Washington County. Clerk of the County Court Articles of incorporation record book (ecclesiastical corporations), 1882-1887.

This volume records copies of Articles of Incorporation filed with the Washington County Clerk by newly organized religious corporations, mainly LDS wards. Registers were kept as the official copy available for public use. The actual articles of incorporation record the following: names of the incorporators and their places of residence, the length of the corporation's duration, the pursuit of business agreed upon and method of conducting business, number and kind of corporate officers, and the number of directors necessary to transact corporate business.

Under the laws of the territorial legislature, religious bodies desiring to incorporate, were to file and record articles of incorporation with their respective county clerk much as for-profit corporations did. These agreements specified the nature and place of business, terms for officers, etc., but did not need to specify sale of stock shares. The clerk in turn issued a certificate of incorporation and recorded the final articlesof incorporation in these record books.