In April 1974, six women from the local DAR Chapter met at Laura Simpson’s home in Fort Collins to discuss the formation of a genealogy society. In May, Articles of Incorporation were formulated and the Larimer County Genealogical Society was born. The society consisted of twenty-two charter members.

Our Society’s members are united by a driving passion for genealogy, a desire to learn, and to share their knowledge with others. Because of this passion, we have made it our mission to:

• promote an interest in genealogy and family history.
• encourage and instruct our members in genealogical research methods including careful documentation and the maintenance of quality genealogical standards.
• locate, preserve and index public and private genealogical records and make such records available.
• assist and support any genealogical library in Colorado which is open to the public.

Meetings

General Meetings are on the third Thursday of the month, January through November. All meetings have a program except the annual business meeting in January’s. Meetings are held at the Community Room in the Fort Collins Regional Library District – Harmony Library, 4616 South Shields at Harmony Rd., Fort Collins. Our meetings are open to the public and visitors are welcome.

Education and Outreach

In keeping with our mission the Society has been, and is, very active in Outreach and Education. Over our long history, we have promoted hundreds of classes, workshops and presentations that taught everything from basic genealogy to advanced, tips and tricks, research techniques and genealogy resources. As times progressed those topics expanded to include DNA, digitizing photographs, internet research and genology software. Currently, each General Meeting (February-November) hosts a presentation on genealogically related topics like “The Tax Man Cometh” and “Preserving Family Treasures”. Our meetings are always open to the general public.

To bring us into the 21st century, Bob Larson hosts a very successful User Group for the popular genealogy program Family Tree Maker. This group is going into its fifth year and evolved from the earlier Computer Interest Group which started in 1992.

In 2005, we hosted a Girl Scout Genealogy merit badge program. It was so successful that we repeated it in 2006 and 2007. Girl Scout Troops from Fort Collins and Loveland participated in the all day workshop. As you can see from the photograph (right) everyone had a great time.

Projects

As with many Genealogical Societies, the Larimer County Genealogical Society has been very involved in indexing local records and cemeteries. To date, we have indexed eight local cemeteries, Larimer County Marriage Records from 1858 to 1950, Divorce Applications from 1825 to 1950, early Land Records, and the 1885 Colorado State Census. All of these have been published and some are now online.

The current project involves digitizing and putting online Fort Collins Coloradoan obituaries from 1988-2002. Although not always factual, obituaries are great “clue givers” in genealogy research. It is our hope that these obituaries will be an important resource for those doing long distance research.

Fun

All work and no play makes for a dull genealogist! Picnics, annual pot lucks and Christmas parties have kept us going over the years. Meetings are not just for business and education but are a time to socialize and trade stories, make new friends and enjoy the great hospitality.

We hope you take a moment to explore the website. If you are from the region we invite you to stop by one of our meetings and see what we’re about. At the very least you’ll get to eat some great treats!

Past Presidents
1974-2008

Laura Simpson…………..1974-76
Martha Conger…………..1976-77
Sharyn Smith…………..1977-78
Kathy Williamson…………..1978-80
Lottie Vandergaw…………..1980-82
Glen Van Saun…………..1982-84
Velma Shephard……………1984-85
Karl Manke……………1985-86
Evelyn Haynes……………1986-87
Konna Wheeler…………1988-90
Ruby Davies…………..1990-94
Kevin Mielbeck………..1995-98
Ceil Damschroder……………1999-2002
Ty Curtis……………2003-04
Kenneth Goldsberry…………..2004-2008
Current Officers

Updated August 21, 2009