A.C. Bakken is a native of Sharon, Steele County, ND, and attended Mayville State College, University of Wisconsin, and received his law degree from the University of North Dakota.
He served as Steele County State's Attorney from January of 1949 to August 1951; as a counsel for the North Dakota State Tax Department in 1953 and 1954, and was first assistant attorney general for North Dakota in 1955, 1956.
He was in private practice in Bismarck in 1956 and 1957, and came to Cooperstown to practice law in partnership with M.W. Duffy in 1957. He was state's attorney of Griggs County from 1959 through 1966. He was appointed a district judge of the First Judicial District August 1, 1967, at which time he moved to Grand Forks.
He and his late wife, Shirley, were parents of three children: Gary, Glenn and Gay.
Source: Cooperstown, North Dakota 1882-1982 page 21