Series 14947

DESCRIPTION: These case files contain Articles of Incorporation filed with the Box Elder County Clerk by LDS Church Wards. The articles of incorporation were required to be filed with the County Clerk and State to ensure that the laws which pertained to the organization were adhered to. The actual articles of incorporation record the following: names of the corporation officers including the office of President which was the filled by the Bishop of the ward, names of the ward members, and oaths of office. The Articles of Incorporation state that members of the ward "desired to become a body corporate, under and in accordance with the existing laws of Utah Territory, and had met for that purpose." The law of the Utah Territory stated "that any number of persons associated together for religious, social, scientific, benevolent or other purposes...when pecuniary profit is not their object...may incorporate themselves as provided in this Act ( Laws of Utah, 1878, chap., 18, sec.1).

Under current Utah law and the laws of the territorial legislature, individuals desiring to incorporate, were to file and record articles of incorporation with their respective county clerk. These agreements specified the nature and place of business, amount of stock to be issued, terms for officers, etc. The clerk in turn issued a certificate of incorporation and recorded the final articles of incorporation in these record books.

ARRANGEMENT: By LDS Church Ward.

RESEARCH NOTE: Researchers should be aware that the wards may have more than one case file and should consult the container list to ensure finding all related documents. Not all documents relating to the wards were filmed together. A note on the microfilm states "filmed as filed."

PROCESSING NOTE: Incorporation Records were first scheduled as permanent records in 1978. This series was microfilmed by the Utah State Archives in March 1980. This entire series was archivally processed by David Clark in May 1996.

CONTAINER LIST