The county seat of Billings county is Medora. Billings County was formed in 1879 from the unorganized territory. The North Dakota area was first claimed by Robert Cavelier and Pierre de la Salle for France in 1682. In 1738 Pierre de la Verendrye visited the site of the Menokin Mandan Indian Lodge and again claimed the territory for France. In 1762, France gave up it's land west of the Mississippi River as a part of a land transfer to Spain. Spain returned the land to France in 1800. In 1803, it became part of the Louisiana Territory Purchase from France by the United States. The Dakota Territory became offical on March 2, 1861 with the signing of the Terriotorial Act by President Buchanan. The territory included North and South Dakota, Montana, the north half of Wyoming and a tiny piece of Nebraska. The Dakota Territory was the third largest geographical unit in the United States in 1887. By the laws of 1870-71, only two counties comprised all of North Dakota. These two counties were north of the Missouri River and were named Buffalo and Pembina. The area west and southwest of the Missouri River was the unorganized Dakota Territory. In February, 1889, Congress established the boundary between North and South Dakota. On November 2, 1889, North Dakota became the 39th state and South Dakota the 40th state to enter the Union. Much of the land was open to homesteading in 1863; however, few settlers ventured into the (North) Dakota region prior to 1870. Transportation was difficult and there was still fear from the Indian attacks in Minnesota. Their fears were fueled by stories of the Sioux and U. S. soldiers' battles, such as the Battle of Whitestone Hill (near Ellendale) in 1863. As the Northern Pacific Railroad laid rails across the region, the area was more appealing to the settlers. The 1870 census lists 2,405 people and by 1890 it had grown to 190,983 inhabitants.
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Recently an article appeared in the "Minot Daily News" which might be of some interest to genealogists of North Dakota:
People who know the locations of wrought iron cross cemeteries in 10 counties west of the Missouri River are asked to contact the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
The ten counties are Billings, Dunn, Golden Valley, Grant, Hettinger, Mercer, Morton, Olivier, Sioux and Stark. These counties have the highest concentration of wrought iron cross cemeteries in the state.
Wrought iron is a commerical form of iron that is especially sturdy, malleable and relatively soft.
The State Historical Society is requesting the information to complete a survey of German-Russian wrought iron cross cemeteries in North Dakota begun in 1987-88.
Timothy Kloberdanz, associate professor of anthropology at North Dakota State University, Fargo, conducted the survey in south central North Dakota. From research, Kloberdanz complied a document, "German-Russina Wrought Iron Crosses in Central North Dakota," and wrote National Register nominations for 23 cemeteries.
Anyone with information about the location of the wrought iron cross cemeteries should contact Rolene Schliesman, architectural historian with the State Historical Society of North Dakota at the North Dakota Heritage Center, 612 E. Boulevard Ave., Bismarck, ND 58505 or call (701)328-2033 or e-mail her at ccmail.rschlies@ranch.state.nd.us
NORTH DAKOTA HERITAGE CENTER HAS MORE RESEARCH TOOLS AVAILABLE: Here are some of the materials recently added to the research colections: (1) A complete microfilm roll set of the "Harper's Weekly" published from 1857 through 1900, (2) The index to the Congressional Serial Set provides documents generated by the first through the 95th Congress, covering the years 1789 to 1969, (3) A complete microfilm set of muster rolls for the Seventh U. S. Calvary from Aug. 31, 1886 to Dec. 31, 1884, (4) A complete set of the "Journal of the United States Calvary Association" from 1888 through 1906, (5) A complete set of the "Army and Navy Journal" from 1863 through 1902, (6) An index listing all soldiers from Dakota Territory who served in the Union Army during the Civil War, (7) A recent publication of a manuscript by renowned American artist, George Catlin, titled "Catlin's O-kee-pa: Mandan Culture and Ceremonial," (8) A set of microfilmed copies of the "Vessel Documentation Records from the Port of Pembina, ND," covering the years 1885 through 1959, and (9) An expansion of the State Historical Society's collection of known fire insurance maps by the Sanborn Map Co. of cities and towns in North Dakota, to include the microfilmed set from the Library of Congress. This expansion doubles the number of city and town maps available for researchers at the State Historical Society.
This page is always under construction. It was last updated December 27, 2002. Please return often to see what has been added. We are always in desperate need of volunteers to do lookups for us. If you have a book or source you are willing to utilize to help others, please let us know.
lowell@home.com H. Lowell Smith: A good reference would be "Echoing Trails, Billings County History" published by Billings County Historical Society, 1979. I understand that an additional volume is in the works.
If you have comments or suggestions,
email me with Billings County in the subject line at ahrendtd@minotafb.ndak.net
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