A Day at the County Recorder's Office

Courtesy of clker.com

Last summer I had the opportunity to visit the Boulder County Recorder's office to retrieve a number of documents recorded by my ancestors. As it turns out some of them were rather "active" in that regard and this has turned into a fairly significant project. Today, I want to share with you the planning that went into this trip and my experiences in a Recorder's Office in the hope that it will encourage you to visit, if you haven't. I also hope you might share some of your experiences with us if you have.

First, I asked for advice. Since I am a member of the Boulder Genealogical Society, I contacted one of their members who was able to provide some fantastic pointers allowing me to prepare a list of documents I was seeking. She also explained the organizational system of the records and mentioned that the staff are very helpful (whew! for some reason I was intimidated by the thought of going into a place of business and asking for historical records).

Next, as instructed, I went to their online site to search records. I was able to compile lists of the documents I was interested in. Imagine my surprise when, by extending the search periods past the times my ancestors lived in the area (and even past their death dates, items appeared in the 1930s and 1940s. There was even one in 1951, decades after he had passed away.

Now with my compiled lists, I prioritized the items I would be looking for.

Finally, I checked the hours of operations and obtained a map to get to the office.

I was ready to go to the Recorder's Office. Tomorrow we will talk about my visit.


© 2011, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Boulder Genealogy Society's Annual Dessert Night

Earlier this month, I was in Boulder, Colorado and it just so happened that the Boulder Genealogical Society was having their monthly meeting while I was in town.  I have been a "long distance" member for many years but had never been to one of their meetings, so I contacted the president and got directions.

Once a year they have Dessert Night.  Members bring lots of yummy goodies to feast on during their meeting.  This particular night they had the meeting in one of the local retirement communities which has a room with a beautiful view of the flatirons that overlook the town of Boulder.  There was some interesting weather that particular evening which made the view even more dramatic.

It was a large meeting and is a very active society.  The group was very warm and welcoming and I had a great time meeting friendly genealogists (are genealogists anything but friendly?).  I have been reading articles written by many of these people in the BGS Quarterly for quite a few years now so it was great to be able to put a face to a name.  I hope I can attend another of their meetings when I am in Boulder again!

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Boulder Genealogical Society - Doin' Things Right

My choice for the First Edition of the Carnival of Genealogical Societies, Doin' Things Right, was an easy one. 

Among the many activities and services the Boulder Genealogical Society provides is a wonderful website - specificially their Online Archives page.  I came upon their Columbia Cemetery Index a number of years ago where I found my Ballinger, Robinson and Lowe families.  This site proved to be the chink in my Ballinger brick wall that I have been blogging about for Madness Monday.  I have been so impressed with this organization that I joined even though I don't even live in Colorado.

This cemetery index is far more than it's name implies.  If you take a look under the R's and scroll down to Daniel A. Robinson, you will see his age, date of death and the Section/Lot where he is buried.  In the far right column is a clickable link which brings up a much more detailed page for Daniel which you can view by clicking here.

On this page, in addition to the information I listed above there are sections for the following:

• Biographical Information
• Grave monuments in that section
• Lot map and other information
• 3 links that take you to the City of Boulder, Parks & Recreation maps of the cemetery
• List of other people buried in that Lot/Section with clickable links to their individual pages

Among the many tidbits of information included in Daniel's biography are:

• His spouse, Nancy Ballinger, who I previously wrote about and their marriage date of 25 April 1870, in Boulder.
• Daniel's occupations: Former Boulder County Treasurer, JP, deputy sheriff.
• Biographical information which includes, in part, that he was one of Boulder's earliest pioneers and that he'd been living in Columbus, MT in the years prior to his death.
• References.  This is one of the most important sections that has been included.  It refers to all the newspapers used in compiling Daniel's biography, the date and page of the article!

As I said, this cemetery index is much more than it's name implies.  I can't even imagine the time and effort required to do this for all of the approximately 6500 people buried in Columbia Cemetery.  This is a job that has truly been done right!

How I benefited

Aside from having lots of really great genealogical data and some cemetery tombstone photos for my family handed to me on a silver platter, this discovery opened my eyes to the vast resources available in this county, many of which have been tapped and made available by the Boulder Genealogical Society.  Boulder area newspapers, marriage records, the BGS library, the resources of the Carnegie Branch Library and the excellent BGS Quarterly publication are but a few examples of Boulder area resources I have learned about or accessed through the BGS.

The information and resources in the cemetery index are what I used to prepare for a visit to Boulder and the Columbia Cemetery several years ago.  It was a very pleasant and efficient visit thanks to the preparation I was able to do using this index.

In summary, the Boulder Genealogical Society is one organization that is "Doin' Things Right" and their online Columbia Cemetery Index is but one example of the many outstanding projects and services this society provides and that this writer has benefited from.

Copyright 2010, Michelle Goodrum