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Welcome to Stark County ND
History and Genealogy
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County Information
Stark County was created February 10, 1879 as a county within Dakota Territory from
parts of Howard County and Williams County. The county organized on May 25, 1883, and became a county in the state
of North Dakota on November 2, 1889.
In 1891, the North Dakota Legislature enacted legislation annexing Dunn County, Hettinger
County, and parts of Billings, Bowman, McKenzie, Wallace, and Willliams Counties into Stark. However, the act was
vetoed by Governor Eli C. D. Shortridge.
Additional annexation legislation was enacted in 1895, affecting the boundaries of
Stark, Billings, and Mercer Counties, subject to approval by the counties' voters.The annexation went into effect
November 3, 1986, but Wilson L. Richards, a local cattle rancher, sued to overturn the annexation because he and
other landowners in the area were now subject to taxation by Stark County. The case went to the North Dakota Supreme
Court, which ruled the law unconstitutional on May 18, 1899.The annexation remained in effect, however, due to
a replacement law approved by the legislature March 9, 1899 in anticipation of the court's decision.
This second annexation law was overturned by the North Dakota Supreme Court in 1901
because the annexation was not referred to the voters of the affected counties as required by the North Dakota
Constitution.This lawsuit involved a landowner, Henry Schaffner, whose property in Williams County was added to
neighboring Mercer County by the 1899 law. Schaffner objected when the Mercer County sheriff seized and attempted
to sell Schaffner's property to collect taxes the county claimed Schaffner owned. The court ruled that the seizure
was illegal, since the 1895 ruling meant Schaffner's property was outside of Mercer County's jurisdiction.
The Legislature passed a third annexation law in 1903, this time submitting it to
the voters Stark County and the unorganized counties of Dunn and Hettinger for approval. The annexation was approved
by 502 votes in Stark County and 65 votes in Hettinger County, but it failed by 1 vote in Dunn County.Stark County
claimed the annexation vote valid, since the legislation required a majority if the aggregate votes cast. However,
the North Dakota Constitution required a majority vote in each affected county subject to annexation, so the state
of North Dakota sued stark county on the grounds that the enabling legislation was unconstitutional and that the
"no" vote in Dunn County meant the annexation failed. The North Dakota Supreme Court ruled the 1903 law
unconstitutional in 1905 Stark County received a minor boundary change in 1908 when Dunn County was formally organized.
-- Source: Wikipedia.org
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Cities
Note: all incorporated communities in North Dakota are called "cities"
regardless of their size.
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Antelope
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Belfield
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Daglum
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Dickinson
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Eland
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Gaylord
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Gladstone
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Lefor
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Richardton
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Schefield
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South Heart
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Taylor
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Zenith
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Online Data
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Church Histories / Records
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Website Updates:
July 2011: news story about prairie fire
July 2010: Bios for TURNER; MCBRIDE, KLEIN
Previous Updates:
Community, Crime, Military news items; Military Records, List of Cemeteries |
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