Our society will be meeting in person or on Zoom at 10 am on the third Saturday in the Prairie Sage One Room at the Fort Collins Senior Center for our monthly programs. We hold a hybrid meeting in person and using our Zoom video service. Capacity is 50 persons in the Prairie Sage One room. Lots of free parking at the senior center. We look forward to seeing you there!
Visitors (not LCGS members) who wish to attend via Zoom need to register below to receive the Zoom info and handout.
Visitors (not LCGS members) need to register below to receive the Zoom info and handout.
President Larry Doyle provides a brief overview of our society with the latest committee reports followed by today’s program.
Program Information
Our April 20th program will be on “From Scotland to Fort Collins: Beginning of the Sheep Industry!”
Upon buying a home in Scotch Pines of Fort Collins, her curiosity about the origin of the Scottish street names led her to meet John Strachan whose ancestors had migrated from Scotland and become major sheep raisers in Larimer County. John had developed the neighborhood of Scotch Pines and shared much of his family’s history and many of his slides of the early Strachan properties. Those rich moments, along with sources from the Museum of Discovery, Larimer County land office records, Scotland and U.S. census records, and the writings of author Ansel Watrous’s History of Larimer County Colorado, 1911, among others, are the basis of her presentation today.
Presenter Profile
Membership Chair Linda Johnson
Linda Billingsley Johnson was raised in Colorado Springs. She has pursued an interest in genealogy that began when, as a girl, she heard relatives in Arkansas tell stories of a supposed castle in Germany granted from Frederick the Great to our Redwine ancestors, (which has never been proven and was probably a hoax ). Later, her paternal grandmother told her that the Billingsley history contained a Lord Mayor of London. That was a bombshell that turned out to be very true. Her 10th grand uncle was Henry Billingsley of London ( 1538-1606), who also wrote the first translation of Euclid’s Geometry into English. Such stories appealed to Linda’s research instincts and dramatic imagination, and she has continually done research since hearing them. She has written for Genealogy Society journals and re-enacted scenes from family stories on paper and in person.
Linda graduated from the University of Colorado in 1964 and obtained a Master of Arts in Teaching from Colorado College. In 1983 she became the owner of a theatrical costume rental shop which she maintained for 32 years. She married Patrick Johnson, a high school social studies teacher, in 1964 and they raised their two daughters in Colorado Springs, before retiring to Fort Collins in 2015.
Upon buying a home in Scotch Pines of Fort Collins, her curiosity about the origin of the Scottish street names led her to meet John Strachan whose ancestors had migrated from Scotland and become major sheep raisers in Larimer County. John had developed the neighborhood of Scotch Pines and shared much of his family’s history and many of his slides of the early Strachan properties. Those rich moments, along with sources from the Museum of Discovery, Larimer County land office records, Scotland and U.S. census records, and the writings of author Ansel Watrous’s History of Larimer County Colorado, 1911, among others, are the basis of her presentation today.
Linda Johnson is our Membership Chair and past Board member for Larimer County Genealogical Society. She has been doing genealogy research for over 20 years.
Fort Collins Senior Center Map
Map for Fort Collins Senior Center
Reminder: Visitors are welcome and can register below to receive the Zoom info and handout!
Be sure to use our Thursday afternoon (except holiday weeks) genealogy help session from 1 to 3 pm at the Fort Collins Downtown Library. Members or visitors: please send an email to [email protected] with your request, and if for an ancestor, please send your family tree info from Ancestry, MyHeritage or a family tree image from your genealogy software.
For more genealogy tips: please visit and ‘Like’ us on our Facebook page .
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Bookings
Registration is closed for this event.