlers arrived on the ground now included in the Twin Groves Ward April 15.
 * 1889 - The first L. D. S. settlers of Twin Groves originally belonged to the Wilford Ward, but when the Falls River Branch was organized in 1889, the saints of Twin Groves attended meetings there.
 * 1890 - When the Falls River Branch became a ward in 1890, Twin Groves became a part of that ward, but the distance being too great for the people to attend meetings at Falls River, a branch organization was effected at Twin Groves, thus named from two little islands in Henry’s Fork of Snake River.
 * 1893 - The Twin Groves Branch was organized Oct. 16, 1893.
 * 1896 - The Twin Groves Branch was organized as a ward.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

Warm River Ward
See Encyclopedic History..., p.922.

Boundaries:


 * Located near the junction of Warm Creek and Henry’s Fork of Snake River.

History timeline:


 * 1907 - Warm River Ward is an outgrowth of Marysville Ward, and on Nov. 10, the north part of the Marysville Ward was organized into a separate ward named Warm River Ward.
 * 1909 - When the Yellowstone Stake was organized Jan. 10, 1909, the Warm River Ward became a part of that stake.
 * 1919 - On Aug. 17, the Warm River Branch organization was discontinued, owing to a lack of support and efficient leadership, the remaining members of the Warm River Branch were amalgamated with the Marysville Ward.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

Wilford Ward (Fremont County, Idaho)
See Encyclopedic History..., p.952.

Boundaries:


 * Located in Henry’s Fork of Snake River and the Teton River three miles south of St. Anthony and five miles northeast of Rexburg.

History timeline:


 * 1883 - The saints who had settled at Wilford were organized as a branch of the Church in the fall of 1883.
 * 1884 - The Wilford Branch was organized as the Wilford Ward Aug. 16, 1884.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.

Idmon Branch
See Encyclopedic History..., p.356.

Boundaries:


 * Located in Camas Meadow.

History timeline:


 * 1924 - On July 6, the Kilgore Ward was disorganized and the few families remaining in that part of the country, formerly belonging to the Kilgore Ward, were organized into a branch of the Church called the Idmon Branch.

Obtain the Records


 * List of church and other records at the FamilySearch Library.
 * For additional resources, see Church History Library.