Mountrail County, North Dakota Genealogy

United States North Dakota Mountrail County

Guide to Mountrail County, North Dakota ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

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Description
The county was originally created as Mountraille County in 1873. It was re-created and organized in 1909. Its county seat is Stanley.

County Courthouse
Mountrail County Courthouse PO Box 69 Stanley, ND 58784-0069 Phone: 701.628.2915 Mountrail County Website Clerk District Court has birth, marriage, death, divorce, probate, court and naturalization records from 1909, military discharge records from 1919 and incomplete burial records; Register of Deeds has land records

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Boundary Changes
1873--Mountrail County was created 4 January 1873 from Buffalo (Old) County. The county was annexed to Ward County in 1891 and eliminated 30 November 1892. The county was then recreated 29 January 1909. County seat: Stanley
 * Interactive Formation Boundary Map of North Dakota - shows boundary changes for North Dakota Counties
 * North Dakota Historical Boundary Changes - list of all boundary changes by county provided by Newberry Library

Populated Places
The following are locations in the county

Cities
 * New Town
 * Palermo
 * Parshall
 * {Plaza
 * Ross
 * Stanley (county seat)
 * White Earth

Townships


 * Alger
 * Austin
 * Banner
 * Bicker
 * Big Bend
 * Brookbank
 * Burke
 * Clearwater
 * Cottonwood
 * Crane Creek
 * Crowfoot
 * Debing
 * Egan
 * Fertile
 * Howie
 * Idaho
 * James Hill
 * Kickapoo
 * Knife River
 * Liberty
 * Lostwood
 * Lowland
 * Manitou
 * McAlmond
 * McGahan
 * Model
 * Mountrail
 * Myrtle
 * Oakland
 * Osborn
 * Osloe
 * Palermo
 * Parshall
 * Plaza
 * Powers
 * Powers Lake
 * Purcell
 * Rat Lake
 * Redmond
 * Ross
 * Shell
 * Sidonia
 * Sikes
 * Sorkness
 * Spring Coulee
 * Stave
 * Van Hook
 * Wayzetta
 * White Earth

Unincorporated communities
 * Belden
 * Lostwood
 * Lunds Valley
 * Old Sanish
 * Tagus

Indian Reservation

A portion of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation is located in Mountrail County. The remainder of the reservation is in McKenzie, Dunn, Mercer, and Ward Counties.


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Cemeteries

 * Muslim Cemetery, Ross BillionGraves

State Census Records

 * 1885 Dakota Territory 1885 Census Index at NDSU Archives – index only
 * 1885, 1915, 1925 North Dakota, Territorial and State Censuses, 1885, 1915, 1925 at Ancestry.com – ($), index and images
 * 1915 at FamilySearch Historical Records — index and images
 * 1925 at FamilySearch Historical Records — index and images

Federal Census Records
Federal Censuses were taken for North Dakota starting in 1910. For links to Federal census indexes, see North Dakota Census.

Land and Property Records
Online Land Records For more information see North Dakota Land and Property
 * Land Patent Search - index to federal patents and homesteads on the Bureau of Land Management website, some images available
 * 1796 - 1907 - U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796-1907 at Ancestry - index, info taken from Bureau of Land Management website
 * 1861 - 1936 - U.S. Homestead Records 1861-1936 at Ancestry.com - ($), index and images

Local Histories

 * Burke County and White Earth Valley historical society, 1971. 1972. Bismarck, North Dakota] : Quality Printing Service. Online at:;.
 * Tales of mighty Mountrail : a history of Mountrail County, North Dakota. 1979. By Mountrail County Historical Society Publication Committee. Dallas, Texas : Taylor Publishing Co. Online at: ;.
 * When the trail was new in Mountraille. 1956. By Lutie Taylor Breeling. Ross, North Dakota : L. T. Breeling. Online at:;.

Maps and Gazetteers

 * Interactive Formation Boundary Map of North Dakota - shows boundary changes for North Dakota Counties
 * North Dakota Maps at NDGenWeb -historical maps

Military Records
Civil War World War I
 * 1861 -1865 at FamilySearch.
 * 1890 at FamilySearch.
 * 1917 - 1918 North Dakota Military Men 1917-1918 at Ancestry ($)
 * 1917 - 1918 Roster of the men and women who served in the army or naval service (including the Marine Corps) of the United States or its allies from the state of North Dakota in the World War, 1917-1918, Vols. 1-4 at Ancestry ($)
 * For further information see North Dakota Military Records.

Naturalization and Citizenship
Online Territory and State Census Indexes and Records
 * North Dakota Naturalization Records Index at NDSU Archives – index only, covers various dates and counties

Newspapers
 North Dakota Newspapers Online North Dakota Newspaper Catalogs
 * GenealogyBank - ($), contains images of North Dakota newspapers
 * Newspaper Archive - ($), contains images of North Dakota newspapers
 * Chronicling America - contains images of some North Dakota newspapers; searching tips
 * Elephind - Free; search engine that retrieves newspaper images from other free newspaper websites
 * U.S. Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present on Chronicling America - contains a list of all known newspapers and the dates they cover; once you locate a newspaper name, contact the local library to see if they have copies of the newspaper
 * State Historical Society of North Dakota - contains inventory and catalog of all known ND newspapers

Probate Records
Online Probate Records


 * 1800 – 1985 North Dakota and South Dakota Wills and Probate Records 1800-1985 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Death
Online Death Indexes and Records
 * 1892-present - NDDH Public Death Index, 1892-present at North Dakota Dept. of Health – index only

Museums
Plaza Community Museum PO Box 65 Plaza, ND 58771 Phone: 701-497-3454

Three Affiliated Tribes Museum PO Box 147 New Town, ND 58763 Phone: 701-627-4477

Societies
Mountrail County Historical Society PO Box 582 Stanley, ND 58784 Telephone: 701-628-2772

New Town Historical Society PO Box 342 New Town, ND 58763-0342 Telephone: 701-627-3518

Websites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection. Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.
 * Mountrail County, North Dakota Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)