General Meeting Minutes
Harmony Library
Harmony and
Community Room
President Ken Goldsberry called
the meeting to order at
General Announcements
Hospitality Chair Marge Abrames needs some volunteers to help provide treats for the October and November meetings. A sign-up sheet was circulated. Numerous volunteers signed up for those and future meetings.
Next, President Goldsberry discussed the Society’s urgent need for volunteers to help in various positions. Several committee chairs, including Education and Outreach, are vacant. In addition, three Board positions will be open in January. All of these positions need to be filled if the Society is going to continue to grow and improve. The attached handout, outlining these various positions, was presented. Members were encouraged to volunteer.
President Goldsberry briefly described a mentor program that the Board would like to implement. It would entail a facilitator who would put those requesting assistance in touch with those volunteering to help. This is another program that can’t be implemented unless members volunteer.
Visitors and New Members
President Goldsberry introduced visitors and encouraged them to attend future meetings and consider joining the Society. The visitors included: Gloria and Hudson Groutzinger, Lew Carder, Nettie Slayton, Paula Schneider, Gordon Stone, Yvette Dahle, Mary Lou Savoy, Jan Hazlett and Flo Felto. Dave and Grace Gudgel are new members who joined at this meeting.
Ken also announced that 61 people were in attendance, of whom 10 were visitors and four were new members.
At this point a break for refreshments and conversation was taken.
Featured Speaker
Carol Darrow was the speaker for the evening. She presented a talk on the National Archives, Rocky Mountain Region (see attached handout).
Carol’s program was very
informative and useful to anyone considering visiting the Archives in the
The Archives contain a wealth of Federal records including censuses, indexes to censuses and passenger records, records of Revolutionary War Pensions, Dawes Rolls and Freedman’s Bureau records. They do not include county or state records such as marriage or death and birth.
Even with many records being online now, the Archives still contain many records that cannot be found elsewhere. Some unusual records include many city directories for the period of 1928-30 and tax records for the Civil War era.
In conclusion, Carol stated that the Archives are very accessible and the many volunteers there are very helpful to genealogists. She suggested that the Archives are well worth a visit.
Business Meeting
A short business meeting was held at the end of Carol Darrow’s talk.
Upcoming Programs
Vice President Len Ray reported that several workshops are being held in the next few weeks. These include a workshop at the Fort Collins Main Library on September 29 on the photo editing software Irfanview. This workshop will be presented by Society member Paul Smith. On October 18, Society member Bob Larson will present an “Introduction to Genealogy” at the Loveland Library for those brand new to genealogy. Finally, Len invited everyone to attend the October 18 meeting which will include a presentation on U.S. Military records.
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer Mary Joy Hauk reported that the Society bank balance is $1780.54. This includes approximately $400 that has been earned from the affiliate programs with Ancestry.com and Amazon.com. President Ken Goldsberry explained, for newcomers, that these programs give a percent of all purchase amounts to the Society when their websites are accessed through the Society’s website. He further reported that the Board has requested the Budget and Finance Committee to suggest possible ways to spend these funds to best benefit the Society.
Newsletter, FTM Users Group, etc.
Multifaceted member Bob Larson reported on several areas of interest. He first recognized the members of the Newsletter committee who work so diligently to see that the newsletter is published. In addition to himself, Julia Hillen and Kareen Whatley comprise the Newsletter Committee. The Society thanked them for their hard work.
Bob also announced that former
Society President Ceil Damschroder will be teaching basic genealogy classes
starting in October. These six-week
classes will be held in both
Finally, Bob announced that the next Family Tree Maker User Group meeting will be held on October 4 at the Loveland Library. This meeting will focus on publishing your family history. Attendees do not necessarily need to use Family Tree Maker; many of the items discussed apply to all genealogy software programs. If members are interested, he suggested that they join his email list so that they will be notified of upcoming meetings.
Brick Walls
Ken asked if anyone had any brick walls that needed to be broken down. Several members had questions. A visitor, Jan Hazlett, wondered how to find information about persons who were born after 1880 and died before 1900, thus missing any census listings. Several members had ideas for places she might look.
Kareen Whatley wondered how to
prove that her great-grandmother had lived in
Genealogy Gems
Marilyn Rudd mentioned that she had recently visited the new Cheyenne Library. It has a great genealogy room. It will definitely instill “library envy” in anyone who sees it.
Jan Hazlett stated that she recently found a record at a funeral home for someone for whom she has been searching for years. Persistence pays off!
The meeting was adjourned at