History

Summer of 1966

The history of St. Louis Genealogical Society started with Dorothy Amburgey Griffith who wanted to do some work on her family history. She looked for a genealogical group in St. Louis to help her learn how to do genealogical research and found none. So she contacted the National Genealogical Society in Washington, D. C., and was told by them that they were interested in establishing local chapters of NGS around the country. They also provided her with the names of NGS members in St. Louis.

By the fall of that year, Dorothy had contacted twelve St. Louisans, held a few organizational meetings, and gained agreement to become the St. Louis chapter of NGS, beginning on 1 January 1967.

First Officers

Late in 1967

Becoming alarmed over lack of response from NGS, President Washabaugh rallied a meeting of all members and appointed a steering committee to study new bylaws and the feasibility of our continuing with NGS.

October 1967

The group signed a resolution to drop our membership as a chapter of NGS and to reorganize as the St. Louis Genealogical Society. New and simple bylaws were approved.

Dues were set at $4.00 with an additional $1.00 for a family member and an initial registration fee of $2.00. It was decided that all who had joined in 1966 and 1967 were to be considered charter members. There were ninety in all.

The Library

Sherman Dozier was our first librarian; for quite a while he was able to carry the entire library under his arm in a brown shoe box. The first committees were Preservation of Records, later called Old Records; Membership; Cemetery; Publications; and 1850 St. Louis Census Index. The first project was to do something about the condition of early records in the St. Louis City Hall. The society was successful in persuading the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to contact city officials for permission to microfilm records and indexes of births, deaths, and marriages.

From these beginnings, the St. Louis Genealogical Society has grown into the largest local society in the country, with members from virtually every state in the nation and several foreign countries.

Awards

Because St. Louis Genealogical Society is an all-volunteer organization, one of our most important obligations is to acknowledge the significant contributions made to the society by our volunteers. Our awards program is one way of doing that.

The society began to say thank you to our most dedicated volunteers by awarding life memberships in 1970. Next came Certificates of Achievement, starting in 1976, followed by Achievement and Special Recognition Awards and President’s Citations. To see the StLGS awards recipients, click on the following links:

Appreciation Award Recipients

Achievement Awards

Special Recognition Awards

Honorary Life Member Awards

President’s Citation Recipients

Significant Events in the St. Louis Genealogical Society

Office Locations

Presidents of St. Louis Genealogical Society

Last modified: 06-Aug-2024 11:04