Minutes

Larimer County Genealogical Society

October 24, 2005

Ft. Collins Public Library

Ben Delatour Room

President Ken Goldsberry cowbelled the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. Ken began the meeting with a few announcements. He mentioned the Question and Answer Bucket which is always at the meetings. It is a place where members can deposit written questions and have the group attempt to answer them. Next, Ken told the group that Marge Abrames, Hospitality Chairperson, was in an auto accident recently. Her arm was injured, and her new car was quite damaged. Marge is on the mend now, but she would appreciate any cheering phone calls or emails members would care to send her.

Ken indicated that he was circulating two clipboards. One clipboard had a form on which members could write suggestions for meeting topics for the next year. Another clipboard was circulated requesting sign-ups for the Publicity committee.

Finally, Ken announced that the Society would be holding its monthly meetings at the Harmony Library starting with the January, 2006 meeting.

Visitors and New Members

Numerous visitors were present. In the interest of time, Ken merely introduced them and did not have them describe their research. The following are the visitors: Richard Butler, Glenn Todd, Gordon Hazard, Ethel Mae Alberten, Betty Robinson, Jeanne Horsin, Bill Greeley, Jerry Reuran, Melissa Looney, Mary Looney, Crystal Looney, Toni Butler, Henry Atwater, Jessica Kistler, Don and Liza Willson.

Don and Liza Willson are now new members, since they joined during the meeting.

Committee Reports

Budget and Finance

Ken announced that the Society is setting up a Budget and Finance Committee. Majel Morgan has volunteered to be on this committee. Roger Wood and Leonard Kopec have also volunteered for this committee.

Treasurer

Mary Joy Hauk reported that the present bank balance of the Society is just over $1900.

Publications

Carolyn Jones, Committee Chairperson, reported that our new publications are selling well. Copies are available if members wish to purchase any.

Ken briefly summarized the Wellington Cemetery book. It has sold so well a second printing is being made. He talked about the Duane and Susan Kniebes section of the book which is a volunteer effort to locate and record gravesites around Larimer County. The Wellington book is the first publication of the Kniebes’ work.

Education and Outreach

Dolores Ray, Committee Chairperson, announced that two workshops are upcoming. On October 29, there will be a workshop on “Preservation of Documents”. On November 8 a follow-up will be presented on “Restoring Photographs.” Both workshops will be held at the Harmony Library.

Website

Dolores Ray, Society Webmaster, reported that she has uploaded the 1885 Larimer County Census and the Early Land Records Index. She is still having difficulties with accessing parts of the Land Records Index, but she expects to have it available soon.

Hospitality

Ken thanked the helpers who are taking over in Marge’s absence.

Membership

Ginny Feagler stated that the Society has one new member this month in addition to many visitors.

Newsletter

Kareen Whatley reported that the Newsletter Committee is working on the November issue which will be out soon.

Miscellaneous

Ginny Feagler, who is the Society liaison to the Fort Collins Library, discussed genealogy magazines to which the library subscribes. She handed out a list of these magazines along with a form for members to use to make suggestions for changes to these subscriptions. Copies of these forms are attached.

Len Ray explained the handout (attached) from Lady Teviot which members received at the beginning of the meeting. Lady Teviot recently presented a workshop to the Society. The handout outlines the research that she undertakes.

Len also mentioned another handout (attached) which describes several National Archives workshops to be held in Denver.

Finally, Len announced that next month’s meeting will be a program on Church Records.

Genealogy Gems

Several members of the Society had genealogy gems to share. Ken informed the group that genealogy gems are especially significant finds that a genealogist has made and wants to share with the group.

Roger Long presented a short talk on his grandfather, Dr. R. V. Williams, an early doctor in Minnesota. Especially interesting was the picture that Roger brought of his grandfather standing beside an early automobile fitted with snow treads. Roger related an amusing anecdote in which his grandfather said he preferred a horse to the automobile. With a horse he could wrap up in blankets and sleep while the horse pulled the sleigh to the livery stable. Once there, someone else took care of the horse – definitely easier than driving an unheated car!

Jack A. Long described his experience of finding a journal written by his great great grandfather while on a cattle drive from Little Rock, Arkansas to California in 1852. It took several months as they averaged 17 miles per day. Jack reported that the cattle drive actually came through the area that became Ft. Collins.

At this point a break was taken for treats and conversation.

Extreme Googling for Genealogists

Birdie Monk Holsclaw

After the break, Len Ray introduced the speaker for evening: Birdie Monk Holsclaw. Birdie’s presentation covered different methods of using Google in genealogy. Google is a search engine that is frequently used by genealogists. Birdie explained that there are more advanced ways to use Google which will give better results. Most of the members had used Google, but many had not used its advanced features. Some of these included using quotes around names, using a wildcard asterisk in the middle of names to catch alternate spellings and using the vertical bar to separate variant spellings. A handout is attached which covers the important points of her talk.

At the conclusion of her talk, Birdie took questions from members. Some had experiences of their own to relate using different features. For example, one member mentioned that he had found a picture of himself in the “Images” section of Google. He had had no idea it was online. Boyd Johnson reported that he had googled satellite images of his family’s homestead by using the Google “Maps” feature.

After Birdie’s presentation, Ken stated that Nancy Abrahams had a news item. Her daughter, Judy, became an ironman by completing a course in eleven hours.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Carol Stetser